Α GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL DESCRIPTION OF ASIA MINOR; WITH A MAP. BY J. A. CRAMER, D.D. PRINCIPAL OF NEW INN HALL, AND PUBLIC ORATOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. IN TWO VOLUMES. Νῦν δ ̓ αὖ παρραλίης Ασίης πόρον ἐξενέποιμι Ος ῥά τε πρὸς νότον εἰσιν, ἐφ ̓ Ἑλλήσποντον ὁδεύων DIONYS. PERIEG. V. 799. VOL. I. OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, MDCCCXXXII. PREFACE. THE present volumes complete the plan I had originally proposed to myself of illustrating the geographical antiquities of the three countries, which offered the greatest interest to the classical student. Asia Minor presents a field of inquiry hardly inferior to the other two in historical importance, since it exhibits a nearly unbroken chain of events, from the siege of Troy to the downfall of Constantinople; and it possesses moreover one point of peculiar interest, from being so closely connected with the name and labours of St. Paul. With respect to the comparative geography of this extensive and diversified country, our information on several points, more especially in the interior, is still inadequate and defective. Much certainly has been done by that eminent geographer and antiquary Col. Leake, in his work on Asia Minor, and some further light has since been derived from the journals of Mr. Arundell and Major Keppel, and from foreign sources; but still our knowledge of Anatolia is in many respects incomplete. The late celebrated Major Rennell had apparently bestowed much time and labour on the comparative geography of Western Asia, and had he lived to complete the work, he would certainly have produced a valuable map of those extensive regions. But the two volumes which have been published from his papers contain little that was not known before; and present rather a series of detailed notes and observations, than a systematic and organized work". Such being the state of our information respecting the comparative geography of Asia Minor, I cannot pretend to offer the map a Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, with Comparative Remarks on the Ancient and Modern Geography of that country, by W. L. Leake. 8vo. Lond. 1824. b A Treatise on the Comparative Geography of Western Asia, accompanied with an Atlas of Maps, in two vols. 8vo. Lond. 1831. which accompanies these volumes as at all equal in truth and accuracy to those of Italy and Greece, but I may express the hope that it will be found superior to any that have preceded it. And I think considerable credit is due to Mr. Findlay for the manner in which he has put together and arranged the different materials within his reach. |