Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume VIII, No. 5 [‎28v] (59/154)

462 A JOURNEY IN THE VALLEY OF THE UPPER EUPHRATES.
and that of another smaller stream to the south. In the valley of the
“yens, on the road to Kelkid Chiflik, at a village one hour d.staut from
Sadagi, there are two columns, which may once have been m.lestones,
though neither is inscribed. ^ ,
' On leaving Sadagh we regained the post-road from Erzmgan to
Trebizond, and went via Keusse over a high pass (7389 feet) to strike
the Erzerum-Trebizond chaussee at a point fifteen minutes s or o
Tekke The point where the two roads join is ten hours distant 10 m
Sadagh. One hour and a half after leaving Sadagh we saw what may
be a Homan fort, 2 miles to the right of our road We did not rave
time to visit it, but could make out with a glass that its walls consist
of a rubble core faced with squared stones.
From Tekke to Trebizond the road has been described by numberless
travellers, and I will only add notes about two places on it. At seven
hours twenty-five minutes from Tekke, at Ardasa Khan, there are rums
of a castle, probably Byzantine, above the village on a high rock to the
right. From the existence of these remains and the similarity of names,
it may be conjectured that Ardasa = ApaSdarrj of the Byzantine lists.*
At two and three-quarter hours beyond Ardasa, and ten hours befoie
reaching Trebizond, a small group of Mans is passed on the^ south
side of the pass, which are called by the collective name of Zigana
Khan. The name of one of the stations on the road of the Antonine
Itinerary from Trapezus to Satala is preserved in Zigana,f but there is
not the faintest trace of antiquity on the spot, and if the distances
given in the Itinerary are correct, the station must have been rather
further south.
At Trebizond our journey came to an end, and we took ship for
Constantinople.
PAltT II.
The Roman Roads and Defences on the Upper Euphrates.
Having thus described our journey, I shall now endeavour to show what new
light can be thrown by its results on the subject of the Roman roads and defences
on this part of the frontier, discussing, firstly, the course taken by the roads, and
the position of some of the stations on them ; and, secondly, the history of their
construction.
The general system of the Roman roads leading to and along the upper
Euphrates may be said to be fairly understood, and is well set out in the writings
of Professor Ramsay t and Hogarth § on the subject. The system has as its centre
Melitene, the caput vice of the great road from Ephesus and Cmsarea, which doubt
less followed the same course as the old trade-route to the East, the Koud? 686s of
* Ramsay, p. 319.
f Zigana was also a station for troops (‘ Notit. Dignit. Orient.,’ cap. xxxv.).
X Op. cit, p. 55. § Op. cit., pp. 69 ff.