Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &cfrom the best and most recent authorities . ountain ridge, upon which a considerableportion of the old Roman wall of Antioch is still standing, of great heightand thickness. At short intervals high square towers are built up in it containing a stair-case and two or three chambers, which seem to have been towers were four hundred in number, furnished with cisternswhich no longer exist. The wall runs in a direct line up the steepestpart of the mountain, and the top of it, in the intervals between
Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &cfrom the best and most recent authorities . ountain ridge, upon which a considerableportion of the old Roman wall of Antioch is still standing, of great heightand thickness. At short intervals high square towers are built up in it containing a stair-case and two or three chambers, which seem to have been towers were four hundred in number, furnished with cisternswhich no longer exist. The wall runs in a direct line up the steepestpart of the mountain, and the top of it, in the intervals between the towers,is formed into stairs, by which the soldiers marched to and from their * Burckhardt. Perrier. 274 SYRIA AND THE HOLY LAND. stations, as the easiest way of communication with the citadel above; and itcontinues at the present time the best method of ascending the hill. Thewall runs along two distinct hill-tops, separated from each other by a deepravine, across which it was continued upon an arch for the water to pass,called the Iron Port. But time or repeated earthquakes have nearly «^ . ; ? ?<? ,,,,,. The Iron Port, Antakiah. demolished this part of it. At the east end of the western hill are theremains of a fortress, with its turrets, vaults, and cisterns. One of the latteris circular, about forty-five paces in diameter, but almost entirely filled upwith earth; and the substructions of two round towers still remain, whichmay have contained the machinery for drawing the water. The existingtradition that the Roman emperors used to navigate this basin in pleasureboats, is no doubt an invention of their Christian enemies ; it is not likelythat the lively and dissolute Lucius Yerus, who whiled away four wintershere, and spent thirty-five thousand pounds on a supper, could be satisfiedwith no other existing pastime than this. Towards the mountain, ofthe city, some fragments of the aqueducts remain. After heavy rains,antique marble pavements are visible in many p
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