Introduction
“I chose this city for myself from all of Asia,” said Octavian, who later received the title of Augustus as Roman Emperor, of Aphrodisias Ancient City. Ever since the beginning of its history, this area has been an important cultural and religious center. With its stunning temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, the ancient city became one of Anatolia’s most crucial sanctuaries of the Mother Goddess cult.
With its abundant marble resources at Babadag Mountain, Aphrodisias Ancient City stood out as one of the leading ancient cities in marble processing. It was home to the most renowned marble school and skilled marble workers. These exceptional features led UNESCO to include the Ancient City of Aphrodisias in its esteemed World Heritage List in 2017.
In this article, we will provide brief information about the historical background of Aphrodisias, Turkey. We will also take you on a mini-tour around the area so that you can explore the marvels of this ancient Anatolian city. Below, you will find information about how to get to and when to visit Aphrodisias and entrance fees.
Table of Contents
Historical Background of Aphrodisias Ancient City
The history of Aphrodisias Ancient City dates back to the Chalcolithic period, 5000 BC.
The area was inhabited by Carians, an indigenous people of Anatolia. In the 1st century BC, Roman Emperor Augustus took the city of Aphrodisias under his protection. At the end of the 3rd century AD, Aphrodisias became the capital of the Caria Province of the Roman Empire. It started to lose its flourishing state and importance in the 6th century and was abandoned entirely in the 12th century.
The Cult of Aphrodite
One of the most respected goddesses of the Caria region was Aphrodite. She wasn’t just related to love and beauty; she was also a mother goddess associated with fertility. That’s why the cult of Aphrodite resembles that of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele.
King Ninus, the husband of the famous Queen Semiramis and the founder of the Assyrian capital Nineveh, founded Aphrodisias in Turkey. The depictions of the Assyrian king Ninos and his wife Semiramis on a relief unearthed during the excavations in Aphrodisias also confirm this thesis. The worship of Aphrodite in the area was based on the cult of Ishtar, brought by Ninus from Assyria. Known as Inanna by Sumerians, Ishtar was also associated with love and beauty, just like Aphrodite. The other similarity between these two goddesses is that their planets were Venus.
Aphrodite wasn’t only the dear goddess of Mesopotamians and Anatolians. Ancient Greeks and Romans deemed the goddess as well. She is the mother of Aeneas and the beginning of King Priam of Troy’s dynasty. The Trojan hero Aeneas later founded Rome. Since the Romans saw themselves as Trojans, the first dynasty of the empire, Julius, took its name from Ilios, another name used for Troy.
Ara Guler and Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias Ancient City was discovered by the famous Turkish photographer Ara Guler by chance. He went to the area in 1958 for a regional dam opening. Unfortunately – or thanks be he lost his way back home and stayed in the village where the ancient city is located. Meanwhile, he saw that the villagers were using Roman columns as tables. As soon as the morning dawned, he started to explore the area. After wandering around the village for a while, he realized that ancient ruins were everywhere.
The famous photographer later sent the photographs he took there to international magazines, and the region began to gain fame. In 1961, the excavations started under the management of the archaeologist Kenan Erim. That’s the story of how the Ancient City of Aphrodisias was unearthed. You can see the pictures of Aphrodisias taken by Ara Guler on his official website.
Key Attractions
Temple of Aphrodite
One of the most stunning places to see in Aphrodisias is the Temple of Aphrodite. The first temple was built in the 6th century BC in the Ionian style. The well-preserved columns of the temple still exist, some of which bear the names of their builders.
The temple started functioning as a church in the 5th century. In the center of the walls, between the angels Gabriel and Michael, are depictions of Jesus and Mary.
People entered this sacred area by passing through Tetrapylon, a monumental entrance building located in the east direction. The cult statue of Goddess Aphrodite stood in a room located inside the temple, where only priests could enter. The temple of Aphrodite was one of the pilgrimage places for pagans and had the feature of protecting those who took refuge in it.
Sebasteion at Aphrodisias
The word Sebastos means respectable and was used for Roman emperors. Therefore, Sebasteion means “The Temple of Emperors,” and it was built to maintain good relationships with Roman emperors, who were considered god-kings in that period. The main function of the Sebasteion Reliefs on the north and south facades is to establish a connection between the mythological heroes of Ancient Greece and the Roman Emperors. You can see the reliefs in the Aphrodisias Museum.
Ionian, Doric, and Roman Corinthian styles can be seen on the building. The temple consists of four parts:
- The main temple structure, reached by high stairs at the east end
- The monumental gate (propylon) at the west end
- The long porticoes on both sides of the courtyard in the middle
Stadium of Aphrodisias
As the best-preserved and one of the biggest stadiums in the Aegean region, the one in Aphrodisias is worth seeing. The elliptical stadium is 262 meters long and has a sitting area (cavea) that could hold 30000 people.
Hadrian’s Bath
Emperor Hadrian visited the city of Aphrodisias in the 2nd century, and the city council had these baths built in memory of this visit. The bath consists of two large sections where men and women washed separately. It has four rooms for dressing (apodyterium), cold water (frigidarium), warm water (tepidarium), and hot water (caldarium) sections.
The front courtyard (palaestra) of the building was a very decorated section with its piers, beams between them, and entablature. The surfaces of the marble elements are depicted with eros, human, and animal figures in acanthus leaves, which are characteristic of the Aphrodisias sculpture school. The giant mythological heads that form the console heads of the entablature are exhibited on the garden walls at the museum’s entrance.
Theater of Aphrodisias
The Theater was built by the slave Zoilus in the 1st century BC as a gift to Aphrodite and the city’s people. It has a capacity of 7,000 people and is Anatolia’s oldest three-storey stage building.
When archaeologists started excavating the Theater in the 1960s, it was buried under the houses of the village residents. The residents of the old houses moved to their newly built houses in Yeni Geyre village. Thus, the excavation started in 1966.
Visiting Tips
Aphrodisias is open to visitors every day from 8:30 AM to 8 PM. The entrance fee for the ancient city and the museum is only €12. The Aydin Ethnography Museum is free.
If you want to explore the area with a professional tour guide, you can opt to join Aphrodisias Tours from Kusadasi or Izmir.
How to Get to Aphrodisias Ancient City?
It’s pretty easy to get to Aphrodisias Ancient City. Those traveling by vehicle must go from Aydin city center to Nazilli road. When you leave the Nazilli district, you must take the turnoff leading to the Kuyucak district. Afterward, you can turn from the Kuyucak – Tavas junction and travel approximately 15 kilometers to the Ancient City of Aphrodisias.
If you want to reach Aphrodisias by public transport, you can take minibusses from the Karacasu district in the summer months.
Where is Aphrodisias?
Aphrodisias is on the Aegean coast of Turkey, in Aydin.
Conclusion
If Ara Guler hadn’t gotten lost on his way, maybe Aphrodisias would still have been underground. Who knows? But say fate or coincidence; he discovered the ruins of an ancient city in a village where he spent his night. Later, the archaeologist Kenan Erim and his team excavated the area meticulously so that those spectacular columns rose once again as if they were flowers blooming in the spring. You should smell these various kinds of flowers in this ancient field. We would be glad if you shared your experience with us in the comments below!