All About Aphrodisias

All About Aphrodisias / TURKEY

About Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias ( Turkish: Afrodisias)

It was the monumental gateway which greeted pilgrims when they approached the Temple of Aphrodite. The Tetrapylon consisted of four rows of four columns (tetra = four and pylon = gateway in Greek) It connects the major street to the sacred way heading toward the sanctuary of Aphrodite.

On the pediment over the west columns were decorated with relief figures of Eros and Nike hunting among the acanthus leaves.

Aphrodisias is unquestionably one of the most impressing ancient cities of Anatolia with its well-preserved buildings and numbers of magnificent sculptures from the Roman period. Being built near a marble quarry, the city was also an important center in the past with its famous sculpture school and for being one of the several cities that was dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

The city was named after Aphrodite in the second century BC. but according to the Suda, before being known as Aphrodisias, it had three previous names: Lelegon Polis, Megale Polis and Ninoë, a name derived from Ninos. Ninos was the mythical founder for the Assyro-Babylonian Empire and the husband of the famous Semiramis. The city was later renamed as Stauropolis in the Cristian Era.

Aphrodisias was not the city of famous sculptures only, but it was also a hometown for renowned scholars and philosophers. The philosopher Xenocrates, who had been a student of Plato, is believed to live in Aphrodisias.

The excavations at the city have been held systematically since 1961 by deceased Professor Kenan Erim, whose grave is now near Tetrapylon.

Tetrapylon

It was the monumental gateway which greeted pilgrims when they approached the Temple of Aphrodite. The Tetrapylon consisted of four rows of four columns (tetra = four and pylon = gateway in Greek) It connects the major street to the sacred way heading toward the sanctuary of Aphrodite.

On the pediment over the west columns were decorated with relief figures of Eros and Nike hunting among the acanthus leaves.

Stadium

Located in the north end of the city, the Stadium is probably the best preserved and biggest of its type in Mediterranean. It is 262 m long and 59 m wide with 22 rows of seats. It has the capacity of 30.000 spectators.

The ends of the stadium are slightly convex, giving the whole a form rather suggesting an ellipse. In this way, the spectators seated in this part of the stadium would not block each other's view and would be able to see the whole of the arena.

The stadium was specially designed for athletic contests, but after the theatre was damaged in the 7th century earthquake the eastern end of the arena began to be used for games, circuses, wild beast shows and gladiatorial combats. During the Roman period the stadium was the scene of a large number of athletic competitions and festivals.

Temple of Aphrodite

The Temple of Aphrodite was located in the northern section and formed the centre of the city. All that remains of the ancient temple consists of fourteen of the over forty Ionic columns that once surrounded it and the foundations of the cellar section. Although the cult centre dates back to earlier times the temple whose remains we see today had begun to be built in the 1st century B.C. and is thought to have been completed during the reign of Augustus.

The temenos (temple precinct) was completed in the 2nd century during the reign of Hadrian. The building would appear to have been what is known as an octastyle temple with thirteen columns on each side and eight columns at front and rear. On some of the columns are inscribed the names of the donors who presented them to the temple.

The discovery of several mosaic fragments belonging to the Hellenistic period indicate the existence of an older temple on the same site, but with the conversion of the temple to a church in the 5th century all traces of the older building were erased. At the same time, the walls of the cellar containing the cult statues were removed and the building enlarged by moving the side columns outwards. Walls were added at the front and rear of the building to form an apse and nave. An apse and an atrium were added on the east and west.

No cult statue was found in the cellar but in 1962 a statue was found immediately outside it bearing all the characteristics of a cult statue and in the museum now. The goddess is wearing a long garment. One of the arms is stretched forward. The reliefs carved on the bands of the garment are very interesting. The sun god and moon goddess, the Three Graces with Aphrodite in the middle, Aphrodite and three Cupids seated on a goat with the tail of a fish are all symbols which frequently appear on various copies of the cult statue.

Odeon

To the south of the temple of Aphrodite, a very well-preserved Odeon (Concert-hall) was discovered in 1962. It is a semicircular building and has 12 tiered rows of seats with lion’s feet. Its orchestra and stage were elaborately decorated with mosaics. It had a roof but its upper tiers of seats collapsed probably in the fourth century by an earthquake.

This hall had a capacity around 1700 people. It was used also as the Bouleuterion for the meetings of the Senate and remained in this form until the early fifth century, when a municipal official had it adapted as a palaestra, recording his achievement on the upper molding of the pulpitum (stage). It had a hall function of lectures, performances, and various kinds of competitive displays, as suggested by a number of factional inscriptions carved on the seats. The architecture of the Bouleuterion is being studied by Lionel Bier, Professor at the Art Department of Brooklyn College.

Baths of Hadrian

Built in the 2nd century B.D, the remains of the baths are facing the Agora gate to the west end of the Portico of Tiberius.

The Baths of Hadrian had two large galleries on either on both sides of a central, with underground service corridors and water channels. The core of the baths was light sandstone covered with marble plaques.

Theater

The Theatre of the city was built in the second half of the first century B.C on the eastern slope of the acropolis. According to its inscription it was dedicated to Aphrodite and the people of the city by Julius Zoilos, a former slave of Octavian. The seating capacity was 8,000. The stage building consisted of six vaulted dressing or storage rooms out of which four opened into the corridor behind the proskene.

The stage building wall had Greek inscriptions of important documents related to the history of the city such as letters of emperors to the city or senatorial decrees. The orchestra and the stage building were restored in the 2C AD in order to make the building more suitable for animal or gladiatorial fights. The theater was seriously damaged in the 7C, and the Byzantines built houses on top of the cavea and converted the hill into a fortress by circling it with walls and towers.

Although several tiers of its upper seats were visible there were cottages of the village. The excavations of the theatre started in 1966 with the help of the National Geographic Society. Till our present day’s form, the theatre had a number of repairs and changes. The stage building was obviously damaged in the fourth century.

Agora

The Agora of Aphrodisias was the large public or market area in the northern part of the portico between the Temple of Aphrodite and the Acropolis. It is a structure built mostly for musical events. Eventually it was also serving the purpose of holding public speech and literature competitions as well.

The Agora had two long Ionic porticoes. The northern portico is still unexplored, but seems to be built earlier than the southern one. The southern portico is the one called the Portico of Tiberius.