Εμφανίζονται 38 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΜΑΝΙΣΑ Επαρχία ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ" .
ΘΥΑΤΕΙΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Thyateira (ta Thuateira: Eth. Thuateirenos), a considerable city in
the north of Lydia, on the river Lycus, and on the road leading from Sardes in
the south to Germa in the north. It was anciently called Pelopeia, Euhippa, and
Semiramis. (Plin. v. 31; Steph. B. s. v. Thuateira.) Strabo (xiii. p. 625) calls
it a Macedonian colony, which probably means only that during the Macedonian period
it was increased and embellished, for Stephanus B., admitting that it previously
existed under other names, relates that Seleucus Nicator gave it the name of Thygateira
or Thyateira on being informed that a daughter (Thugater) was born to him. But
whatever we may think of this etymology, it seems clear that the place was not
originally a Macedonian colony, but had existed long before under other names,
and at one period belonged to Mysia. After the time of Antiochus Nicator, however,
it became an important place, and is often noticed in history. When the two Scipios
arrived in Asia on their expedition against Antiochus the Great, the latter was
encamped near Thyateira, but retreated to Magnesia. (Liv. xxxvii. 8, 21, 37.)
After the defeat of the Syrian king, the town surrendered to the Romans. (Liv.
xxxvii. 44; Polyb. xvi. 1, xxxii. 25; comp. Appian, Syr. 30; Strab. xiii. p. 646;
Plut. Sulla, 15; Ptol. v. 2. § 16; It. Ant. p. 336.) In Christian times Thyateira
appears as one of the seven Churches in the Apocalypse (ii. 18); in the Acts of
the Apostles (xvi. 14) mention is made of one Lydia, a purple-seller of Thyateira,
and at a still later period we hear of several bishops whose see it was. In the
middle ages the Turks changed the name of the town into Akhissar, which it still
bears. (Mich. Duc. p. 114.) Sir C. Fellows (Asia Min. p. 22), who calls the modern
place Aksa, states that it teems with relics of an ancient splendid city, although
he could not discover a trace of the site of any ruin or early building. These
relics consist chiefly of fragments of pillars, many of which have been changed
into well-tops or troughs. (Comp. Arundell, Seven Churches, p. 188, fell.; Wheeler
and Spon, vol. i. p. 253; Lucas, Troisieme Voy. p. 192, &c.; Prokesch, Denkwurdigkeiten,
iii. p. 60, foil.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΜΑΓΝΗΣΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
(Eth. Magnes.) A town of Lydia, usually with the addition pros or
hupo Sipuloi (ad Sipylum), to distinguish it from Magnesia on the Maeander in
Ionia situated on the north-western slope of Mount Sipylus on the southern bank
of the river Hermus. We are not informed when or by whom the town was founded,
but it may have been a settlement of the Magnesians in the east of Thessaly. Magnesia
is most celebrated in history for the victory gained under its walls by the two
Scipios in B.C. 190, over Antiochus the Great, whereby the king was for ever driven
from Western Asia. (Strab. xiii. p. 622 Plin ii. 93; Ptol. v. 2. § 16, viii. 17.
§ 16; Scylax, p. 37 Liv. xxxvii. 37, foll.; Tac. Ann. ii. 47.) The town, after
the victory of the Scipios, surrendered to the Romans. (Appian, Syr. 35.) During
the war against Mithridates the Magnesians defended themselves bravely against
the king. (Paus. i. 20. § 3.) In the reign of Tiberius, the town was nearly destroyed
by an earthquake, in which several other Asiatic cities perished; and the emperor
on that occasion granted liberal sums from the treasury to repair the loss sustained
by the inhabitants (Strab. xii. p. 579; xiii. p. 622; Tac. l. c.) From coins and
other sources, we learn that Magnesia continued to flourish down to the fifth
century (Hierocl. p. 660); and it is often mentioned by the Byzantine writers.
During the Turkish rule, it once was the residence of the Sultan; but at present
it is much reduced, though it preserves its ancient name in the corrupt form of
Manissa. The ruins of ancient buildings are not very considerable. (Chandler,
Travels in Asia, ii. p. 332; Keppel, Travels, ii. p. 295.) The accompanying coin
is remarkable by having on its obverse the head of Cicero, though the reason why
it appears here, is unknown. The legend, which is incorrectly figured, should
be, MAPKOS TULLIOS KIKEPON.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΠΑΚΤΩΛΟΣ (Ποταμός) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Pactolus (Paktolos), a small river of Lydia, which flows down from Mount Tmolus
in a northern direction, and, after passing on the west of Sardis, empties itself
into the Hermus. (Herod. v. 101; Xenoph. Cyrop. vi. 2. § 1, vii. 3. § 4, Ages.
i. 30; Strab. xii. pp. 554, 521, xiii. p. 625, foll.; Ptol. v. 2. § 6; Plin. v.
30.) In ancient times the Pactolus had carried in its mud, it is said, a great
quantity of small particles of gold-dust, which were carefully collected, and
were believed to have been the source of the immense wealth possessed by Croesus
and his ancestors; but in Strabo's time gold-dust was no longer found in it. The
gold of this river, which was hence called Chrysorrhoas, is often spoken of by
the poets. (Soph. Phil. 392; Dionys. Perieg. 831; Hom. Hymn. in Del. 249; Virg.
Aen. x. 142 ; Horat. Epod. xv. 20; Ov. Met. xi. 85, &c.; Senec. Phoen. 604; Juven.
xiv. 298; Silius It. i. 158.) The little stream, which is only 10 feet in breadth
and scarcely 1 foot deep, still carries along with it a quantity of a reddish
mud, and is now called Sarabat.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΣΑΡΔΕΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Sardeis or Sardis: Eth. Sardianos. The ancient capital of the kingdom
of Lydia, was situated at the northern foot of Mount Tmolus, in a fertile plain
between this mountain and the river Hermus, from which it was about 20 stadia
distant. (Arrian, Anab. i. 17.) The small river Pactolus, a tributary of the Hermus,
flowed through the agora of Sardes. (Herod. v. 101.) This city was of more recent
origin, as Strabo (xiii. p. 625) remarks, than the Trojan times, but was nevertheless
very ancient, and had a very strong acropolis on a precipitous height. The town
is first mentioned by Aeschylus (Pers. 45); and Herodotus (i. 84) relates that
it was fortified by a king Meles, who, according to the Chronicle of Eusebius,
preceded Candaules. The city itself was, at least at first, built in a rude manner,
and the houses were covered with dry reeds, in consequence of which it was repeatedly
destroyed by fire; but the acropolis, which some of the ancient geographers identified
with the Homeric Hyde (Strab. xiii. p. 626; comp. Plin. v. 30; Eustath. ad Dion.
Per. 830), was built upon an almost inaccessible rock, and surrounded with a triple
wall. In the reign of Ardys, Sardes was taken by the Cimmerians, but they were
unable to gain possession of the citadel. The city attained its greatest prosperity
in the reign of the last Lydian king, Croesus. After the overthrow of the Lydian
monarchy, Sardes became the residence of the Persian satraps of Western Asia.
(Herod. v 25; Pans. iii. 9. § 3.) On the revolt of the Ionians, excited by Aristagoras
and Histiaeus, the Ionians, assisted by an Athenian force, took Sardes, except
the citadel, which was defended by Artaphernes and a numerous garrison. The city
then was accidentally set on fire, and burnt to the ground, as the buildings were
constructed of easily combustible materials. After this event the Ionians and
Athenians withdrew, but Sardes was rebuilt; and the indignation of the king of
Persia, excited by this attack on one of his principal cities, determined him
to wage war against Athens. Xerxes spent at Sardes the winter preceding his expedition
against Greece, and it was there that Cyrus the younger assembled his forces when
about to march against his brother Artaxerxes. (Xenoph. Anab. i. 2. § 5.) When
Alexander the Great arrived in Asia, and had gained the battle of the Granicus,
Sardes surrendered to him without resistance, for which he rewarded its inhabitants
by restoring to them their freedom and their ancient laws and institutions. (Arrian,
i. 17.) After the death of Alexander, Sardes came into the possession of Antigonus,
and after his defeat at Ipsus into that of the Seleucidae of Syria. But on the
murder of Seleucus Ceraunus, Achaeus set himself up as king of that portion of
Asia Minor, and made Sardes his residence. (Polyb. iv. 48, v. 57.) Antiochus the
Great besieged the usurper in his capital for a whole year, until at length Lagoras,
a Cretan, scaled the ramparts at a point where they were not guarded. On this
occasion, again, a great part of the city was destroyed. (Polyb. vii. 15, &c.
viii. 23.) When Antiochus was defeated by the Romans in the battle of Magnesia,
Sardes passed into the hands of the Romans. In the reign of Tiberius the city
was reduced to a heap of ruins by an earthquake; but the emperor ordered its restoration.
(Tac. Ann. ii. 47; Strab. xiii. p. 627.) In the book of Revelation (iii. 1, &c.),
Sardes is named as one of the Seven Churches, whence it is clear that at that
time its inhabitants had adopted Christianity. From Pliny (v. 30) we learn that
Sardes was the capital of a conventus: during the first centuries of the Christian
era we hear of more than one council held there; and it continued to be a wealthy
city down to the end of the Byzantine empire. (Eunap. p. 154; Hierocl. p. 669.)
The Turks took possession of it in the 11th century, and two centuries later it
was almost entirely destroyed by Tamerlane. (Anna Comn. p. 323; M. Ducas, p. 39.)
Sardes is now little more than a village, still bearing the name of Sart, which
is situated in the midst of the ruins of the ancient city. These ruins, though
extending over a large space, are not of any great consequence; they consist of
the remains of a stadium, a theatre, and the triple walls of the acropolis, with
lofty towers.
The fertile plain of Sardes bore the name of Sardiene or Sardianon
pedion, and near the city was the celebrated tomb of Alyattes. Sardes was believed
to be the native place of the Spartan poet Alcman, and it is well known that the
two rhetoricians Diodorus and the historian Eunapius were natives of Sardes.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Tarne is mentioned by Homer (Il. v. 44), and after him by Strabo (ix. p. 413), as a town in Asia Minor; but Pliny (v. 30) knows Tarne only as a fountain of Mount Tmolus in Lydia.
ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Philadelpheia (Philadelpheia: Eth. Philadelpheus). 1. An important
city in the east of Lydia, on the north-western side of Mount Tmolus, and not
far from the southern bank of the river Cogamus, at a distance of 28 miles from
Sardes. (Plin. v. 30; It. Ant. p. 336.) The town was founded by Attalus Philadelphus
of Pergamum. (Steph. B. s. v.) Strabo (xiii. p. 628, comp. xii. p. 579), who places
it on the borders of Catacecaumene, remarks that it frequently suffered from violent
shocks of earthquakes; the walls and houses were constantly liable to be demolished,
and in his time the place had become nearly deserted. During the great earthquake
in the reign of Tiberius it was again destroyed. (Tac. Ann. ii. 47.) But in the
midst of these calamities Christianity flourished at Philadelpheia at an early
period, as is attested by the book of Revelations (iii. 7). The town, which is
mentioned also by Ptolemy (v. 2. § 17) and Hierocles (p. 669), gallantly defended
itself against the Turks on more than one occasion, until at length it was conquered
by Bajazid in A.D. 1390. (G. Pachym. p. 290; Mich. Duc. p. 70; Chalcond. p. 33.)
It now bears the name Allahsher, but is a mean though considerable town. Many
parts of its ancient walls are still standing, and its ruined churches amount
to about twenty-four. (Chandler, Traveas, p. 310, foil.; Richter, Wallfahrten,
p. 513, foll.) to it.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited October 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Eth. Philadelpheus. An important city in the east of Lydia, on the north-western side of Mount Tmolus, and not far from the southern bank of the river Cogamus, at a distance of 28 miles from Sardes. (Plin. v. 30; It. Ant. p. 336.) The town was founded by Attalus Philadelphus of Pergamum. Strabo (xiii. p. 628, comp. xii. p. 579), who places it on the borders of Catacecaumene, remarks that it frequently suffered from violent shocks of earthquakes; the walls and houses were constantly liable to be demolished, and in his time the place had become nearly deserted. During the great earthquake in the reign of Tiberius it was again destroyed. (Tac. Ann. ii. 47.) But in the midst of these calamities Christianity flourished at Philadelpheia at an early period, as is attested by the book of Revelations (iii. 7). The town, which is mentioned also by Ptolemy (v. 2. § 17) and Hierocles (p. 669), gallantly defended itself against the Turks on more than one occasion, until at length it was conquered by Bajazid in A.D. 1390. (G. Pachym. p. 290; Mich. Duc. p. 70; Chalcond. p. 33.) It now bears the name Allahsher, but is a mean though considerable town. Many parts of its ancient walls are still standing, and its ruined churches amount to about twenty-four. (Chandler, Traveas, p. 310, foil.; Richter, Wallfahrten, p. 513, foll.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Apollonis. A city in Lydia, between Pergamus and Sardis, named after Apollonis, the mother of King Eumenes.
ΜΑΓΝΗΣΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Magnesia Ad Sipylum, a city in the northwest of Lydia, at the foot of Mount Sipylus, and on the south bank of the Hermus, famous as the scene of the victory gained by Scipio Asiaticus over Antiochus the Great, B.C. 190.
ΠΑΚΤΩΛΟΣ (Ποταμός) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
(Paktolos). A small but celebrated river of Lydia, rising on Mount Tmolus, and flowing past Sardis into the Hermus. The golden sands of Pactolus have passed into a proverb, and were one of the sources of the wealth of ancient Lydia.
ΣΑΡΔΕΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Sardis or Sardes (hai Sardeis, Ion. Sardies, contracted Sardi_s). One
of the most ancient and famous cities of Asia Minor, and the capital of the great
Lydian monarchy, stood on the southern edge of the rich valley of the Hermus,
at the northern foot of Mount Tmolus, on the little river Pactolus, 30 stadia
(three geographical miles) south of the junction of that river with the Hermus.
On a lofty precipitous rock, forming an outpost of the range of Tmolus, was the
almost impregnable citadel, which some suppose to be the Hyde of Homer, who, though
he never mentions the Lydians or Sardis by name, speaks of Mount Tmolus and the
Lake of Gyges. The erection of this citadel was ascribed to Meles, an ancient
king of Lydia. It was surrounded by a triple wall, and contained the palace and
treasury of the Lydian kings. At the downfall of the Lydian Empire, it resisted
all the attacks of Cyrus, and was only taken by surprise. The story is told by
Herodotus, who relates other legends of the fortress. The rest of the city, which
stood in the plain on both sides of the Pactolus, was very slightly built, and
was repeatedly burned down, first by the Cimmerian Gauls in the seventh century
B.C., then by the Greeks in the great Ionic revolt, and again, in part at least,
by Antiochus the Great (B.C. 215); but on each occasion it was restored. Under
the Persian and Greco-Syrian Empires, it was the residence of the satrap of Lydia.
The rise of Pergamum greatly diminished its importance; but under the Romans it
was still a considerable city, and the seat of a conventus iuridicus. In the reign
of Tiberius, it was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, but was restored
by the aid of that emperor. It was one of the seven Christian Churches of the
province of Asia. In 1402 it was totally demolished by Tamerlane; but the triple
wall of its acropolis can still be traced, and there are remains of the temple
of Cybele, a theatre, the stadium, and other structures, together with some vestiges
of the necropolis, four miles distant from the city across the river Hermus. The
site of the city is still called Sart.
ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
A city of Lydia, at the foot of Mount Tmolus, built by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamum. It was an early seat of Christianity, and its Church is one of the seven to which the Apocalypse of St. John is addressed.
ΣΑΡΔΕΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Capital of Lydia,
in Asia Minor.
Sardis was the city of residence of Croesus, the Lydian king of the
VIth century B. C.. Lydia
at the time was a very rich country, owing in particular to the gold of the Tmolus
mountains that was carried down under the form of gold dust by the Pactolus
river flowing through Sardis.
Herodotus depicts the court of Croesus as a brilliant place visited
by all the Wise Men of Greece
who lived in that time and tells the story of the visit of Solon there and his
contempt for Croesus' wealth. Based on Herodotus' account, Sardis is linked in
more than one way to the later history of Athens
and Greece. By attacking
Cyrus when he felt his kingdom in danger in the face of Persian expansion, and
being defeated by him, Croesus led to the subjection of the Ionian cities he had
himself earlier subjected, such as Miletus,
to the dominion of Persia:
eventually, Lydia became,
under Darius, one of the satrapies of the Persian Empire and Sardis the city of
residence of the Satrap of that province.
And it is the uprising of the Ionian cities in 498 under the leadership
of Aristagoras of Miletus,
and the help it received from Athens
and Eretria, leading to the
destruction of Sardis by fire at the hands of the rebels that same year which
was seen by many, starting with Herodotus, as the cause of the Persian Wars.
Herodotus puts the origin of Croesus' dynasty as kings of Lydia
in a certain Gyges and tells us, at the very start of his Histories, the story
of how that Gyges usurped power over Candaules.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Apollonis. City in Lydia midway on the road between Sardis and Pergamon (Strab.
13.4.4), founded by Eumenes II of Pergamon (197-160 B.C.). Cicero refers to it
as well deserving and prosperous (Flac. 29.71). It is on a hill half an hour's
walk N of modern Mecidiye (formerly Palamut). Partly preserved is a large wall
circuit with some 24 towers, of Hellenistic coursed trapezoidal (and some polygonal)
masonry. Inside are remains of a rectangular building (gymnasium?). On a lower
hill to the NW, connected by a saddle, is a smaller fortress. The main wall is
thought to date earlier than the 190s. Nearby there was apparently a Macedonian
colony, Doidye, not certainly located.
T. S. Mackay, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΘΥΑΤΕΙΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
Situated in the township of Akhisar, which is attached to the city
of Manisa. The name suggests an ancient Lydian settlement. The city, located in
the middle of the fertile Lykos valley and at the crossroads of important trade
routes, was under the domination of Pergamon between the early 3d and the 2d c.
B.C. It was an autonomous city, and on its coins Apollo and Artemis were represented.
Apollo and Helios were especially honored. Its zenith coincided with Caracalla's
visit to the city (A.D. 215). Soundings on the acropolis brought to light a part
of an apsidal structure and various architectural elements (i.e. capitals, columns,
column bases) from the Roman period. Little else remains except inscriptions,
21 of which, recently found, are in the Manisa Museum.
U. Serdaroglu, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΜΑΓΝΗΣΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
About 32 km NE of Izinir. Founded, together with Magnesia ad Maeandrum,
by the Thessalian Magnetes, it was situated in the fertile valley of the Hermos
river at the nexus of important road systems. Here in 190 B.C. the Romans decisively
defeated Antiochos III of Syria, and the Magnesians sided with Rome in the struggle
with Mithridates. When Sulla reordered the province of Asia, Magnesia was made
a civitas libera. In A.D. 17 the area was struck by a terrible earthquake; the
Roman authorities seem quickly to have reconstructed the town. In later Byzantine
times it was an important political and military center.
There are some statues and small finds, and fragments of ancient buildings
are preserved in Turkish structures, but the Classical town proper is unknown.
However, in the vicinity are monuments of considerable significance, some of them
apparently marking the westernmost limits of Hittite influence or control (dates
and identifications have not been established conclusively in all cases). Pausanias
came from the area, and his references to it and its traditions are numerous.
Just outside the SW limit of Manisa is the Rock of Niobe (Paus. 1.21.3;
cf. Hom. Il. 24.615, and Soph. Ant. 806-16), a large natural rock formation rather
in the shape of a woman weeping. What had formerly been taken to be Niobe's Rock
is seen at Akpinar 6 km E of Manisa: a rock-cut figure of a seated woman shown
frontally in a niche. This figure (Tas Suret) is probably Pausanias' Mother Goddess
(3.22.4), that is, Kybele. It is in high relief and well over life size; though
badly worn, it is surely Hittite in origin (13th c. B.C.). Beside it is a panel
thought to contain a hieroglyphic inscription.
In the vicinity of the Tas Suret are monuments that may well be the
ones that Pausanias associated with Pelops and Tantalos (2.22.3 and 5.13.7). The
Tomb of Tantalos, long thought to be just N of Old Smyrna, can be sought at the
tomb known as that of S. Charalambos, 1 or 2 km E of the Tas Suret. Pausanias'
Throne of Pelops may be the same as a large rock-cutting in the shape of an altar
or a seat that exists high up on the slopes of Mt. Sipylos between the Tas Suret
and the S. Charalambos tomb. Pausanias' Sanctuary of the Plastene Mother (5.13.7)
has been identified a little way from the Tas Suret in the plain of the Hermos.
In the general vicinity of these monuments are Lydian constructions (houses and
cisterns?) of the 7th and 6th c. B.C., some of sun-dried brick.
About 20 km S of Manisa, in the Karabel gorge, is a rock-cut relief
of a standing ruler or war-god. Here also are the badly worn remains of what was
once a hieroglyphic inscription. This is probably one of the reliefs that Herodotos
identified, at second hand, as one of the XII dynasty pharaohs named Sesostris
(2.106). In fact the carving is Hittite, and is known locally as Eti Baba.
Some sculptures and other finds can be seen in the local Manisa museum,
and there are a few pieces in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
W. L. Macdonald, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΣΑΡΔΕΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
In the plain of the Hermus river about 10 km inland from the Aegean
coast at the foot of Mt. Tmolos, a spur of which forms its acropolis. The site
occupies ca. 2.5 sq. km astride the modern E-W highway between Izmir and Salihli,
and extends S into the valley of the Pactolus river, famed in antiquity for its
gold-bearing sands.
Excavations have established continuous habitation of the region since
at least 3000 B.C. Mycenaean IIIC and Protogeometric pottery (ca. 1200-ca. 900
B.C.) lends credence to Herodotos' claim that Greek warriors, "sons of Herakles,"
seized Sardis and founded a dynasty in ca. 1185 B.C. About 680 B.C. Gyges took
Sardis from Kandaules, the last of the Heraklid kings, and founded the Mermnad
dynasty. Under the Merinnads, Gyges, Ardys, Sadyattes, Alyattes, and Croesus,
Sardis achieved international prominence as capital of Lydia. The period of greatest
Lydian artistic and technical achievement was 650-550 B.C. Economic prosperity
derived from the supply of gold and the ability to purify it, and from the invention
of coinage and the establishment of a bimetallic monetary standard. In the time
of Croesus (560/1-547) the population is estimated at 50,000.
In 547 Sardis fell to Cyrus, who made it his western capital from
which the Anatolian and Ionic Satrapies of the Persian Empire were ruled. It was
the western terminus to the Royal Road maintained by the Persian kings from Iran
to the Mediterranean. In 334 B.C. the satrap Mithrines surrendered the city to
Alexander the Great, whose generals held it until its capture in 282 B.C. by Seleucus
I, satrap of Babylon. Antiochos III besieged and destroyed Sardis in 213 B.C.
but let the city be replanned along Hellenistic lines.
The kings of Pergamon took over Sardis about 180 B.C., and in 133
B.C. it was left to the Romans by the bequest of the last Pergamene king, Attalos
III. Although its power as an administrative center was lost to Ephesos, Sardis
continued an important center throughout the Roman period and increased in size
and prosperity. An important Jewish community existed at Sardis from the 5th c.
B.C., attaining such influence that their synagogue was uniquely situated within
the Roman gymnasium complex. The Revelation of St. John lists Sardis as one of
the Seven Churches of Asia. The end of the Classical city probably came in A.D.
616 by a raid of the Sassanian king Chosroes II.
Ten m below the Byzantine bastion on the S side are three pre-Hellenistic
wall segments, the remains of the triple defenses admired by Alexander the Great
in 334 B.C. (Arr. Anab. 1.17.3-6).
The Lydian city was an irregular agglomeration (499 B.C.: Hdt. 5.101)
with an extension S into the Pactolus valley along a sacred road to the Artemis
precinct. As observed by Herodotos and Vitruvius, both public and private buildings
were of mudbrick, many with thatched roofs. The excavation of the Lydian bazaar
area can be seen near the highway on the S side. An open area was transformed
into an industrial and commercial center enclosed by an irregular stone wall which
is preserved for ca. 32.8 m. Abutting it were single-room houses or shops. Farther
S, excavation of a section of the Lydian city on the E bank of the Pactolus has
revealed more sophisticated architectural units attached in urban complexes to
form court-like spaces. Houses with interior hearths were built on high foundation
walls of mudbrick. Both terracing and split level design occur. In this sector
can be seen the remains of an archaic altar to Kybele and sacral precinct. South
and W of the altar are industrial areas where conclusive evidence for gold refineries
active ca. 600-547 has been found. Two floors of cupels (cavities for obtaining
electrum from base metals) set in a layer of gravel were identified. Adjacent
are remains of two sets of small furnaces used for cementation, the process of
separating gold from silver, as indicated by the presence of scraps of gold foil.
Other Lydian houses are known in a creek NE of the Artemis temple.
Outstanding among the Lydian remains are the huge burial mounds in
the cemetery of Bin Tepe (Turkish "Thousand Mounds") 6.4 km N of the
city area across the Hermus, S of the Gygean Lake (Marmara Golu). At the E end
of the cemetery stand three mounds larger than the rest. A poem by Hipponax (ca.
540 B.C.) suggests that the central one, with a diameter of over 200 m, is that
of Gyges. Within is a retaining wall or krepis of finely cut local limestone blocks
for a smaller interior mound, on which the monogram GuGu, the name by which Gyges
was known in Assyrian records, appears. The burial chamber has not been located.
The E mound of Alyattes, largest of the three, was compared by Herodotos to the
pyramids. It had a retaining wall of huge masonry, now vanished, which was recorded
as 1,115.23 m in circumference in 1853. A small burial chamber is built of highly
polished marble blocks fitted together with precision and held with iron clamps.
Pottery finds indicate construction in the late 7th or early 6th c. B.C. In the
precipitous necropolis ridge on the W bank of the Pactolus are hundreds of Lydian
rock-cut chamber tombs.
Attributable to the Persian era is the "Pyramid Tomb," a
stepped platform of limestone in Saitan Dere gorge, E of the Pactolus. The masonry
resembles that of Cyrus' structures at Pasargadai and the stepped sandstone altar
adjoining the Artemis temple on the W.
In the 3d c. B.C. the city was Hellenized, and the great Ionic Temple
of Artemis in the Pactolus valley was begun. It was fronted on each end by eight
columns almost 17.8 m high; twenty such columns were on each side. The extant
columns are largely Roman replacements. The two shrines of the double cella were
converted to the Roman Imperial cult ca. A.D. 140--that to the E dedicated to
Antoninus Pius, that to the W to his wife Faustina. The earliest parts of the
theater (at the foot of the acropolis, S of the highway), especially the masonry
walls supporting the two sides of the semicircular auditorium, and the plan of
the adjacent stadium belong to the Early Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic orientation
of the city featured a diagonal artery from the Pactolus to the gymnasium area
to the NE corner of the city. This thoroughfare obliquely crossed the colonnaded
main avenue of the Roman plan.
In A.D. 17 earthquakes leveled the Hellenistic city, and Tiberius
and Claudius offered funds for rebuilding. A master plan was formulated but the
building of individual structures lasted several generations. A marble-paved and
colonnaded main avenue was laid out S-W. It is now N of and under the modern highway.
On its N side an artificial terrace with substructures more than 5 m deep supported
the gymnasium complex. Symmetrical to the E-W axis, the gymnasium has a palaestra
on the E and large baths of imperial type on the W. The central unit, comprised
of a pair of double-apsed halls flanking a rectangular room, was completed by
A.D. 166 when an inscribed base was erected in honor of Lucius Verus.
The E section of the baths centered around a monumental hall, called
by the excavators the Marble Court, which has been restored (1964-73) to the top
of the second story. A dedicatory inscription to Caracalla, Geta, and Julia Domna
dates the facades to A.D. 211. The carved friezes, cornices, and floral soffits
are among the finest examples of the Severan Baroque style. The facade is comprised
of alternating two-story aediculae. Benches with Early Byzantine inscriptions
run along the N, S, and parts of the W sides. On the W side is an ornate gate
with four fluted spiral Ionic columns supporting an arcuated pediment, which leads
into a barrel-vaulted hall with a pool and fountains, possibly the aleipterion,
mentioned in inscriptions. On the E side the court was closed by a screen colonnade
which opened into the palaestra. Early Byzantine restoration is attested by inscriptions.
Between the palaestra and the main road, oriented E-W, is a large
basilican building which was used as a synagogue from ca. A.D. 200 to 616. Now
partly restored, the building comprises three parts: the entrance porch, which
fronted on a colonnaded road, a peristyle forecourt, and a long main hall ending
in an apse. The colonnade of the forecourt has been re-erected and a replica of
its krater fountain replaced. On the N wall above a marble dado is a restored
sample from a redecoration dating in the 5th or 6th c. A.D.: short pilasters support
arcades with a pattern of doves and kraters against a recessed background filled
with red mortar. In its earlier phase the masonry was covered with frescoes. Between
the three doors leading from the forecourt to the main hall are two small shrines,
one Doric and one Late Corinthian in style, which face the apse. The main hall
was divided into seven bays by six pairs of piers; at the W end is an apse lined
by three marble benches. The ritual furnishings include a massive marble table
supported by eagles in relief and flanked by two pairs of adorsed lions. The floors
of both the forecourt and hall were covered with geometric mosaics of the 4th
c. A.D. The walls were revetted with polychrome marble. The architectural system,
including donors' inscriptions, has been restored in one bay on the N wall and
one on the S. Samples of restored marble panels are on the S wall. Roughly a hundred
Hebrew and Greek inscriptions provide information about the Jewish community,
which may have numbered between 5000 and 10,000. Along the S side of the gymnasium
complex runs a continuous row of shops (ca. A.D. 400-600) which opened onto the
main avenue. One had a marble tank decorated with crosses and fed by terracotta
water pipes; apparently Christian and Jewish shopkeepers traded side by side.
South of the Byzantine Pactolus bridge, above the Lydian gold refineries,
are excavated ruins of a Roman bath and a small Middle Byzantine church. At the
NW corner of the Artemis Temple is a nearly complete church of the 4th-6th c.
with two apses en echelon. Major unexcavated buildings are remnants of the Roman
civic center on a terrace S of the highway, a Byzantine fort (farther S and uphill),
tunnels to the citadel, the theater, stadium, and a Roman odeum. By the N side
of the highway are piers of a large Justinianic church, perhaps a cathedral. Farther
down and N is a fine Roman basilica with apses at either end.
First scientific excavations of the site were undertaken from 1910
to 1914 and resumed for one season in 1922. Finds are in the Istanbul Museum,
Izmir Museum, Metropolitan Museum, New York, and Princeton University Museum.
In 1958 excavation was again resumed. Finds are in the Archaeological Museum,
Manisa, Turkey.
J. A. Scott & G.M.A. Hanfmann, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 25 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
City of Lydia founded by Attalos II of Pergamon (159-138 B.C.) in
the Cogamus (Koca Cay) valley on the road between Sardis and Laodicea. The city
was spread out (Strab. 12.8.18, 13.4.10) on a slight plateau at the S edge of
the river plain. Some of the city wall is preserved, and near the acropolis the
location of the theater can be recognized, and perhaps a gymnasium and stadium.
In the 19th c. the remains of a temple were visible outside the city on the Sardis
road. Some finds are in the Manisa museum.
T. S. Mackay, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΘΥΑΤΕΙΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
ΙΕΡΟΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
ΜΑΓΝΗΣΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
ΣΑΡΔΕΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΤΟΥΡΚΙΑ
A titular see of Lydia, in Asia Minor probably the ancient Hyde of
Homer (Iliad, II, 844; XX, 385), at the foot of Mount Tmolus; see also Strabo
(XIII, iv, 5); Pliny (Hist. nat., v, 29), Stephen of Byzantium, s.v. The name
Sardes, which replaced that of Hyde, seems to have been derived from the Shardani,
a people mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions as inhabiting this region. At
an early period Sardes was the capital of the Lydians, an early dynasty of whom
reigned from 766 to 687 B.C.; a second, that of Mermnades founded by Gyges in
687 B.C., reigned until 546 B.C. Its last king, the celebrated Croesus, was dethroned
by Cyrus. Thenceforth it was the residence of the Persian satraps, who administered
the conquered kingdom. The capture of the city by the Ionians and the Athenians
in 498 B.C. was the cause of wars between the Persians and Greeks. In 334 it surrendered
without a struggle to Alexander the Great, after whose death it belonged to Antigonus
until 301, when it fell into the power of the Seleucides. Antiochus III having
been defeated at Magnesia by the Romans 190 B.C., Sardes was incorporated with
the Kingdom of Pergamus, then with the Roman Empire, becoming the capital of the
Province of Lydia. The famous river Pactolus flowed through its agora, or forum.
In the Apocalypse (iii, 1-3) a letter is written to the Church of
Sardes by St. John, who utters keen reproaches against it and its bishop. Among
its martyrs are mentioned the priest Therapon, venerated 27 May, and Apollonius
(10 July). Among its bishops, of whom Le Quien (Oriens Christ., I, 859-66) gives
a long list, were St. Meliton (second century), writer and apologist; St. Euthymius,
martyred for the veneration of images (26 Dec., 824); John, his successor who
also suffered for the Faith; Andronicus, who made several attempts for the reunion
of the Churches. As religious metropolis of Lydia, Sardes ranked sixth in the
hierarchy. As early as the seventh century (Gelzer, "Ungedruckte. . .Texte der
Notitiae episcopatuum," 537), it had 27 suffragans, which number scarcely varied
until the end of the tenth century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century
the town, which was still very populous, was captured and destroyed by the Turks.
In 1369 it ceased to exist, and Philadelphia replaced it as metropolis (Waeechter,"Der
Verfall des Griechentums in Kleinaim XIV Jahrhundert," 44-46). Since then it has
been a Greek titular metropolitan see. At present, under the name of Sart, it
is but a miserable Turkish village in the sandjak of Saroukhan, and the vilayet
of Smyrna. Not one well-preserved and important monument is found among the very
extensive ruins.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: John Fobian
This text is cited June 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
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