Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/160

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
132
TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES

forms a level area; its north side is a steep bank running down to the plain below. Here fragments of black Hellenic pottery are found.

From Kalifatli we proceeded to the site of Ilium Novum, where the remains visible above ground are very trifling; though the irregularities of the ground led me to suppose that extensive ruins were hidden under the soil. Thence we returned to Renköi by Hahl Eli, where I copied some inscriptions.

After our return to Renköi, I visited a place about half a mile to the N.N.E. of that village, and thought by Mr. Calvert to be the site of the ancient Ophrynium. This site, now called It Ghelmez, may be described as a platform boimded by deep ravines, which surroimd it on the land side, except on the east, where a narrow isthmus connects it with higher ground above. On the S.W. side of the platform, Mr. Calvert found a quantity of pipes of thick red pottery in the steep bank of the ravine. They appear to have been anciently laid down as a watercourse. Upon the surface of the platform are foundations of walls, pieces of marble, and fragments of pottery. Two copper coins of Neandria and one of Ilium have been found here. To the S.E. of this platform the ground on the other side of the ravine rises in a series of terraces partially covered with pine. Above these terraces is a sloping platform, on the surface of which are many fragments of Hellenic pottery. On this upper platform the foundation of a wall may be traced 107 feet from N.W. to S.E., when it makes a turn, and runs 146 feet in an E.S.E. direction.