Aspendos

It is situated on the hill of an acropolis at a height of 40 m, right by the side of the river Eurymedon-KoprQcay near Serik, east of Antalya. The name of the city in the Etruscan/Luwian language was "Asiawanda" meaning "country of horses". Also meaning the country of the believers of As, the name of the city became Aspendos in the ancient Pamphylia. Its history dates back to 3000 B.C. Aspendos was an important trade city because of the convenience of the creek Eurymedon for maritime transport. The horses bred in the area, salt and cheap wines were the most important export products. The foremost work of art surviving from Aspendos is the theatre with a capacity of 12,000, assumed to have been built by Zenon the Architect as a result of a competition in the 2nd century B.C. Today it is the best preserved antique theatre with the best acoustics in the world. Entrance into the theatre with the Roman architectural characteristics is through two vomitories on both sides located between the stage building and the seating tiers. Caveas consisting of a total of 41 tiers are divided in two by a diazoma on the 20th tier and magazine chambers were built on the diazoma where spectators shopped and were sheltered from the sun. The carving of some names in the form of gravures on the cavea benches shows that there were regular customers of the theatre. The orchestral court was 24 m in diameter and, from there, one can reach the upper tiers through 10 steep stone-cut stairs between the caveas. On top of the vomitories, the imperial boxes can be seen. The internal face of the stage building is decorated with 40 columns with Corinthian capitals at the bottom and Ionic capitals at the top. On top of the stage building, the relief of Bachuss, god of entertainment and wine, is visible. Actors finishing their preparations in the chambers appeared, through one big door in the middle and 4 small doors at the sides, on a wooden podium 2 m high and performed their plays on this podium. Women were forbidden to take part in the plays. At the end of the play the actors started a mutual discussion with the spectators on the points criticised which lasted for hours. The spectators, paying stones or metal chips to enter the theatre, sometimes spent their entire day there. The Aspendos Theatre has never been turned into an arena where bloodshed games were exhibited. It was used as an outdoors church during the late Byzantine Epoch and a caravanserai in the wake of capture of the area by the Turks in the 12th century. The Antalya Music and Film Festival gala is performed here every year. On the acropolis hill rising behind the theatre gallery, an agora encircled by a double row of columns and, to the north of this, the remains of a building belonging to the city administration measuring 16 in height with 5 niches on the facade, are visible. The wall projection of the building was also used as a single-basin fountain. Inside the big structure to the south of agora thereused to be shops and further south of this, there was a waste water canal.To the north of Agora, the quadrangular structure with walls measuring 2 m high was an Orthodox Basilica. A complex of small shops lined next to each other and the acropolis city gate exhibit the Roman architectural characteristics. To the north of the theatre is the Stadion built upon arches, with a seating capacity of 10 thousand. A tomb house with a sarchophagus inside and the tombstones with names engraved in the Etruscan/ Luwian language, embellished with a rich variety of Anatolian floral motifs,are noteworthy. Another of the most important remains of Aspendos is the aqueducts carrying spring water into the city from the valleys 25 km away, functioning on the principle of combined containers. Today these are among the best examples of the Roman era aqueducts in the world. Over Eurymedon/ Ktipru Qay is a bridge with foundations laid during the Roman epoch which was later rebuilt by the Seljuks with eight pointed arches upon ruined foundations. Today there are touristic shopping centres and trout restaurants on the banks of the creek.