Aphrodisias

The remains of the ancient city lie in Geyre extending in front of Babadag to the South of the settlement of Denizli. The name of the city in the Etruscan/Luwian language is "Apadidaassa", meaning the "Marshy Site of the Multi-breasted Goddess Dida". The Etruscan Mother Goddess Dida is a different Anatolian version of the big-breasted Cybele, with several overlapping layers of belly, symbolizing prosperity and fertility. The same Cybele is depicted multi-breasted like the Pergean Artemis Leda/Lada and Ishtar and Aegean Artemis. Legend has it that Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Beauty and Sensuality, was born of the foams of the seawaves on the shore of the city Paphos in Cyprus, that is, Apauwa in the Etruscan language which means marshy land. Obviously, Dida of the city of Apauwa was first converted into Apuwadida and then into Aphrodite by the Hellenes. The city was established by the Etruscan Luwian branches who came to the area circa 3000 B.C. on the acropolis hill called today as Pekmez Hill. The excavations carried out on the hill yielded various objects dating from the prehistoric eras which are on display in the museum. Previously it was called Lelegenpolis after the Lelegians within the Luwian branches in 2000s B.C. and subsequently Ninova based on the Goddess of Love and Sensuality of Mesopotamia. In the 12th century B.C. the population of the city increased with the influx of those returning from the Trojan War. It then fell under the dominations of Lydia and Caria and besides, obtained concessions such as granting the right of asylum and adapting an autonomous status exempted from tax. Schools of medicine, philosophy and sculpture were opened in the city. After the earthquakes which took place the city was abandoned and passed into the hands of the Germiyanog u Nan Turks in 1260. The first noticeable work in the city today are the remains of the city walls running 3:5 km long. Entering the site of the remains from the eastern direction and passing by the small-domed chapel of square plan and with a single apse, one arrives at the theatre agora of rectangular floor plan, paved with marble on the floor. The agora having a rectangular floor plan is surrounded by columns with Corinthian capitals all around and the remains of the temple of Dionysus of round plan are seen in the center. To the south of the square are the remains of a portico and shops flanked by 12 columns with Corinthian capitals on each side. To the west of the portico are the ; remains of a gymnasium palaestra . (exercise field) and a theatre bath. Built to the west of the complex is a theatre visible ; consisting of 27 caveas and 3 sections, with a seating capacity of 12 thousand people. . as resting upon the acropolis hill, built in the 3rd century B.C. and later restored. Today the uppermost part of the theatre has 1 virtually vanished. The first floor of the stage building, which apparently was two-storeyed, is extant. Lined at the back of the podium are single-row columns of Doric order in the form of prescenion and on top of these, architrave blocks ornamented with lion's head reliefs. As obvious from the protection walls between the orchestra and the caveas the theatre was transformed into an arena where wild animals and gladiators fought during the Roman era. From the western side of the acropolis hill one arrives at the 1 government agora, measuring 220 m long by 200 m wide, beneath the prehistoric excavation zone. The agora is encircled by Ionic columns on 3 sides. The southern portico of the agora called the Portico of Tiberius during the Roman era extended as far as the monumental gate in the east. In the center of the portico are the remains of a pool and to the west of it are those of the baths of Hadrian. Based on the inscriptions found in the bath consisting of 12 sections, it was built during the reign of the Emperor Trijan and dedicated to the Goddess Aphrodite. Lying to the north of the bath is an odeon surrounded by Doric columns on three sides, with 12 caveas and a seating capacity of one thousand in its western portico and north, and with the orchestra . floor paved with coloured marble. The odeon was used for musical concerts and contests and as a town assembly hall. Located adjacent to the odeon is the Metropolitan Palace having a unified appearance with it, in which, apparently, the Carian Metropolitan resided. To the north of the palace is the Temple of Aphrodite with a pronauos (forecourt) and a cella of periphteros plan, considered as one of the most extraordinary temples in Anatolia. The temple surrounded by columns of 8x13 of Ionic order all around was transformed into a temenos on the periphery in 117 A.D. The temple was converted into a church with an apse attached to its cella as well as an altar provided during the Byzantine era. Located behind the apse is a vast, sacred courtyard of quadrangular floor plan, presumably encircled with double colonnade all around and, further, a monumental gate at the entrance onto this courtyard from the eastern direction. This monumental gate has an ornate triangular frontal carried on eight spiral-fluted columns with Corinthian capitals. The face of the frontal having an aspect to the backyard is embellished with the figures of Nike and Eros. It is assumed that the structure of quadrangular plan with a floor covered with coloured mosaics as located to the north of the Temple of Aphrodite was a school of sculpture. Towards the north, in the direction of Mount Babadagi, is the largest stadion of the antiquity in elliptical form, measuring 265x60 m and with 24 caveas and a seating capacity of 30 thousand. The caveas in the northern direction of the stadion were combined with the city walls by the building of supplementary walls at the top. The stadion, encircled with walls in the west, was used as an arena in the Late Roman era. To the east of the stadion lie the remains of a heroon, nymphaeum/ monumental fountain and, opposite the museum, two three-storeyed porticoes, running parallel to each other, measuring 80 m long by 15 m wide, called Sebasteion. The temple with a podium ascended through steps and its altar were used as a place where the cult of the emperor was kept alive. Porticoes join in the western direction, forming a monumental gate. The three-storeyed gate has columns with Doric capital on the first, Ionic on the second and Corinthian on the third floors, with the relief-carvings of Heracles on the columns and statuary in the spaces between them. In the Museum of Aphrodisias, prehistoric objects as well as the statues of emperors, gods and goddesses, friezes, reliefs, household articles, stelae, sarcophagi, coins and jewellery as uncovered in the area are on display.