JUNE 19 Istanbul
If you’re coming to Turkey from the US, you will have left the day before. The time difference between the two countries is 7 to 10 hours; if it’s 8 am in California (and 11 am in Toronto), it’s 6 pm the same day in Turkey. The new airport of Istanbul is attractive and efficient, and easy to navigate. It’s a good idea to change some money in the banks at the airport; unlike some countries, banks at the airport and everywhere in Greece have approximately the same rate of exchange, which is always better than the rate outside Greece. After coming out the front door of the airport, you’ll see a line of taxis, and a corresponding line of people waiting for taxis. Take a taxi from the taxi stand to the HOTEL ANTEA, Piyerloti Street, No:21 Çemberlitaş (telephone 0212-638-1121). When you arrive at the hotel, tell the driver to wait while you go inside. Tell the desk clerk at the hotel you’re with Dick, and he’ll make sure you pay the right amount for the taxi (it should be around 30 lira). The taxi drivers in Istanbul are generally honest.
Since not everyone will arrive on the same flight, we’ll first meet in the hotel lobby at 7 pm to socialize a bit, then go to dinner (a 3 minute walk).
JUNE 20-23 Istanbul
While in Istanbul, as
a group we'll see Aya Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Kariye Museum, the
archaeological
museums, and take a private cruise of the Bosphorus; there'll be free
time
for other things like the imperial mosques and the Grand Bazaar.
Istanbul, Archaeological Museum: frieze from the "Alexander"
sarcophagus
Istanbul, Archaeological Museum: Diana
Istanbul, Museum of the Ancient Orient: :fragment of Ishtar Gate,
Babylon
Early evening on June 23 we'll fly from Istanbul to Antalya, a large port city on the Mediterranean Sea. We’ll have dinner at one of the finest restaurants in the area, next to our hotel. This hotel, the Keptur, is a resort hotel about 10 minutes' drive north of Antalya, situated in a pine forest in the foothills of the Toros Mountains.
JUNE 24 Antalya
The general name for this
coastal area is Pamphylia (“all-tribes”), which may be connected with
the
tradition that southern Asia Minor was settled by a “mixed multitude”
of
Greeks after the collapse of the Mycenean civilization. Antalya
was
originally called Attaleia for its founder, the Pergamene king Attalos
II.
It quickly became, and remains, the principal port of Turkey’s south
coast,
and it is now a metropolis with over 300,000 inhabitants. Both
St. Paul and
the emperor Hadrian visited the city, and the latter’s presence in 130
a.d.
was commemorated by one of the ubiquitous Hadrian’s Arches which fill
the
Roman world. Other than this Arch, a Roman mausoleum called
Hidirlik
Kulesi above the harbor, a few Byzantine churches which were converted
to
mosques, and sections of the old wall, hardly anything remains of
Antalya’s
ancient past. Nevertheless it is a delightful city with a restored Old
Town
(mostly 19th century Ottoman structures) and a magnificent view from
the
promenade high over the harbor, looking across a great bay to the
mountains
of Lycia to the west.
This morning we’ll visit one
of the most striking sites in Turkey, ancient Termessos, about 15 miles
northwest of Antalya and high on a mountainside 3300 feet above the
Pamphylian plain. Thanks both to its remoteness and to the quality of
its defenses and defenders, Termessos successfully resisted a siege by
Alexander the Great in 333. There is a Hellenistic theater in good
shape (with a spectacular view onto the
valley below), several interesting rock tombs, a series of great
cisterns,
and a weird necropolis with sarcophagi lying like tumbled dominoes on
the
hillside, but by far the most remarkable aspect of Termessos is its
setting.
After visiting the
spectacular Antalya museum (best known for a remarkable display of
sculpture from Perge, a unique Phrygian treasure found just a few years
ago, and the bones of Santa Claus) we’ll drive east to the site of
ancient Perge,
about 10 miles east of Antalya, where the spectacular sculptures we saw
in
the Antalya Museum were found. The large theater of Perge is one of the
best-preserved
anywhere, but it is not nearly as impressive as it should be if you
have
just come from Aspendus. Near the theater is one of the best examples
anywhere
of a Roman stadium; it held 12,000 spectators. Between the two entrance
gates
(the inner is Hellenistic, the outer is much later) is a large Roman
bath,
probably the most interesting of all the baths we’ll see in Turkey.
There
is also a long colonnaded Main Street with a water-channel running down
the
middle; at the west end of the street is a fountain-house decorated
with
a statue of the river god Cestrus.
The Roman bath at Perge
JUNE 25 Fethiye
Today we'll drive to ancient
Aspendus on the Eurymedon river near the Mediterranean coast, where
we’ll see two fantastic structures: the best-preserved ancient theater,
from any period, anywhere in the world, and the best surviving example
of a Roman aqueduct. Greek legends say that Aspendus was founded by the
prophet Mopsos, and there may be a basis in historical reality for this
story. During the 6th century Aspendus, Side, and the other
cities of the south coast were conquered by Croesus, King of Lydia, but
his rule was replaced by the Persians in 546 BC. The great defeat
of Persia at Salamis in 480 did not affect the cities of Pamphylia
until the Athenian admiral Kimon's victory over a Persian army and
fleet at the Eurymedon in 468. The cities were free for a
while, but reverted to Persian domination after the treaty between
Greece
and Persia of 386. After Alexander’s conquest Pamphylia was
fought
over by the various Hellenistic monarchies, some of it was allotted to
Pergamum
after the battle of Magnesia in 190, and around 100 BC Pamphylia became
a
Roman province (although the province was called Cilicia). In 43 AD
Pamphylia
and Lycia, to the west, were made into one combined province of
Lycia-Pamphylia; under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) they were split
into separate provinces. As in the rest of Asia Minor, Aspendus reached
its height of prosperity
during the first three centuries of the Roman empire.
The Aspendus theater was
built late in the 2nd century AD by the Curtius brothers, Crispinus and
Auspicatus, whose dedicatory inscription, in Greek and Latin, is over
the entrances. It is virtually the same now as when it was built; the
only things missing are the stage, which was made of wood, and the
statues which filled the
niches on the rear wall. There are forty rows of seats, and the
capacity
was nearly 20,000. The pedimental figure at the top center of the
back wall is Bacchus (Dionysos), but a local story says that it is a
girl
(it’s always hard to tell with Bacchus/Dionysos) named Bal Kiz (Honey
Girl)
and that is why the local village is called Belkis.
Aspendus theater
Next we'll take a look at the
remarkable aqueduct which brought
water
from the mountains 20 miles away.
We'll have lunch with the mayor
of Aspendus, Nuri the Nomad, and then drive west to Fethiiye, with a
stop at Tlos, one of the most spectacular sites in Turkey.
Located on a plateau
high above the Xanthos river valley, Tlos has a Roman bath whose main
room
looks out through a curved wall of open arches on the valley below (the
only Roman bath room I know of which clearly was built for the view), a
theater with interesting relief sculptures on the stage building, and
an
acropolis whose sides are covered with sarcophagi and Lycian
temple-tombs (the most famous of these is the so-called Tomb of
Bellerophon, the mythical hero who rode the winged horse Pegasos and
slew the fire-breathing monster Chimaira).
JUNE 26 Yacht
We'll board our yacht in the morning for a day-long sail on the enormous Bay of Fethiye.
An hour west of Fethiye is Dalyan, a picturesque village on the Dalyan River. High on the cliff-side opposite the village is one of the most imposing sights in Lycia, a group of Karian temple-tombs carved into the rock, most of them from the 4th century BC. Dalyan is a very pleasant village, with good restaurants overlooking the rushing river and a spectacular view of the temple-tombs.
We’ll charter a small boat for the trip down the river, passing first through forests of reeds like a scene from The African Queen, to the site of ancient Kaunos. Once a bustling port, Kaunos is now separated from the sea by about three miles of marsh. The most interesting ruins at Kaunos are a Roman nymphaeum called the Fountain of Vespasian, a circular structure which may have been a pool, and, on a higher level, a Roman bath, an early Christian church, and a small but well-preserved theater. The long sandbar at the mouth of the Dalyan River was for several years the subject of a raging dispute between developers and conservationists; the latter wanted to protect the area, which is one of the last breeding places for the Mediterranean sea turtle, and against all expectations they won!
Karian tombs at Dalyan
We'll
spend the night at a family-owned boutique hotel on the riverfront.
From Dalyan we’ll drive west and north to the Aegean coast, stopping first at ancient Euromus to see the 2nd century Temple of Zeus, the best-preserved temple in Asia Minor. From Euromus it's a short drive to Didyma and the Oracle of Apollo.
Didyma was never a city; it was the religious center for Miletus and one of the most famous oracles of antiquity. The archaic temple (which, according to Pausanias, replaced an earlier [i.e., indigenous] cult shrine), was renowned throughout the Greek world; before it was destroyed by the Persians in 494 BC, it received gifts from the Pharaoh Necho and from Croesus of Lydia. A new larger temple on the same model was begun by 300 BC and still not completed 500 years later: most of this temple still stands.
A small inner temple
(naiskos), which once contained a statue of Apollo, is within the
interior walls (cella); the room in which the oracles were actually
delivered is up a flight of stairs at the opposite end of the
courtyard, flanked on either side by labyrinths. The entrances to
the courtyard are through tunnels under the labyrinths. The dimensions
of the whole temple are 623 by 167 feet.
Didyma: fallen column
Here philosophy began, under a succession of famous names: Thales, who predicted an eclipse of the sun in 585, founded geometry, and taught that the fundamental material of the universe is water; his successor Anaximander, who taught evolution, drew the first map of the earth, and believed that the basic principle of the universe is the “Unlimited;” and Anaximander’s pupil Anaximenes, who taught that the universe is consituted by the condensation and rarefaction of divine air. Also from this period was the first Greek geographer Hekataios, who traveled in Egypt and Asia and wrote a “Journey around the World.” In 499 Miletus led a revolt against Persia (the “Ionian Revolt”) which was put down in 494 after a naval defeat at Lade, then an island off Miletus but now, thanks to the silting of the delta, one of the hills west of the ruins. During the 4th century Miletus came under the control of Mausolos of Halicarnassus, was liberated by Alexander, and eventually became part of the Roman province of Asia. It shared in the wealth of the Roman empire, but gradually declined as shipping was prevented by the silting of the harbor.
From the parking lot we walk directly to the theater (the water in the plan by the entrance to the site is of course no longer in our path). The theater, originally built in the 4th century, was enlarged during Hellenistic and Roman times from a capacity of 5,300 to 25,000. Only the bottom half of the seating area is preserved; the large structure in the upper part of the audience is part of a Byzantine fortress. Walking around the theater and over the theater hill, we come to the port and city center. Two hellenistic lion statues guard the entrance to the harbor, and the large harbor monument commemorates Pompey’s victory over the pirates in 63 BC and Augustus’ victory at Actium in 31. The harbor gate leads via the Processional Road to the South Agora. To the left of the gate are a Greco-Roman bath and the Delphinion, a Hellenistic precinct of Apollo. On the left side of the road are a partially reconstructed Ionic Stoa, a 15th century Selcuk bath, the Capito baths, a Hellenistic gymnasium, and a 2nd century AD fountain-house. On the right side are the North Agora , and the Bouleuterion. Next we come to a long storehouse and a small temple of Serapis with a well-preserved pediment.
Our final stops are at the Ilyas Bey mosque, completed in 1404 and one of the great examples of Selcuk architecture, and at the monumental Faustina bath complex, built by the wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Miletus: Ionic Stoa
From Miletus it's less than an
hour's drive to Selcuk, where we'll spend the night.
Today we’ll see the Ephesus Museum and the site of ancient Ephesus.
Ephesus was the second most important city in Greek Asia Minor during the Archaic and Classical periods (Miletus being the first), and by the Hellenistic and Roman periods Ephesus’ position was rivalled only by that of Alexandria. During antiquity Ephesus was a port; the silting of the river Kayster (a branch of the Maeander) forced the Ephesians to move twice in ancient times, and now the sea is some 7 miles to the west. The history of Ephesus is similar to that of the other Ionian cities: colonized by Ionian Greeks (in myth, under the leadership of the Athenian prince Androklos), Ephesus became rich and culturally advanced by the end of the Archaic period, despite being conquered by the Lydian king Croesus in the 6th century and then, with the rest of Lydia, passing into the control of Persia. After the break-up of Alexander’s kingdom upon his death. Ephesus professed allegiance to virtually all the Hellenistic kingdoms at one time or another, finally coming under the power of the Pergameme kingdom and, after the death of Attalos III. entering the Roman empire. The wealth and importance of Ephesus reached its height during the first two centuries of the Roman empire, when it became the capital of the Roman province of Asia and the residence of the Roman governor. The population of Ephesus during the early empire has been estimated at close to 300,000, and it was the cultural and commercial, as well as political, center of western Asia
Ephesus was a religious center as well. The first Greeks to arrive there found the cult of the Asian mother-goddess Kybele and transformed their own goddess Artemis into a version of this eastern deity. The original temple of Artemis was built in the 8th century, and a second was under construction when Croesus arrived in the 6th century; this temple was destroyed by arson in 356 (on the night of Alexander’s birth), and a new temple was built which was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world (the other six were the Egyptian pyramids. the Colossus of Rhodes, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the lighthouse of Alexandria, and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus). Today only a few miserable fragments remain of this famous structure. Christianity quickly achieved a foothold in Ephesus; St. John visited here (supposedly with the Virgin Mary) and his grave is in the Church of St. John (a 6th century basilica built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian). St. Paul lived in Ephesus for three years and was apparently so successful that the silversmiths who made statues of Artemis/Diana were losing money: they organized a large demonstration and Paul left town.
By the 6th century AD silt again made the port unusable, and the city was moved to the vicinity of the Church of St. John. Near the church was built a citadel whose ruins are the most prominent site in Selcuk today. With the coming of the Turks Ephesus was renamed Ayasoluk (a Turkish version of the Byzantine name Ayios Theologos), and in 1914 Ayasoluk became Selcuk.
We'll begin with a visit to the Ephesus Museum, one of the most interesting in Turkey.
Selcuk Museum: Diana of Ephesus
We
pass through the entrance hall to the room in which are kept the finds
from the restored Roman houses called the “Terrace Villas”; note
especially the large Priapus (a garden watch-god), the bronze statue of
an Egyptian priest (centuries older than the house in which it was
found), and the fresco of Diana (appearing here in her more familiar
guise as a short-skirted huntress). In the next two rooms
pedimental sculptures from the Pollio Fountain show Odysseus blinding
the Cyclops, and there are exquisite ivory furniture
decorations.. In the rear courtyard are several large pieces,
including a sarcophagus with reliefs of the Muses and a large curved
stone inscription which stood in the harbor and listed customs and tax
regulations. The next room has pottery and funerary remains and a
chart showing the various forms taken over the centuries by Anatolian
goddesses. The highlight of the museum is the display of objects
from the Artemision (the precinct of Artemis), especially the two great
statues of the Ephesian Artemis; she is fully clothed and looks almost
like a pillar, wearing a headdress like a capital. The rows of
oval objects across her chest have been interpreted as multiple
breasts, fruit, eggs, and most recently as bulls’ testicles (odd as it
may seem, this last interpretation may be closest to the truth).
She seems utterly different from the Artemis of mainland Greek religion
and cult, the only visual connection between the two goddesses being
the numerous animals portrayed on her lower limbs (since the Greek
Artemis was a huntress and was associated with forests, wild animals,
and fertility). In fact (although this probably has little, if
anything, to do with their eventual identification), both Artemises
perhaps derive from a common ancestress, the fertility goddess of the
Early Bronze Age (3000-2000 BC) in Asia Minor, Greece, the Cycladic
islands, and Crete (where she appears on seals as the “mistress of
animals,” a title given to Artemis by the historical Greeks). The
last room contains representations of various Roman emperors.
After lunch in Selcuk there
will be time for those who wish to visit the Byzantine church of St.
John (built during the reign of Justinian). Then we’ll drive 5
minutes to the site of ancient Ephesus (actually, the Hellenistic and
Roman site; the early city, just south of the temple of Artemis, cannot
be excavated because of the high water table).
We'll stop briefly
at what remains of the Temple of Artemis (the Artemision), then drive
by the Magnesia Gate and the East Gymnasium, then go on foot down the
ancient road (called Curetes Street) by the Prytaneion, the Upper
Agora, and the Odeion. Next
to the temple of Domitian is the Pollio Fountain, where the pediment we
saw in the museum was located. Across from the Trajan fountain
and
the temple of Hadrian are the restored Terrace Villas. At present
two of these villas are open; each consists of around 10 rooms around a
central court and they are decorated with beautiful frescoes and
mosaics.
Their owners are unknown but they must have been rich Ephesians of the
Roman
Imperial period. The two buildings (separated by the famed public
toilet with marble seats) are the Scholasticia Bath, restored by a
Roman
lady of this name in the 4th century a.d., and what used to be called
the
brothel; half-way between the "brothel" (now regarded as some kind of
public
building) and the theater a sign is etched in the marble street — a
left
foot, a heart, and a figure of a woman, fancifully interpreted as a
sign
telling passers-by that the brothel is just ahead to the left.
The
two most striking buildings at Ephesus are the theater and the Library
of
Celsus. The library is the tomb and memorial of Gaius Julius
Celsus Polemaeanus, proconsul of Asia in 106 AD, and was built by his
son Aquila.
Thanks to years of restoration by the Austrian excavators, the
two-story
facade is virtually complete; the books were kept in rectangular niches
in
the walls of the inner room.
Ephesus: Celsus Mausoleum
In front of the library a three-arched gate leads to the Lower Agora; the inscription above the arches records the gate’s dedication by the freedmen Mithridates and Mazaeus to the emperor Augustus and his son-in-law Agrippa. The theater was built probably around 300 BC and extensively remodeled during the 1st century AD. It held 24,000 viewers and is still in use today for musical and theatrical events. The marble road leading from the theater to the ancient harbor is named Arcadiane for the emperor Arcadius (395-408 a.d.) and was one of the few ancient streets to have street lighting. On the north side of this road are the Harbor Baths and a gymnasium; walking between these structures we come to the lower parking lot, where our bus is waiting. Just before the parking lot a path turns off to the left to the Mary Church, a large Roman building whose west half was converted to a Christian basilica of the Virgin Mary during the 3rd century. Driving out we pass the poorly-preserved stadium and the baths of the 2nd century Vedius gymnasium.
Peter Lorre retired to Turkey
If you're continuing on with Tour G (Greek Highlights). we'll stay tonight at a boutique bed-and-breakfast in Selcuk.
If you're returning to America (or wherever) after Tour F, you'll take an afternoon flight from Izmir to Istanbul, where you'll spend the night back at the Hotel Antea.
JUNE 30
Departure (if you're going on to the Greek Highlights tour, we'll take the morning ferry to Samos, and then fly to Athens.