Aphrodisias (sometimes Afrodisias) is located inland in the Southern Aegean region of Turkey, in Aydin province, about 30 km west of Denizli (but with no direct road connection). As an archaeological site listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, it contains some of the most impressive Roman ruins in Turkey, and has perhaps offers a greater value than Ephesus. The nearby village is named Geyre, less than 10 km south of Karacasu.
Aphrodisias (Greek: Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small city in Caria, near the southwest coast of Asia Minor. Its site is located near the modern village of Geyre, Turkey, about 230 km from İzmir. Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, who had here her unique cult image, the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias.
The city was built near a marble quarry that was extensively exploited in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and sculpture in marble from Aphrodisias became famous in the Roman world. Many examples of statuary have been unearthed in Aphrodisias, and some representations of the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias also survive from other parts of the Roman world.
As many pieces of monumental quarried stone were reused in the Late Antique city walls, many inscriptions could and can be easily read without any excavation; the city has therefore been visited and its inscriptions recorded repeatedly in modern times, starting from the early 18th century.
The first formal excavations were undertaken in 1904-5, by a French railroad engineer, Paul Augustin Gaudin. The most recent, ongoing excavations are under the aegis of New York University. The findings reveal that the lavish building programme in the city's civic center was initiated and largely funded by one Gaius Julius Zoilus, a local who was a slave of Gaius Julius Caesar, set free by Octavian. When Zoilus returned as a freedman to his native city, endowed with prestige and rich rewards for his service, he directed it to align with Octavian in his power struggle against Mark Antony. This ensured Octavian Augustus's lasting favor in the form of financial privileges that allowed the city to prosper.
The site is in an earthquake zone and has suffered a great deal of damage at various times, especially in severe temblors of the 4th and 7th centuries. An added complication was that one of the 4th century earthquakes altered the water table, making parts of the town prone to flooding. Evidence can be seen of emergency plumbing installed to combat this problem. Aphrodisias never fully recovered from the 7th century earthquake, and fell into disrepair. Part of the town was covered by the modern village of Geyre; some of the cottages were removed in the 20th century to reveal the older city. A new Geyre has been built a short distance away.
It costs 15 TL (May 2017) for entrance to Aphrodisias, including museum entry. The hours of the park are from 08:30 - 19:00 during the high season, with the museum closing at 18:30 (a security guard stays in the museum all night).
You will want to leave at least 3 hours to see the site. All locations are easily walkable and within a square kilometer of area. Many tour groups pass through, so an independent visitor would best either see the area earlier in the morning and visit the museum afterward, or start with the museum later in the afternoon (15:00-16:00) and wander around the ruins until the park closes at 19:00 (loosely enforced) to avoid crowds. The area is lovely around sunset.
On site, entrance free with entrance to park. Showcasing an incredibly wide range of sculptures, reliefs, and other artifacts recovered from the area. You can easily spend an hour in here admiring the sculptures from the renowned Aphrodisias school.
The Temple of Aphrodite was a focal point of the town, but the character of the building was altered when it became a Christian basilica.
Sarcophagi were recovered in various locations, most frequently decorated with designs consisting of garland and columns.
The Bouleuterion (Council House) is centered on the north side of the North Agora. As it stands today, it consists of a semicircular auditorium fronted by a shallow stage structure about 46 m wide. The lower part of the auditorium survives intact, with nine rows of marble seats divided into five wedges by radial stairways. The seating of the upper part, amounting to an additional twelve rows, has collapsed together with its supporting vaults. The plan is an extremely open one, with numerous entrances at ground level and several stairways giving access to the upper rows of seats. A system of massive parallel buttresses shows that the building was originally vaulted. The auditorium would have been lighted by a series of tall, arched windows in the curved outer wall. Seating capacity is estimated at about 1750.
The Sebasteion, or Augusteum, is being restored and replicated by New York University. It is located close to the museum, and was jointly dedicated, according to a 1st-century inscription on its propylon, "To Aphrodite, the Divine Augusti and the People". A relief found in the ruins of the south portico represented a personification of the polis making sacrifice to the cult image of Aphrodite of Aphrodisias, venerated as promētōr, "foremother" or "ancestral mother". This connection between the goddess and the imperial house was also a particularly politic one at the time, as the Gens Julia - the family of Julius Caesar, Octavian Augustus, and their immediate successors - claimed divine descent from Venus/Aphrodite.
Probably the best preserved of its kind in the Mediterranean except, perhaps, for the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. It measured 262 m by 59 m and was used for athletic events until the theatre was badly damaged by a 7th-century earthquake, requiring part of the stadium to be converted for events previously staged in the theatre.
There are two agora. The South Agora is impressively preserved and holding around 7,000 people.
A nicely preserved building showing different room for changing and bathing. An important civic center and place of leisure for the denizens of the city.
The quality of the marble in Aphrodisias has also resulted in an unusually large number of inscribed items surviving in the city. More than 2000 inscriptions have been recorded by the New York excavators, many of them re-used in the city walls. Most inscriptions are from the Imperial period, with funerary and honorary texts being particularly well-represented, but there are a handful of texts from all periods from the Hellenistic to Byzantine.
For more information, good links to visit are:
- Aphrodisias in Turkey. History and the archeological sites in Aphrodisias Turkey.
- NYU at Aphrodisias. Site for the New York University research at Aphrodisias, with lots of great information about the site.
Aphrodisias in Turkey. History and the archeological sites in Aphrodisias Turkey.
NYU at Aphrodisias. Site for the New York University research at Aphrodisias, with lots of great information about the site.
There is a museum shop on site. You can also buy maps of the area, not included in the entrance fee, for about 5 TL.
There is a cafe on site. Besides that, there are a few restaurants outside the park across the road from the entrance, and up to a few kilometeres northwest on the road outside Aphrodisias.
If you do not have your own transport, you will likely return with the tour you came with. To get to Denizli, look for minibuses toward Tavas and transfer there at the bus station (otogar). Otherwise, minibuses run along the road to the larger towns north and south of the area, perhaps 1-2 per hour. Park staff will likely be able to help you.
Hitchhiking from Aphrodisias should not present much challenge.