TURKEY / ANTALYA / ASPENDOS - BELEK - SILLYON

Aspendos is fifty kilometres inland from the Antalyan sea, not far from the village of Belkis. The ruins of this city are Roman, with the exception of the bridge over the river Eurymedon which dates from the Selçuk period. However the origins of Aspendos are much earlier and date from one thousand years before Christ during the Hittite period. Aspendos became a Greek colony and was one of the more important cities in Pamphylia. In the fifth century it allied with the Persians and became rich through trading in horses, silk and carpets. Alexander the Great conquered the city and after a period under the Pergamum Kings it became part of the Roman Empire in 133 B.C. Today only ruins remain of the magnificent buildings erected by the Romans at Aspendos, except for the theatre very well preserved. Even General Atatürk himself was charmed by this theatre and its acoustics and had it restored. It is in use today for sporting and musical events.The theatre is a testimonial to the grandeur of Roman architecture. It was designed by the architect Zeno (born at Aspendos according to the inscriptions over the two main gates) in the second century A.D. during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The theatre, built on the side of a hill, is semicircular and ninety-five metres wide, and it could seat over twenty thousand spectators on forty rows of steps. An exceptionally fine arcaded gallery surrounds the upper part of the cavea. The majolica decorations on some parts of the stage were added during Selcuk restorations. The Ottomans used the theatre as a caravanserai. A further example of Roman architecture is the first-century A.D. Aqueduct. It is nine hundred and twenty-four metres long, entirely arcaded and had two large cistern towers at each end. On the top of the hill, in the Acropolis, are the ruins of a nymphaeaum, a basilica and a fountain.

SILLYON

About 35 km. along the Antalya-Alanya highway, you turn north and continue 8 km. until Silyon is reached. It was built on an ellipse-shaped table-like plateau rising above the flat plain. Due to its location the surrounding areas can easily be seen, and in fact the view stretches as far as the Mediterranean. It was settled in the 4th century B.C. and it lived not only through the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, but was also used by the Seljuks who also added buildings and increased its wealth. Some of its interesting sights are the stadium, gymnasium, turrets, Seljuk mosque, the theater whose proscenium is buried under rocks, and the sports arena.