The city was founded in the 2nd century BC, and was continuously inhabited until the late 1950s. In 1958, a Turkish journalist Ara Güler got lost in the areas and stayed the night in the local mountain town of Geyre. Here, he noticed men playing card games on the tops of what looked to be ancient roman pillars. Upon further exploration, Güler saw many more ancient ruins being used in everyday life. Güler contacted Turkish professor Kenan T. Erim who took the lead in excavating the city. Erin is buried on site.
Aphrodite, the city’s namesake, was worshipped by all, regardless of gender. Other notable gods important in the city were Zeus and Aphrodite’s son, Cupid.
Depictions on Aphrodite in the Aphrodisias Museum.
When we first entered the city, we were met with a wall of capitols that once topped columns throughout the city. During excavation, Erim chose to place these capitals in a wall to highlight the varied expressions and emotions displayed on each face.
The top face stood out to me with its wild hair and furrowed expression.
Next, we walked through the monumental gates of the city. These gates, named the Tetrapilon after its 4 columns, was originally built in 280 ad. During excavation, 80% of the original stone was rediscovered, and the gates were reconstructed. The gates face the Temple of Aphrodite, and are the main entrance into the city. Aphrodite’s son, Cupid is depicted in the carvings of the gate.
(The Hippodrome Arena)
After entering the gates of Aphrodisias, we walked to the Hippodrome, one of the best preserved stadiums from the ancient world. This stadium held 30,000 people and hosted sporting events including running races, disc throwing, javelin, boxing, and wrestling. Later on, it was remodeled to included a small arena, used for gladiator fights. The hosting of gladiator fights brought a roman sport into an arena used for greek sports that had historically been used for greek sporting events. This is an important example of the people of Aphrodisias embracing roman culture and creating new identities. Religious festivals
and ceremonies were also held in this space.
The arena sports its original marble seats, which were once inscribed with names of cities and social classes, indicating where different people sat. This was a way of reinforcing the social hierarchies found in the community.
(Temple of Aphrodite)
After leaving the arena, we visited the Temple of Aphrodite, which had largely been lost to time. Construction of the temple started in the 1st century BC but alterations continued to the 2nd century AD.
The story of the temple helps explain the affects of synchronism in the ancient world.
Greek culture only became common in the areas during the reign of Alexander the Great. Before that, the Hittite people inhabited the area. The Hittites had a matriarchal form of religion, in which they worshiped the Mother Goddess of Earth. When the Greeks came, instead of wiping away all signs of past religions, the accepted the Mother Goddess as a form of their own Aphrodite. However, this mixing of cultures often created new versions of Gods and Goddesses. The version of Aphrodite worshipped in Aphrodisias is far from a true greek Aphrodite. Here, she has Hittite, Mesopotamian and Syrian influence.
In the 6th century, Aphrodite’s Temple was converted in a Christian church. A new sacristy and atrium were built, as the building began to welcome worshippers, rather that just the priests who used the space in pagan worship practices.
However, the converting of the temple to a church did not subdue the practice of worshipping Aphrodite. In fact, in the 7th century, the Byzantine empire renamed the city Stauropolis, meaning City of the Cross, to reinforce the practice of Christianity.
This is the Bouleuterion, or city council house. It would’ve been double the height of what is standing today and seated over 1,000 people.This building also has originally marble seatings which also had inscriptions marking where certain people sat.
A freed slave of Julius Caesar was the benefactor of The Bouleuterion, Aphrodite’s Temple, snd the city’s theater.
Later, we visited the Sebasteion, cult temple used to worship Emperors and the Imperial Family, as well as Aphrodite. This space was dedicated to Emperor Tiberius in the first century, but was finished during the rule of Emperor Nero.
The temple and public area was funded by 2 Aphrodisian families, and it was seen as a local site.
The Sebasteion is best know for its reliefs; artwork carvings of people that lined the area.
TW: Sexual Assault
These reliefs are now housed in the Aphrodisias Museum. While some of the reliefs simply displayed scenes of emperors or gods and goddesses in their everyday lives, many problamatically displayed Rome’s conquering of foreign peoples. In these reliefs, the foreign peoples were almost always personified as women to characterize them as weak and submissive. Many of these reliefs are rape scenes of a man, repressing the empire or a specific emperor, attacking an unclothed woman, representing another culture.
These statues are the personifications of Balkan and Romanian peoples, respectively, who were defeated by the Romans.
This relief represents Rome’s victory over the Armenian people.
We finished our morning saying goodbye to our dog friends and eating lunch at an authentic restaurant in the nearby town with a parrot, peacocks, and puppies!
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