Other ruins that can be seen today in Magnesia are mostly from the Roman period and some from the Byzantine period. The agora covers an area of 26 thousand square meters (6,5 acres) and was one of the biggest bazaars of that period in Asia Minor. The Agora and the Zeus altar were most probabily built by Hermogenes again around the beginning of the 2nd century BC. The theater of Magnesia is dating back to the 2nd century BC and has a classic shape. The U-shaped huge altar facing the temple was decorated with friezes and statues. According to Strabo, this was the third greatest temple after those in Didyma and Ephesus. The temple is in Ionic style with 8 x 15 columns covering an area of 67 x 40 meters (220 x 131 feet), making it one of the biggest temples in Anatolia. The temple of Artemis, or the Artemision that we see today in Magnesia, is from the Hellenistic period around late 3rd - early 2nd century BC, built on the foundations of an earlier building dating back to the Arcaic period around 6th century BC. The most important ruin in Magnesia is the temple of Artemis which was built by architect Hermogenes, a famous architect in the ancient times who invented the octagonal pseudo-dipteros plan for the temples. After a long silence from this first excavation, almost after 100 years, in 1984 the Ministry of Culture and the University of Ankara have resumed the excavations of Magnesia which was covered with dirt again during the past years. The objects found during the excavations are displayed in museums in Paris, Berlin and Istanbul. This was due to the flooding and silting up caused by the river, covering whole city but protecting it from the treasure hunters for many centuries.įirst excavations in Magnesia started in 1891 by Carl Humann from the University of Berlin and lasted for about 2 years, during which partial or complete sections of the theater, prytaneion, temple and altar of Artemis, agora, and the temple of Zeus were un-earthed from the heavily sedimented site. Magnesia was never badly destroyed as happened with many other ancient cities in the region, most of the ruins today are intact. The city had a grid plan and was surrounded by a big wall, covering an area of a 1,5 kilometers (1 mile) of diameter. The city preserved its status during the Roman period and became a religious center during the Byzantine period.ĭuring its heydays Magnesia was a big city positioned within the triangle of Priene, Ephesus and Tralles (ancient Aydin) holding its strategical and commercial importance. During the Hellenistic period Magnesia was ruled by Seleucos and then by the Kingdom of Pergamon. Due to the epidemic outbreaks caused by the continuous changing of the river bed of the Meander and for the fact of being open to Persian invasions, around 400 BC Magnetes moved their city to its actual location next to Gumuscay river. The location of the first city of Magnesia is not known, but it's said to be somewhere along the Meander river (today's Büyük Menderes) near Bafa Lake, which was a bay on the Aegean Sea back then so it was accessible by the boats. The ruins are located on the side of the main road connecting Ortaklar to Söke and there are permanent ongoing excavations since 1984.Īccording to the legends and ancient sources, Magnesia was founded by settlers called as Magnetes who came from Thessalia (Thessaly) on Greek mainland, following an oracle of Apollo and led by their leader Leukippos. This page was created in 2004 last modified on 11 August 2020.Magnesia is located at Tekinköy, near Ortaklar district of Aydin province in the Aegean region of Turkey, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Izmir. A statue of the god Meander can be seen in the Baths of Faustina in Miletus. The river god Meander was the son of Oceanus and Tethys, and the father of Cyane, who was, through Miletus, mother of the twins Byblis and Caunus. Other tributaries are the rivers Morsynus, Harpasos, and another Marsyas. The muddy Meander, which separates the ancient regions of Caria (left bank, south) and Lydia (right bank, north), has its source near Celaenae after a short distance, the river Marsyas empties itself in the Meander. The bay between Miletus and Priene is now an alluvial plain, and only Lake Bafa, which is cut off from the sea by the deposits, gives an idea of what it once must have looked like. In Antiquity, several towns were situated on opposite shores of a gulf of the Aegean Sea, and the Isle of Lade was a real island, but this is no longer true. The river Meander is well-known for its many curves ("meanders") and its large deposits, which have completely changed the region between Priene and Miletus.
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