A STREET IN SMYRNA.T. Allom.T. Higham.
This second church of the Apocalypse is, with the exception of Philadelphia, the only one that retains any thing of its former consequence. Its palaces, theatres, pagan temples, and Christian churches have passed away, but its riches, its commerce, its population, and its extent have been probably increased; and modern Smyrna is a more wealthy and prosperous town than either its pagan or Christian predecessor.
It was from the earliest ages celebrated as one of the most distinguished and frequented sea-ports of Asia Minor. It is approached by a noble and spacious bay, penetrating deeply into the country, expanding its capacious bosom to the Egean, and inviting the commerce of the world. Its waters are daily ruffled by theInbat, a trade-wind, which blows with unerring regularity, morning and evening, bearing ships in and out, so that they enter and depart with the most perfect certainty and security; and it is a locality where the riches of the East and West most conveniently meet together. Such permanent characters, impressed by the hand of nature, are of every age; and Smyrna has at all times been a great commercial emporium, as well of the ancient as the modern world.
The founder of Smyrna is disputed; some confer the reputation of it on Tantalus, others on the Amazons; but after various vicissitudes of earthquake, conflagration, war, and pestilence, it was splendidly re-edified by Alexander the Great, and became the chief of the twelve cities of the Ionian confederacy, and distinguished for its magnificence as well as its power. It contained temples of Jupiter, Cybele, Apollo, and Diana, the latter more beautified, though less extensive, than that at Ephesus. Games were periodically celebrated, like those of Elis and Olympia; and the reputation of being a learned people, was among the laudable ambitions of the citizens of Smyrna. They laid claim to Homer as a native, and pointed out the cavern, on the banks of their river Meles, where his immortal Iliad was composed, and from hence the poet is calledMelesigenes, and his worksMeletææ chartæ. The people erected statues to him, taught rhetoric in a temple dedicated to him, and impressed his head and name upon their coins; and of all the seven towns1
Which claim the poet dead,Through which the living poet begged his bread,
Which claim the poet dead,Through which the living poet begged his bread,
Which claim the poet dead,Through which the living poet begged his bread,
Which claim the poet dead,
Through which the living poet begged his bread,
the assumptions of Smyrna seem to be the best founded; but whatever doubt may rest on Homer’s place of nativity, it is certain that Bion, Mimnermus, and other distinguished writers, were natives of Smyrna, and ennobled the city of their birth.
Thus distinguished as an honoured and enlightened city of the pagans, its citizens were among the foremost that embraced the doctrines of Christianity when proposed to them. The apostle established here one of the seven churches; and while he denounced that “the candlestick of Ephesus should be removed,” he exhorted the Christians of Smyrna “to be faithful unto death, and he would give them the crown of life.” Ephesus is no more, but Smyrna still flourishes. It was assaulted by the Saracens, and nearly extinguished as a Christian city; it was restored by the emperor Alexius, and greatly enlarged when it was captured by the Turks. In the beginning of the last century it contained 28,000 persons, of whom 11,000 were Christians of the Greek, Armenian, and Latin churches, which have their respective temples, monasteries, and bishops. The present population is estimated at 100,000. It contains a number of Protestants sufficient to form a congregation for religious worship; and it is the only one of the towns of the Apocalypse in which is established a church of the Reformation.
The city describes a semicircle, at the lower termination of its noble bay; its site is low and alluvial, and embosomed in a range of hills. The Franks carry on an immense trade, by exchanging the produce of the West for that of the East. Caravans daily arrive from Persia, bringing raw silks and drugs, and ships from Europe with cochineal, indigo, &c.; but the most remarkable commodity in which the English trade, is fruit. Charles II., it seems, was so fond of figs, that he directed his ambassador, Sir T. Finch, to conclude a commercial treaty, by which two ship-loads should be allowed for the king’s table; and under the shadow of this, all England has since been supplied with them. The drying and packing of these form an animated and entertaining scene in Smyrna at the season.
The Frank quarter, which Europeans occupy, forms a spacious terrace, or marino, along the sea-shore, ventilated by the fresh and wholesome breath of the never-failing Inbat. The edifices in which the merchants reside, are divided into stores and offices below, and above into corridors and galleries which communicate with various apartments and saloons opening on the sea, the breezes from which circulate through them with a constant current. The Turkish quarter is perfectly Oriental, consisting of narrow streets, with balconies projecting one over the other till they nearly meet at top, excluding light and air. One is given in our illustration, its dark and distant prospect terminated by the hill of the Acropolis, and its narrow passage nearly obstructed by a single file of loaded camels, bringing to the Frank quarters the produce of Persia and India, to be exchanged for that of Europe and America.