THE SHRINE OF MEN ASKAENOS AT PISIDIAN ANTIOCH.1 OUR party was camping this summer near Yalowadj on the actual site of the ancient Pisidian Antioch, when Mr. Kyriakides, a Greek resident in the town, brought us news of buildings and ' written stones' on the summit of a neighbouring peak. Such news in Asia Minor not infrequently leads to a mare's nest, as Prof. Sterrett found in this very district, but Mr. W. M. Calder of Brasenose College determined to test the information. Next day, accord- ingly, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Kyriakides, he and I set out for the mountain, and we were fortunate enough to find the long-lost lepov of Men Askaenos.2 On the two following days Sir William and Lady Ramsay also visited the shrine, and took up some Turkish workmen to clear away a little of the debris encumbering the remains. Having no permit, we could not make any proper excavations, but merely opened up some of the inscriptions, and this only on a very limited scale. In the circumstances, we were unable to give, either to the inscriptions or to our more general observations, such a careful and minute study as we could have wished, so that this report is only provisional and nothing is to be taken as final until excavation confirms each point. To reach the holy place of Men, we crossed the River Anthios and ascended a peak which rises East of Yalowadj on a spur of the Sultan Dagh to a height of some 5,500 feet. When three-quarters of the toilsome ascent was over, we came on a path that bore signs of having been once a made road. Soon dedications (Figs. 1 and 5), sculptured on the rocks to the left, informed us that we had found the traces of the ancient Sacred Way.3 We followed it up towards a rocky ravine, dry in summer, j, ^ —DEDICATION but in winter apparently the bed of a torrent which rushes FROM THE SACRED down from the summit of the ridge. Presently we lost WAT. sight of the ancient road, and had to scramble up the ravine as best we could. Some way up, we again found the Sacred Way, and now all interest became concentrated on a second peak to the right of the 1 I have to thank the Carnegie Trust for a identification (Researches in Asia Minor, i. grant in aid of my expenses on this journey. p. 474) was confirmed. 2 Thus Prof. Ramsay's disbelief (expressed 3 We intended to track it down to Antioch e.g. in Cities of St. Paul, p. 250) in Hamilton's later, but time failed us. 112 MARGARET M. HARDIE first, where a group of rocks bore more engraved dedications, while above the rocks lay the ruins of a Christian church (see Plan, Fig. 2). Close to the church we found a spring, with medicinal properties as I thought, and refreshingly cool on the hottest day. Higher up the now wider ravine we came on the remains of a small theatre (or possibly a small single-ended stadion), hollowed out of the hill. Here the Sacred Way bifurcated4 to pass round the ' theatre' on either side (Fig. 3), numerous statue-bases lining both forks; and with a final turn the Way brought us to the summit of the hill FIG 2.—SKETCH MAP OF SITE. (Scale in feet.) and we passed round to the gateway on the South of the precinct, inside which lie the ruins of a small building, the lepov of Men Askaenos. Before proceeding to discuss the most important discoveries, I give a brief account of some minor remains. Across the Sacred Way, on the Northern slopes of the hill, are the remains of buildings which had probably been houses, perhaps for the numerous company of lepohovkoi who, as Strabo tells6 us, were maintained 4 See note 11. 5 Strabo 577. THE SHRINE OF MEN ASKAENOS AT PISIDIAN ANTIOCH 113 at the shrine. Similar remains exist on the Southern and Western slopes also. Some of the Southern structures seem too massive to have been houses ; and on this side statue-bases lie around, and traces of an ancient road may be seen, but only excavation could determine either the purpose of these buildings or the line of the road. The only other remains found are on the summit of the hill East of the ' theatre ': here there was a small, strongly-built, square structure, of which only one course of stones is left above ground. The door, the strength of which was very striking, opens to the West, and so, possibly, we have here -a tomb. I now proceed to give in detail the more prominent results of our investigation of the chief remains. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The ruins of the Christian church are situated on a rock overhanging the Sacred Way at a distance of about 180 yards from the ' theatre.' The church was small but well built, and although, in its ruined condition, we were unable to trace its lines completely, we made out the semicircle of the apse : the orientation was not due East, but 15° North of East. We were interested to find that stones from the lepov above had been used in its construction, as was proved by the discovery in its ruins of the dedication No. 53.6 There was also a stone with a cornice.7 It should be compared with mouldings at the lepov. Excavation of the church would be in all probability fruitful: the site is so remote from human habitation that all the original masonry must lie somewhere about, awaiting the excavator. Not many people could ever have lived on the hill because of its configuration—the houses whose remains we found were not very numerous—and many of those who worshipped in the church must have come from Antioch far below. Doubtless the spot was sacred from time immemorial: the nearness of the spring is in itself a sign of this.8 Numerous analogies establish the rule that a spot, marked as sacred by signs or proofs of Divine power, remained sacred though the out- ward form of religion changed; and each new religion in succession had its own shrine at the holy place.9 THE ' THEATRE ' (Fig. 3). The ' theatre' lies in a hollow on the mountain-top, in a very ruined condition, but we were able to ascertain that its greatest breadth was 113 feet and its length inside 130 feet.10 At M and N are cross-walls, and the 6 See Fig. 14. 9 Pauline and other Studies, p. 103. 7 Seen and drawn by Sir W. M. Ramsay. 10 Here, as elsewhere, we do not guarantee • 8 Cf. Prof. Ramsay, Hist. Oomm. Gal. p. 43; the measurements. For accurate measurement Pauline and other Studies, p. 163. excavation is needed. H.S.—VOL. XXXII. I 114 MARGARET M. HARDIE sides narrowed after that as shown on the Plan (Fig. 2). At R and S there seemed to be a TrdpoBo<;. It was quite impossible to determine the number of stone benches. The photograph looks from behind over the ' theatre' and shows the bases of some of the statues which once lined the Sacred Way here: the Sacred Way itself may be seen winding round the south side of the ' theatre.'u Some doubt exists as to the exact nature and purpose of the building. At first we thought it a theatre for the religious dramas which may have been enacted from time to time in the worship of Men, but its arms are unduly prolonged for a theatre. Or it may have been a very small stadion for games. A comparison with Delphi and its tiny stadion nullifies the objections which might be raised to this theory on the score of the FIG. 3.—THE 'THEATRE.' (Photograph by Mr. Calder.) smallness of the course. Games are mentioned in an inscription from Antioch12 as occurring diebus festis Lunae, and it is not improbable that the bases13 which lie so thickly in the neighbourhood of the ' theatre ' once supported statues of victors in these games. However, bases were found also to the south of the lepov. They seem to have been inscribed, but scarcely a letter can now be read, and there exists at present no evidence to show whether the statues had represented the god and his priests, or emperors, or victors in the games. If the ' theatre ' was really a stadion, then only one end seems to have been built.14 11 It needs a considerable effoit of the 18 Sterrett, Epig. Jour. No. 101. reconstructive imagination to discover a Sacred 13 Mr. Calder observed traSes of charring on Way in this part: the only place where its some, due probably to shepherds' fires. course seemed quite certain was to the north 14 See Prof. Ramsay in Athenceuin, Aug. 12, of the ravine ; but the lie of the ground is 1911. decisive. THE SHRINE OF MEN ASKAENOS AT PISIDIAN ANTIOCH 115 THE IEPON. The actual lepov of Men consists of a precinct, measuring 137 by 230 feet (inside measurement) and surrounded by a wall 5J feet thick. Like the other structures we found, this wall and the ruined building inside the precinct were built of the very dark limestone, veined with white, of which the hills in this neighbourhood are composed. The stone is very soft and could have presented no difficulty to the workmen who hewed it in the quarries that we saw on the southern slopes of the hill.