Foreign topography; or, an encyclopedick account, alphabetically arranged, of the ancient remains in Africa, Asia, and Europe; forming a sequel to the Encyclopedia of antiquities / By the Rev. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke.
- Thomas Dudley Fosbroke
- Date:
- 1828
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Foreign topography; or, an encyclopedick account, alphabetically arranged, of the ancient remains in Africa, Asia, and Europe; forming a sequel to the Encyclopedia of antiquities / By the Rev. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![THESSALONICA. SOI ninus. The citadel is the old Acropolis, with the towers added by the Venetians. The Propylaeum of the Hippodrome [engraved by Stuart, vol. iii. c. 9.] consists of a rnagnificent Corinthian colonnade of five pillars, supporting an entablature, and having four void spaces between the columns for entrance into the Hippodrome or the Forum. The style shows the decline of the arts, but there are parts of the sculpture very fine. Over the entablature is an attic, adorned with figures in alto-relievo. These figures upon the side next to the street are as follows ; 1. A representation of Victory; 2. a female, called Helen, by Stuart; 3. a male figure naked, perhaps that of Paris in the old Grecian cap with a fcull’s head by his side, but called that of Telephus, by Stuart; 4. Ganymede carried by an eagle. Behind these figures, upon the obverse side of the structure, are, 1. a Bacchante, playing a flute; 52. Bacchus with a panther; 3. Ari- adne ; 4. Leda with the swan.— Paris is done in very capital style. These double alto- relievos are made to sustain the upper architrave of the attic, after the manner of Cary- atides. It eonsists of three pieces ; the joints being over the two middle Caryatidae. If it was not the Propylaeum of the Hippodrome, which was consistent with the taste and customs of ancient Greece, it may probably have been part of a square inclosure, for an Agora or Forum, but even in this case it must have been one of the entrances. Beaujour thinks, that it was erected in the time of Nero, and he considers the alto- relievos as the finest pieces of Grecian sculpture which have escaped the ravages of time. The figures are as large as life. The rotunda is an edifiee built after the model of the Pantheon at Rome ; Beaujour thinks for the worship of the Cabiri, and that it was built under Trajan. It has a beautiful dome, and in front is a magnificent marble Bema or pulpit, ornamented in basso-relievo. There is an ancient fountain with an inscription. The Hippodrome is a magnificent area, in the form of an ellipse, sur- rounded by an immense coilon whose greater axis from north to south equalled 520 yards in extent, and its minor axis 160. To the west of it was the palace of Diocle- sian, supported by arches. The vestiges are still visible. At the church of St. Sophia, containing some columns of Verde Antico, there is another extraordinary Bema or Suggestum, made also of Verde Antico with steps leading up to it, the whole being of one entire mass of this beautiful aggregate. Its form is that of a cross, accompa- nied with a double colonnade of pillars of the Verde Antico, with lonick capitals, and the whole of'the interior was lined with marble, of which a great part now remains. The mosque of Eski Djumna was once the temple of the Thermian Venus. The Greeks spoiled it by endeavouring to make it cruciform. It was a perfect parallelo- gram 70 feet long and 15 wide, supported bn either side by tw'elve columns of the lonick order of the most elegant proportion. The six columns of the Pronaos still remain, though concealed by the wall of the mosque. There are two triumphal arches, viz. of Augustus and Constantine, one at each end of the street. When viewed exter- nally, tl>ere are two bas-reliefs on the arch of Augustus, raised after the battle of Phi- lippi ; one on each side representing the two conquerors, standing before a horse, led by a boy. The Arch of Constantine is excessively full of sculpture, but in a style showing the decline of the arts. Clarke, vii. 439—4fi0. Without the walls at some distance from the town is a tumulus. In the cemetery without the walls, are the shafts of ancient columns. 7’here are also a mound on which are traces of a fortress ; beneath, are remains of walls, and hard by, a fountain. At two hours distance, beyond a defile, are ruins upon the heights, as of a fortress; also part of an aqueduct. Id. viii. 2, 3.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22012035_0417.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
