at at least the basis of Herodotus' account may
be considered as true.

The hardworking inhabitants of the valleys of the Iris and the Halys
were still possessed of considerable riches, in spite of the losses
they had suffered from the avaricious Cimmerians, and their chief towns,
Comana, Pteria and Teiria, continued to enjoy prosperity under the rule
of their priest-kings. Pteria particularly had developed in the course
of the century, thanks to her favourable situation, which had enabled
her to offer a secure refuge to the neighbouring population during the
late disasters.

[Illustation: 396.jpg THE RUINS OF PTERIA]

Drawn by Boudier, from Charles Texier.

The town itself was crowded into a confined plain, on the left bank of
a torrent which flowed into the Halys, and the city walls may still
be clearly traced upon the soil; the outline of the houses, the silos,
cisterns, and rock-cut staircases are still visible in places, besides
the remains of a palace built of enormous blocks of almost rough-hewn
limestone. The town was defended by wide ramparts, and also by two
fortresses perched upon enormous masses of rock, while a few thousand
yards to the east of the city, on the right bank of the torrent, three
converging ravines concealed the sanctuary of one of those mysterious
oracles whose fame attracted worshippers from far and wide during the
annual fairs.

[Illustration: 396b.jpg THE ENTRANCE TO THE SANCTUARY OF PTERIA]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Chantre.

The bas-reliefs which decorate them belong to that semi-barbarous
art which we have already met with in the monuments attributed to the
Khafci, near the Orontes and Euphrates, on both slopes of the Amanus, in
Cilioia, and in the ravines of the Taurus.

[Illustration: 398.jpg ONE OF THE PROCESSIONS IN THE RAVINE OF PTERIA]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Chantre.

Long processions of priests and votaries defile before figures of the
gods and goddesses standing erect upon their sacred animals; in one
scene, a tall goddess, a Cybele or an Anaitis, leans affectionately upon
her chosen lover, and seems to draw him with her towards an image with a
lion's body and the head of a youth.*

* These bas-reliefs seem to me to have been executed at
about the time with which we are dealing, or perhaps a few
years later--in any case, before the Persian conquest.

Pteria and its surrounding hills formed a ki