75. From Beirut to Smyrna ( and Constantinople )

713 M. Steamers (agents at Beirut, see p. ; at Smyrna, p. ; at Constantinople, pp. , 539). 1. Messageries Maritimes (N. Mediterranean Marseilles and Beirut line), from Beirut every alternate Sat. (from Constantinople on Thurs.) viâ Rhodes, Vathy, and Smyrna to Constantinople in 4 days (fare 205 or 140 fr.).—2. Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co. (see also R. 72; Syria-Egypt circular line, coming from Alexandria) from Beirut on Thurs. night (in the reverse direction Thurs. aft.) viâ Tripoli, Alexandretta, Mersina, Chios, and Smyrna to Constantinople in 8½ days (fare 284 or 212 fr.; to Smyrna 198 or 148 fr.).—3. Khedivial Mail Steamship Co. (comp. also R. 72; from Alexandria and calling at Port Said) leaves Beirut every alternate Wed. foren. (returning Sat. aft.) for Constantinople (in 7 days) viâ Tripoli, Alexandretta, Mersina, Rhodes, Chios, Smyrna, Mytilini, the Dardanelles, and Gallipoli (fare £E 9¼ or £E 6½; see p. ).

Beirut, see p. . The French steamers make straight out to sea in a W. direction. Astern Lebanon remains long in sight.

About half-a-day’s steaming brings us in view of the mountains of Cyprus (Turk. Kibris; pop. ca. 243,000), culminating in the bare Troodos (6408 ft.). Under the Phœnicians and Greeks Kypros, the third-largest island in the Mediterranean (3613 sq. M.), was the seat of the cult of Aphrodite and the scene of a peculiar civilization, the product of Egyptian, Phœnician, and Greek influences in succession. In the middle ages the island was governed by kings of the house of Lusignan and was for a time the seat of the Knights of St. John (1292–1308; see pp. , 469, 490). Since 1878 it has been under British protectorate and only nominally Turkish.

Far away to the right we see the table-shaped Capo Greco and the bays of Larnaka and Limassol. We then pass, on the S. coast of Cyprus, the prominent peninsula of Akrotiri, with Cape Gata (lighthouse) and Cape Zevgari. Beyond Port Paphos (lighthouse) we skirt the rocky W. coast of the island.

On the coast of Asia Minor (Anatolia), on a clear day, we sight the beautiful ranges of the Lycian Taurus (10,500 ft.; p. xxxiii); at night the lighthouse on the island of Kasteloryzo (ancient Megiste), with the seaport of Mandraki, is sometimes visible.

To the S.E. of Rhodes we cross one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean (12,683 ft.).

Nearing Rhodes (562 sq. M.; ca. 30,000 inhab.), the eastmost island of the Greek Archipelago, we sight its S.E. coast as far as Attáiros (4068 ft.; formerly Atabyrion) and Cape Lartos. The latter rises beyond the small bay of Lindos, which together with Ialysos and Kamiros, ancient Greek towns on the N. coast, and with Cnidus, Cos, and Halicarnassus, once formed the league of the Doric Hexapolis.

The French steamers call at Rhodes (Hôt. Karayannis, good; Brit. vice-cons.), the capital of the island, picturesquely situated at its N.E. point. Founded in 408 B. C. by the three older towns (see above) it became famous in later Greek times for its navy and for the Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of Helios 112 ft. high, which was accounted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The ruinous mediæval *Fortifications and the Strada dei Cavalieri, with the old ‘Houses’ (places of assembly) of the different nations, recall the mediæval glory of Rhodes under the sway of the Knights of St. John (1308–1522) after their expulsion from Cyprus (p. ).

We next steer through the Ægean Sea, where the scenery and the historic associations are alike most attractive. We pass the S. Sporades, Greek islands off the coast of ancient Caria and Lydia, once ruled by the Knights of St. John, and now called Dodekanesos (‘twelve islands’), which enjoy autonomy under Turkish suzerainty.

Steaming to the W.N.W. we cross the inland sea of the ancient Doris, between Rhodes and Cos, noted for its sponge-fishery. On our right lies the Anatolian peninsula of the ancient Chersonesus Rhodia, with Cape Alupo (Cynossema) and the island of Symi (Syme); to the W. rise the precipitous and fissured island of Telos (Tilos; 2008 ft.) and the volcanic island of Nisyros (2268 ft.), with its huge, still smoking crater and its hot springs. To the N.W. stretch the long outlines of Chersonesus Cnidia, with the ruins of Cnidos and Cape Krio (Triopium Promontorium).

The steamer rounds the E. coast of Cos (2871 ft.; Turk. Istankiöi; not one of the Dodekanesos group), once the seat of the most ancient shrine of Æsculapius and of a famous medical school (Hippocrates), and passes the peninsula of Budrum (Halicarnassus). To the W. appear in succession the islands of Kalymnos (2248 ft.), Leros (1086 ft.), Lipso (902 ft.; Lepsia), and Arki (Acrite).

To the E. of the island of Gaïdaronisi (696 ft.; Tragia), where Cæsar was captured by pirates in 76 B. C., opens the Latmian Bay, belonging to the ancient Ionia, now silted up by the deposits of the Mæander. A little inland are the ruins of Miletus and Priene.

The French steamers now pass through the Straits of Samos, between the Samsun Dagh (4150 ft.; Mykale) and the island of Samos, whose old capital, Samos, now Tigani, with its walls of the age of Polycrates and its new harbour (1908), is seen in the distance.

Vathy (Xenodochion Hegemonia tēs Samu, a good inn; pop. 9500), the new capital of Samos, lies in the bay of Scalanova (set below), on the N. coast. Above the narrow bay rises the distant Samsun Dagh. On the shore stands the plain palace of the Samian princes. Since 1832 the island has formed a Christian-Greek state under Turkey. The Museum, in the court of the high school, contains antiquities from the famous shrine of Hera and from Tigani.

The French vessels, soon after starting, offer a retrospect of Mt. Kerki (4725 ft.; Cerceteus Mons), the highest in Samos, and then cross the Bay of Scalanova (Sinus Caystrius). In the hill-country on the mainland, to the E. of this bay, near the mouth of the Cayster or Kaystros, once lay the rich Ionian towns of Ephesus and Colophon and, to the N. of these, Lebedus and Teos.

Passing the Bay of Sighajik and Cape Koraca (Carycium Promontorium) we soon reach the Straits of Chios (comp. p. ).

Smyrna, see p. ; voyage thence to Constantinople, see p. .