BSY_FB_16-05

5

Ḳalʿat Sêdjar (Larissa) March 16, 1900

The site of ancient Larissa situated on a
curve of the Orontes where the river comes through a
narrow rocky gorge and flows out into the plain
preserves few traces of the Greco-Roman city.

The acropolis is occupied by the ruins of a
Saracenic castle and a squalid modern village
it occupies the abrupt end of a rocky ridge
and was cut off from the ridge by a broad deep
moat excavated in the rock on the south. To the east
the rock falls steeply to the river. To the north and
west it decends to the plain. The whole acropolis
was surrounded by a heavy wall the foundations of
which are doubtless in situ. It was reached in ancient
times by a bridge over the moat in the south as it is
today tho' the present bridge is Saracenic. The late
ruins are full of classic fragments - columns, caps
bases and lots of decoration. The caps are Corinthian & Ionic.

In the plain are traces of a wall which enclosed the
lower city and the surface is shown with ancient
architectural fragments.