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CLAUDE DELAVAL COBHAM
Exerpta Cypria
page 266 View PDF version of this page inhabited by Turks, the Christians living more upon the mountains, and near the sea, as they are exempted from that slavery which falls to the lot of the Turks when they come into the hands of these privateers : this plain seems to have been the antient kingdom of Salamis founded by Teucer ; the capital of it, which bore the same name, was at the end of the plain on the sea. The Jews destroyed the old city of Salamis in the time of Trajan; it was after-wards called Constantin, probably from the Emperor Constant ins ; it was again destroyed by the Saracens under Heraclius, and probably it was not afterwards rebuilt. We set out to see the old city on the twelfth, and in half an horn* came to a large bason, which is filled by rain water, and in half an hour more to a stream, over which there is a bridge; this must be the antient Pedine. On the north side of it are the remains of Salamis. There aro still large heaps of ruins on the spot of the antient city, and great remains of the foundations of the walls, which seem to have been between three and four miles in circumference. The pori is to the south; it seems to have been made by art, and is almost filled up; the small river Pedius empties itself into the sea at this place. Antient geographers mention two islands of Salamis which are not now seen. On examining the ground [ imagine the sea might have left these islands, and I saw near the port some rising grounds with channels near them, which might formerly be filled by the sea. There appears to have been a more modern city hero than that antient one built by Teucer, and there are great remains of the foundations of the wall of the new town, which was about half as big as the old city. The inner walls are supposed to be those of the new town, and the outer ones those of the old city. On that side of the town, which is next to the port, there are ruins of a large church, and also of a small one; aud to the north of the town there are some very thick walls, which are also probably the ruins of a church. There is likewise a square plain spot, which might be either a piazza, or a bason for water. On the north of the new town, just within the gate, there ore several grey granite pillars lying on the ground, and two or three Corinthian capitals of grey marble cut in a very beautiful and particular manner. These pillars seem to have belonged to a temple. This place is now called old famagusta, aud is about four miles distant from the modern tonni. There are remains of an aqueduct to this city; all the arches which I saw of it were Gothic, and there is an inscription on it in Greek, which makes mention of an archbishop: the antient aqueduct being probably repaired when the new city was built, after the establishment of Christianity in these parts. I saw the arches all along the* plain, ex-tending towards the mountains to the north west; on the site of which mountains the water was conveyed from a plentiful source which 1 saw at Chérîtes, thought by some to have had its name from the old Cythera, though that place must have been farther to the south. The Tables place Citari in the road from Salamis to Tremi tus now called Nicosia. Cherkes is six or seven leagues to the west north west in a valley between the hills; it is beautifully improved with mulberry gardens for the silkworms; the plentiful sources of water which supplied this aequeduct are a considerable way in between the hills.
To the west of Salamis there is a small ruined church, and near it a very little church, built and arched over with very large stones, half of it is now underground; it is dedicated to St Catherine, who as they say, was daughter of King Costa, the founder of the present Famagusta, and that the city had its name from him. In this church there is a well, aud on une side a chapel built of three stones, the four sides consisting only of two stones, and it is covered with a third, which is angular at top. If I mistake not, they say, this Saint was buried in this chapel, and there seems to have been a tomb in it. A mile to the west there is a monastery and a large church dedicated to St Barnabas, which seems to have been a fine building; the church has been ruined and rebuilt; the foundations of the east end of the old
256
EXCERPTA CYPRIA.
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