Aspendos or Aspendus (Greek Άσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. It is located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) northeast of central Serik.
Contents |
Aspendus was an ancient city in Pamphylia, Asia Minor, located about 25 miles (40 km) east of the modern city of Antalya, Turkey. It was situated on the Eurymedon River about 10 miles (16 km) inland from the Mediterranean Sea; it shared a border with, and was hostile to, Side.[2] According to later tradition, the (originally non-Greek) city was founded around 1000 B.C. by Greeks who may have come from Argos. The wide range of its coinage throughout the ancient world indicates that, in the 5th century B.C., Aspendus had become the most important city in Pamphylia. At that time the Eurymedon River was navigable as far as Aspendus, and the city derived great wealth from a trade in salt, oil, and wool.
In 333 B.C. Aspendus paid Alexander the Great a levy to avoid being garrisoned, but it ignored its agreements with him and later was occupied. In 190 B.C. the city surrendered to the Romans, who later pillaged it of its artistic treasures. Toward the end of the Roman period the city began a decline that continued throughout Byzantine times.
Aspendos is known for having the best-preserved theater of antiquity. With a diameter of 96 meters (315 ft), the theater provided seating for 7,000.[3]
The theater was built in 155[3] by the Greek architect Zenon, a native of the city, during the rule of Marcus Aurelius. It was periodically repaired by the Seljuks, who used it as a caravansary, and in the 13th century the stage building was converted into a palace by the Seljuqs of Rum.[4]
In order to keep with Hellenistic traditions, a small part of the theater was built so that it leaned against the hill where the Citadel (Acropolis) stood, while the remainder was built on vaulted arches. The high stage served to seemingly isolate the audience from the rest of the world. The scaenae frons or backdrop, has remained intact. The 8.1 meter (27 ft) sloping reflective wooden ceiling over the stage has been lost over time. Post holes for 58 masts are found in the upper level of the theater. These masts supported a velarium or awning that could be pulled over the audience to provide shade.[3]
Until recently the theatre was still in use for concerts, festivals and events. Due to some damage caused by fitting modern theatrical equipment during these events the Turkish authorities have suspended further shows. A new modern facility known as Aspendos Arena has been constructed nearby to continue the tradition of open air theatre in Aspendos.
Nearby stand the remains of a basilica, agora, nymphaeum and 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) of a Roman aqueduct. The Roman Eurymedon Bridge, reconstructed in the 13th century, is also in the vicinity.
Aspendos was one of the earliest cities to mint coins. It began issuing coinage around 500 B.C., first staters and later drachmas; "the hoplite on the obverse represents the soldiery for which Aspendus was famous in antiquity,"[5] the reverse frequently depicts a triskelion. The legend appears on early coins as the abbreviation ΕΣ or ΕΣΤϜΕ; later coinage has ΕΣΤϜΕΔΙΙΥΣ, the adjective from ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ (Estwedus), the local name of the city. The city's numismatic history extends from archaic Greek to late Roman times.[6]
The theatre hosts the annual Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival organized by Turkish State Opera and Ballet since 1994, with international participation of opera and ballet companies and an audience of about 10,000.
Washington and lived ha ha aha ha ha ha ha i need help i dont know any thing
Coordinates: 36°56′20″N 31°10′20″E / 36.93889°N 31.17222°E
| Aspendus disambiguation |
| This is a disambiguation page, which lists works which share the same title. If an article link referred you here, please consider editing it to point directly to the intended page. |
| 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica - [[Aspendus|]] Aspendus |
| See also Aspendus on Wikipedia, and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer. |
ASPENDUS (mod. Balkis Kale , or, more anciently in the native language, Estvedys (whence the adjective Estvedijys on coins), an ancient city of Pamphylia, very strongly situated on an isolated hill on the right bank of the Eurymedon at the point where the river issues from the Taurus. The sea is now about 7 m. distant, and the river is navigable only for about 2 m. from the mouth; but in the time of Thucydides ships could anchor off Aspendus. Really of pre-Hellenic date, the place claimed to be an Argive colony. It derived wealth from great salines and from a trade in oil and wool, to which the wide range of its admirable coinage bears witness from the 5th century B.C. onwards. There Alcibiades met the satrap Tissaphernes in 411 B.C., and thence succeeded in getting the Phoenician fleet, intended to co-operate with Sparta, sent back home. The Athenian, Thrasybulus, after obtaining contributions from Aspendus in 389, was murdered by the inhabitants. The city bought off Alexander in 333, but, not keeping faith, was forcibly occupied by the conqueror. In due course it passed from Pergamene to Roman dominion, and according to Cicero, was plundered of many artistic treasures by Verres. It was ranked by Philostratus the third city of Pamphylia, and in Byzantine times seems to have been known as Primopolis, under which name its bishop signed at Ephesus in A.D. 431. In medieval times it was evidently still a strong place, but it has now sunk, in the general decay of Pamphylia, to a wretched hamlet.
The ruins still extant are very remarkable, and, with the noble Roman theatre, the finest in the world, have earned for the place (as is the case with certain other great monuments) a legendary connexion with Solomon's Sheban queen. On the summit of the hillock, surrounded by a wall with three gates, lie the remains of the city. The public buildings round the forum can all be traced, and parts of them are standing to a considerable height. They consist of a fine nympheum on the north with a covered theatre behind it, covered market halls on the west, and a peristyle hall and a basilica on the east. In the plain below are large thermae, and ruins of a splendid aqueduct. But all else seems insignificant beside the huge theatre, half hollowed out of the north-east flank of the hill. This was first published by C. F. M. Texier in 1849, and has now been completely planned, &c., by Count Lanckoronski's expedition in 1884. It is built of local conglomerate and is in marvellous preservation. Erected to the honour of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and L. Verus by the architect Zeno, for the heirs of a local Roman citizen (as an inscription repeated over both portals attests), its auditorium has a circuit of 313.17 feet. There are forty tiers of seating, divided by one diazoma, and crowned by an arched gallery of rather later date, repaired in places with brick. This auditorium held 7 500 spectators. The seats are not perfect, but so nearly so as to appear practically intact. The wooden stage has, of course, perished, but all its supporting structures are in place, and the great scena wall stands to its full height, and produces a magnificent impression whether from within or from without. Inwardly it was decorated with two orders of columns one above the other, with rich entablatures, much of which survives. In the tympanum is a relief of Bacchus (wrongly supposed to be of a female, and called the Bal-Kis, i.e."Honey Girl"). The position of the sounding board above the stage is apparent. Under the forepart of the auditorium, built out from the hill, are immense vaults. The whole structure was enclosed within one great wall, pierced with numerous windows. This structure was probably put to some ecclesiastical Byzantine use, as certain mutilated heads of saints appear upon it; and later it became a fortress and received certain additions. It is now under the care of the local aghd and not allowed to be plundered for building stone.
See C. Lanckoronski, Villes de la Painphylie et de la Pisidie, (1890). (D. G. H.)
|
<< Aspen |
Categories: ASI-ATH | Ancient Greece
|
|
Wikis
Search