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The sun rises in Aphrodisias above the Baba Mountain. In
the old days it used to be called Salbakos. The 2308-meter high top of Salbakos
provides, bad< then as well as now, the valley with the fruitful waters of the
melted snow. The village Geyre, which is 13 kilometres from the city of Karacasu
in the Aydin province, is situated in the green nature as well. Its olive trees,
walnut trees, pomegranate trees and wine gardens have become an inseparable
unity.
This plateau is about 600 meters above sea level. The Dandalas creek, which runs from the South towards the West of the plateau, ends
after about 25 kilometres into the legendary Menderes River. The Menderes
quietly flows through the valley of civilization until it hits Milet, an
incredible stream near Karina, where the Goddess Aphrodite finally greets it,
where it is then handed over to the Mediterranean.
Aphrodisias
is the city of the Goddess of Love. But the goddess here has not always been the
Aphrodite that we know about This goddess came from way bad in history, but we
have known her only since the Neolithic
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Sebasteion
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Theatre
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In 1979,Professor. Dr. Kenan Erim found a great
temple complex, which was devoted 'S the goddess Aphrodite and the family of the
first Roman Emperor Julius Claudius. we know based on the inscriptions on this
building that it was called Sebasteion. It is the Greek word for the Latin
Augustus, which also means "large". There is no other Sebasteion" to the west of Rome that is 50 large and so richly decorated with
frescoes. It is on the road, which begins at the North gate and stops at the
theatre. The construction of the culture center began at the time of the emperor Tiberius (14-37
AD). During the construction, the culture
center was destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt repeatedly. |
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In 1960, when Professor Erim decided to excavate the theatre, the
biggest problems were the
houses of the village Geyre, which were situated right above the theatre. First,
the residents of the village moved to their new houses of the new Geyre village.
In 1966, the excavations began. The lower series of the two-part seat series
(lower Kavea) and the ground floor of the scaffold building were exposed without
any damage. In addition, many statues were found in the stage building.
Zoilos, who changed the destiny of the city Aphrodisias, had also had the
theatre constructed. This information was gathered by an inscription on the
stage building, which was... |
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Tetrastoon And Theatre Bath
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Tiberius-Portico And Agora Gate
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The earthquakes of
the fourth century caused floods in the Agoras of the city. Because the usage of
the northern Agoras caused some problems, the city decided to construct a new
Agora. A new market place surrounded with pillars was set up in front of the
theatre. As a result of an inscription that was found there, this place was
called Tetrastoon, a place of which all four sides were surrounded with
galleries of pillars. A round well was located in the middle of courtyard of the
square building covered with stones. A round sun clock was on the covering on
this stone. The scripts on the covering were referencing places for vendors who
came to this market place. Because the capabilities and dimensions of the
Tetrastoons were not able to cope with the economic potential of the city, a
basilica shaped hall was constructed to the south, between the. |
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When we look to the north from the
theatre, we can see all of the important structures of Aphrodisias. The wide
place that is right below the theatre and which has a large pool in its middle,
calls itself Tiberius-Portico. The name of this place, which is surrounded with
pillars and Porticos, originates from an inscription on the northern
architrave, which means that the building was devoted to the Emperor Tiberius. A
pool is situated in the middle of the Porticos, 260 m long, 25 m wide and 1.20 m
deep. This pool was constructed during the 2nd century AD, after an earthquake,
during which this area was flooded and the pool was to control potential floods.
At the same time this pool served as a water reservoir for the Hadrian baths.
Access water was conducted into the drainage of the city by the surrounded
channel network. |
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The Hadrian Baths
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North Agora
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The
Roman Emperor Hadrian was on one of his journey through Anatolia in Aphrodisias
as well. To honour his visit, the city councils had constructed these baths. The
bath consists of two separate sections for men and women. In front of the
entrance on the north side, a marble pool with large pillars in its corners.
To the immediate right are parallel to each other: the changing room
(Apoditerium), the cold room (Frigidaire), the lukewarm room (Tepidarium) and
the hot room (Caldarium). The underground heating system consists of branched
pipes and calls itself Hypocaust. |
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It is situated to the south of the
Odeon. This unique building was completely surrounded with pillars. Some
of the pillars with Ionic heads in the western and astern corners are still
there today. These pillars, which seem to be in a race with the neighbouring Poplar
trees toward skies, can very well be observed from the theatre.
The Agora has
a connection with the Odeon on the north side through a small entrance building.
A pool is situated exactly in the middle of the Agora. To the east is the
entrance with its pillars and supports still standing. |
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The Odeon
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Bishop's Palace
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The Odeon, which is between the Aphrodite temple and the
Agora, was built in the second Century. In the forth century, the upper part of
the present seat row was destroyed by an earthquake. This earthquake caused
several floods in the city. To protect the foundation from the damages in the
Odeon, the lower two series were dismantled and the water was led there.
Together with the upper seat rows, the Odeon had a capacity for thousand of
people. The roof was coated with wood and bricks. Numerous monuments were
situated in the niches of the three-storied arena. The hall with the Porticos,
which led to the north Agora behind the stage, was decorated with statues as
well.
In the antique times, Odeons were used for concerts,
dances, pantomimes. rhetoric, poem and musical productions and for the
assemblies of the council.
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The building with the high walls to
the west of the Odeon was
built during the late Roman times as a house of the province mayor and used as a
bishop palace in later years; it was the grave temple of a famous Aphrodisiac.
The blue colour of the pillars that surround the yard in the middle is very
conspicuous. Numerous large and small areas are in this building with three
Apses. |
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Aphrodite Temple
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The Stadium
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The
most important building of the city Aphrodisias, with no doubt, is the Aphrodite
temple. The first construction of the temple was begun during the archaic times.
After the destruction of their cities by Meder and Babylonier, the Asyrians
coming from Ninova brought the cult of the Asyrian love and beauty goddess
Isthar into this remote region. Illustrations of the Asyrian king Ninos and his
wife, which confirms this thesis, is on one of the frescos found during the
excavations into Aphrodisias. Therefore the roots of the Aphrodite cult also put
in this Mesopotamian culture. The building right next to the sculptor school
with its huge fourteen pillars still standing straight and facing the blue sky,
is the Aphrodite temple, in which one can feel the heart beat of the city. The
temple, which was designed in the Ionic style, which is the typical Anatolian
style, it is surrounded by series of pillars all around, eighth on the shorter
sides, and thirteen on the long sides, reaching the inner walls in double angles
of the real distance. |
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The Aphrodisias stadium is the
largest and the best
maintained building of the city. This stadium which is situated in the north of
the city is one of the most important 'antique buildings of the world. The
ellipse shaped building with a semicircle on both ends had seat series for
30,000 spectators. Because of its ellipse shape, every spectator was able to
look at the presentations comfortably. The stages were used principally for
athletic presentations.
If necessary, other competitions, or citizens voting were held there as well.
One entered the stadium through two double vaults. After the earthquake in the
7th century, the stadium suffered serious damages. The semicircle in the East
was converted by adding some walls into a circle and users as an arena. The seat
rows were put on the slanting vaults, which were used as a store and storage. |
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The Tetrapylon
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The Aphrodisias Museum
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This monumental gate, which is on the north south road, immediately east of the
temple, dates back to the second century. Four pillars in each corner gave him
this name. It is difficult to know what its exact purpose was. It is not
opposite of the temple entrance building. However we could say that the
procession, which came to the temple, assembled here before entering the temple.
In whole, it was the works of the Aphrodite architects and sculptors, which was
designed to only show off. We see that the building has very different styles
and is architecturally very rich. Some of the smooth, notched and spiral formed
pillars consist of double pillars. Some pillars are made of blue marble. |
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In the Aphrodisias Museum, which was opened in 1979, only
works found in Aphrodisias with the excavations are displayed. The major part of
the exhibition works consists of monuments. We know that between the first
century BC and the fifth century AD, there was a sculptor school in Aphrodisias
which produced very high-quality works. The marble came from the marble
breakage in a kilometre distance to the north of the city.
The observations of the museum begin to the right of the
entrance. The Tondo busts on the wall across the sales tinsel belong to a few
famous historical philosophers and state people. |
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