Prior to the excavation in 1961, people actually lived within the ancient city in stone homes just like this (this is now the museum gift shop that was converted from a home). The modern town was called Geyre, and the residents had to be moved to another town about a mile down the road (the government did pay them for the land their homes sat on). Some of the homes were converted into museum buildings like this.
The cemetary of the city was located near the modern entrance, so we walked directly into the land of the dead. The sarcophogus here though, like many of them in this area, are extremely detailed and interesting to analyze (not sure I want that many faces on mine, but okay...).
In ancient Rome, a cult was the worship of the Roman's military victories and an appreciation for what the soldiers had done on the battlefield. This temple, known as the Sebasteion, is where this worship occured. On the building on the left, the orginal friezes were removed and replaced with plaster replicas in order to preserve their beauty (take a look at the other post from today for some examples). The top row was reserved for friezes of war scenes while the middle row was reserved for scenes of the gods and goddesses. The entire city was granted special privledges by Julius Caesar, as commemorated by a gold ax, allowing the city to mint money with the city's name on it, host Olympic style games in the stadium every four years, and build a cult temple like this one.
So many faces!!! This is a wall of friezes that have been found on the site (just a bit creepy if you ask me).
Just as in Greece, the city did have a central marketplace called the Agora. Here, shopkeepers sold whatever goods they had (open to anyone), held lectures on philosophy, and provided a place for the most educated elite to discuss the news of the day (only high ranking men in society could visit here).
Another gorgeous Roman theater! Unlike yesterday's visit, we actually got to here Mehmet sing a traditional Turkish folk love song! Though he was singing quite softly, we could still hear him quite clearly, showing that these theaters had wonderful accoustic properties. Also, the D shaped area in front of the stage could have been used for gladiator fights with wild animals or each other, or could have also been filled with water and used to reenact epic naval battles, with the help of trained slaves beneath the water.
Still at the theater, the area just behind the pillars on stage is where the actors kept all their costumes, makeup, props, and an area for them to change and rest between scenes. Behind that are the ruins of another portion of the Agora and the remains of a Roman bath (which are commonly seen near theaters during this time). It must be noted that a criminal turned filthy rich philanthropist during ancient times gave a very large sum of money for the construction of these structures, named Zoiolos.
A gorgeous shot of a nearby mountain between two ancient Ionic columns in the Agora.
This is the remnants of the warm room, called a capadarium, at the Hadriatic Bath. Built for Hadrian, a Roman emperor around 120AD (he was notorious for not living in Rome throughout his life as he did not care for the corruption the government had gone through during this time), this structure had three chambers, a hot, warm, and cold room. The heated rooms were kept hot via open fires held beneath the the floor and within gaps im the walls between the inside and the outside, all done using slave labor. The bottom of the outdoor pool here also has a mosaic floor that has been covered with stone while archeologists work on securing more funds to reveal it.
Man do I love panorama... This is the Bouleuterion, the meeting place of the city council (or the Boule). The stage (not pictured) is made of two different kinds of marble both mined from the local area. The members of the Boule here were elected by the citizens of the town (only men of a particular rank) and decided on the laws and regulations of the city.
These are the remains of the Bishop's Palace, built during the 5th century AD, after Christianity had been legalized in the Roman Empire and paganism was officially dead. However, since the city was named after the Greek god Aphrodite, the Romans changed the name of the city to Statopolis, the city of the cross. Also, they removed the statue of Aphrodite from the Temple of Aphrodite and hid it in the walls of the temple after the building was converted into a Christian church.
These two photos depict the Temple of Aphrodite, the Greek god of love. The temple took a mostly retangular shape with traditional Ionian columns around the outside, a wall running parallel with the columns on the inside, and the statue on the far end (not in the semicircular area here). However, when it was turned into the Christian church, the wall was removed and placed outside the columns, the alter was built into the semicircular area shown here, and the statue removed. All of these changes created a three aisled basilica in the city, quite a spectacular sight.
Get ready sports fans! It's the stadium! The word stadium comes from the word stadia, a unit of measure in Rome of approximately 600 feet. In this stadium, naked men (women were not allowed to compete or even watch the games) competed in running events, running from one end of the stadium to the other (1 stadia in length) and throwing competitions like spear or shotput. This stadium was also used in the 1960s as a camel wrestling arena where camels were trained to whack each other to the ground, a sight 30,000 people surely would enjoy!
The last site on the property is the tetrapolon, meaning four gated. This is the main gate to the city, built with each of the four gates constructed with four pillars, for 16 total. Though it's hard to see, the detail of the upper portion is quite stellar, though it was hard to make out what the scene was depicting. The grave of the original archeologist is also near this gate, the last piece he and his team completed before his death in 1990.
Okay... I lied a little... There was one more site that I haven't described yet, and that is the statue of Aphrodite as originally displayed in the Temple between the Bouleuterion and the Stadium. Notice the detail put into her dress, showing all many aspects of Roman life, including war, social gatherings, and sport. Some of our other favorite pieces from the museum on site are located in the next post, so look out for that a bit later on!
And now for the HIGHLIGHTS!
Mehmet's favorite lecture on the circumcision of young boys. Enough said... If you would like some more detail, ask one of us at the dinner table come June.
Heidi made a friend with a caged bird while at lunch. He had quite the dance moved too!
What a way to end the day! What a wonderful view of the Aegean Sea!
With that, ECGT signing off!
PS: the WiFi here is not the best, so it may be tough to get in contact with your loved ones.
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