Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/159

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IN THE LEVANT.
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blocks of isodomoiis masonry. Chandler considers this a Gymnasium.

The marble has been carried away from this site by travellers, or by peasants from the neighbouring villages, and nothing is left but the solid Roman masonry, the shell of the buildings. Near it we saw a subterraneous vaulted passage, which, from its curved form, must have passed under the seats of an amphitheatre. Towards the sea the shore is strewn with the ruins of houses for about a mile.

We passed northward through the ruins in the direction of Gaikli; and on getting beyond the precincts of the walls, came upon many sarcophagi which must have been placed on each side of the ancient road.

On our way home from Alexandria Troas, we halted at Kahfatli, near the Mendere. Here has been recently discovered a coarse tesselated pavement, with the usual common patterns. As we passed, we found the Greek villagers cutting it up into squares to pave their church with, as if it had been so much oilcloth. For several acres round this spot the ground is strewn with fragments of marble and of coarse Roman pottery. East of the pavement are traces of walls with foundations of grouted rubble.

One of these walls runs for a length of 60 paces, with another at right angles to it, 50 feet in length. Three or four large squared blocks were lying on the surface of the ground, near these walls. North of the pavement is a small mound, the top of which