The magical site of Aizanoi

Aizanoi, regretfully, doesn’t make headline news - yet. Several years ago, I watched a program on TRT TV that showed many imposing monuments from Roman times at this site which was otherwise unknown to me. After that, I didn’t hear anything about further excavations or remarkable finds until today, that is. The massive entrance to the Temple of Zeus has been re-erected, which rightfully makes it one of the best-preserved temples in Anatolia. 

As always, I like to put things in context. Looking at the map, Aizanoi lies roughly 200 km south of Bursa, in the heart of ancient Phrygia. The city occupies both sides of the Kocaçay River (Penkalas). The first settlements have been dated back to 3000 BC, but what we see today are roughly the remains of the Roman city from the 2nd century BC. 

The Temple of Zeus indeed commanded the view, as it still does today, standing on its podium on top of a low hill. It measured 33x37 meters, counted 15 x 8 columns, and was commissioned by Emperor Hadrian. Thanks to an inscription on the architrave, the temple could be dated to the second quarter of the 2nd century BC. The inscription also mentions M. Apuleius as a benefactor of the city. 

The base of the podium of this temple is covered with vaults – an unusual and unique occurrence in Roman Anatolia. Archaeologists concluded that this was a double temple, with the one dedicated to Zeus beckoning us, and a vaulted underground space where the cult of Cybele was practiced. This goddess was worshipped under the name Metre Steunene in Aizanoi. However, more recent in-depth research has revealed that this temple could not be devoted to both Zeus and Cybele. Consequently, the underground space is thought to be a prophecy center or a mere storage room. Whatever its purpose, it is an odd construction. 

Opposite the temple are the remains of a small Bouleuterion, but its history remains unknown. The same problem applies to the Heroon and the Agora and surrounding Stoa because the remains were either reused on other structures or disappeared under the modern houses. 

Aizanoi counts remains of many monuments, among which a rare combined theater-stadium complex, linked together by a large stage building. Its construction started shortly after 160 AD and was completed halfway through the 3rd century AD. Several inscriptions have been found in the stadium and the theater, and they confirm that the same M. Apuleius contributed substantially to building this complex. 

The excavations done between 1970 and 2011 have exposed two public Baths, a Gymnasium, a Macellum, five bridges, an ancient dam, a colonnaded street, and a large necropolis. 

One of the Baths sat between the theatre-stadium complex and the Temple of Zeus and included a Palaestra or Gymnasium. With its recognizable frigidarium and caldarium, the Bath has been dated to the end of the 2nd century AD. In the largest side room, a marble statue of Hygeia was found. Also, the water and heating pipes are still in situ. Despite its rich marble décor, it has been recognized as a precursor of the Turkish-style Bath. The Palaestra has been located at the northeast end of the Baths. 

The second Turkish-style Bath built a century later was found northeast of the city center. Here a beautiful mosaic floor representing a satyr and a maenad has been exposed. 

[Picture from Arkeonews]

The circular Macellum of Aizanoi was built simultaneously with the first Bath and was used as a food market. Here, a copy of the Price Edict of Diocletian from 301 AD was found. The edict aimed to limit the severe inflation that followed the debasement of the coinage initiated by Emperor Nero. 

During recent excavations, remains of a colonnaded street have been uncovered over a length of 450 meters. This street had its own Stoa, which could be dated to ca. 400 AD. A pedestal carried a marble statue of a satyr dressed with panther skin at the very end of the Stoa. 

The Roman city of Aizanoi occupied both sides of the Kocaçay River and was protected against the rise of the water level by walls or dams made of large cut stones. Two of the five bridges are still used today. They both have five arches, and one of them still supports modern-day traffic. In between these two examples, we can recognize the remains of a bridge with three arches that fell in disuse. Further north, a low wooden bridge was used as a pedestrian crossing. 

The main bridge displays an inscription on the pedestal of the railing and tells us it was opened in September 157 AD. An illustrating relief shows the sea voyage undertaken by M. Apuleius as he paid for the bridge’s construction. It may be essential to mention that M. Apuleius represented Aizanoi in the Panhellion Union held in Athens from 153 to 157 AD. The new railing was installed in 1990. 

The large necropolis of Aizanoi reflects the size of the city. It includes a wide array of tombs, including door-shaped Phrygian tombs from the 2nd century AD. The typical tomb doors, which often bore the name of the deceased or donor, symbolized the passage to the other world. These tombstones usually showed bulls, lions, or eagles for the men and baskets of wool or a mirror for the women. 

In one of the tombs, archaeologists made a remarkable discovery. They found a “lykion,” a typical jar made to contain a precious salve to treat eye dryness which frequently occurred to soldiers traversing large stretches of dry lands or deserts (see: Eye cream from antiquity). 

[Picture from Daily Sabah]

More recently, they unearthed a jug containing an exceptional hoard of 651 silver coins from the days of Emperor Augustus. Remarkably, 439 coins were standard Roman silver denarii, but 212 were cistophorus coins typically from Pergamon. This is not surprising considering that Aizanoi was ruled by Pergamon until the kingdom was bequeathed to the Romans in 133 BC. 

Aizanoi started minting its first coins in the second and first centuries BC. During the days of the Roman Empire, the city grew wealthy thanks to the production of grain, wine, and wool. Aizanoi fell into decline in Late Antiquity.

The missing piece in the puzzle

The story began in 2017 when a Belgian art collector put several archaeological elements up for sale. The European art catalog offered pieces belonging to a Daunian funerary stele, which were noticed by a State Archaeology lab in Apulia, southeast Italy. 

The stele presented by the Belgian collector was missing its centerpiece. An official from the restoration lab had noticed that the missing part was exhibited in the museum’s collection. It represented a warrior on horseback and his shield. 

[Picture from Archaeology News Network. Credit: Italian Carabinieri Art Squad]   

This was indeed the proverbial missing piece in the puzzle, which set in motion the complete investigation. Soon, Italian authorities recovered nearly 800 separate artifacts which the Belgian collector had gathered illegally. The pieces included Daunian steles, red figure vases, black glazed Apulian ceramics, amphorae and a great number of terracotta figurines. The artifacts have been dated to the period between the 6^th and the 3^rd century BC, and their value has been estimated to 11 million Euros. 

Luckily, the rare collection has been repatriated to Italy after all the legal appeals of the collector were dismissed. That is an excellent result, of course, although the items have all been taken out of their context and sadly we’ll never know to which grave or tomb they once belonged.

Travelling surprise in Greece

Knowing where to go and what to see is very important in any travel plan, but some surprises can turn out to be true gems. 

It so happened that I could visit the recently excavated cemetery of Akanthoy, near Ierissos, North Chalkidikis. The finds date roughly from the 7th-6th century BC, i.e., before Alexander and thus something he would have known.

According to Thucydides, the ancient city of Akanthos was founded as a colony of Andros, or, if we follow Plutarch, jointly by Andros and Chalkis in the middle of the 7th century BC. It sat on top of a prehistoric settlement. The city took the side of the Persians both in 499 BC (First Persian War) and 480 BC (Second Persian War) and sided with the Athenians in 431 BC during the Peloponnesian War. With the expansion of Macedonia under Philip and Alexander, Akanthos was incorporated into their kingdom. In 200 BC, the city was plundered by the Romans and became a mere province. 

The cemetery has been located underneath the modern city of Ierissos. It has yielded more than 14,000 findings confirming that the site was used all through the Roman age. The best artifacts have, of course, been moved to the Archaeological Museum of Polygyros. 

One of the fascinating spots I happen to stumble upon by chance is these lovingly cared-for tombs discovered in 2014, where everything is kept in situ. I admire the work of the archaeologists who managed to unearth these tombs from different eras in superposed layers while leaving each one undisturbed by the excavation of the others. 

Jars of all sizes and shapes (varying with time) alternate with small tombs, roofed or not. A few poignant small tombs still contain the cremated remains with their original grave goods on top – little earthen pots and jars that helped define the burial date. Also, skeletons of what seem to be young children are surrounded by toy horses and miniature vases. There also are many larger rectangular tombs in terracotta.

Outside, in front of an unmarked building, many larger pots have been collected, some wrapped in protective plastic. They are all waiting to be cataloged and studied together with smaller items filling colorful crates. Archaeology requires a lot of patience!

An introduction to the Scythians

The Scythians are mentioned in different contexts throughout my blog, but they have never been discussed as a people. 

[Picture from World History Encyclopedia.  A map illustrating the expansion of the warrior nomad Scythians between the 7th and 3rd century BC across Asia and Europe. (Simeon Netchev - CC BY-NC-SA)]

We have to go back to Herodotus in the 5th century BC who mentions the Scythians for the first time. The author concentrates on Ukraine, although his description might well extend to the tribes in Central Asia. When talking about the Scythians, we refer to many different tribes roaming the steppes north of the “civilized” world. Their habitat stretched roughly from the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea (north of Persia) to Central Asia and the desert of Mongolia. At this far easterly end, the Chinese protected themselves from Scythian invasions by building their famous Chinese Wall. 

Generally living in small bands, they attacked the cities and towns situated south of their extensive east-west frontier. After a more or less sudden devastating incursion, they would withdraw with their booty into their vast nomadic Eurasian steppe lands. Over the years, some tribes settled as farmers, but they were not interested in founding cities of their own. 

In Central Asia and Persia, the Scythians were called Sacae as both tribes shared the same Indo-European language and lifestyle. These Sacae are called Skudat, which the Persians understood as Sakâ. The Greeks, in turn, used the name Skythes or Skythai. No wonder the Scythians show up so often in history under a different disguise. 

The Persians suffered repeated attacks from the Scythians, who, even shortly, dominated the Medes in the 7th century BC. They are also known to have played a significant role in the Sack of Nineveh in 612 BC. 

As a result of Miletus’ colonization, the Kingdom of the Bosporus emerged (see: The Kingdom of the Bosporus). It reached its peak between the 6th and the 3rd century BC. During that period, the new settlers maintained strong cultural and trade relations with the Scythians. Over the centuries, the kingdom with its capital of Panticapaeum became a melting pot of civilizations as the Greeks mingled with neighboring Pontic Scythians. 

An earlier blog, A cast helmet from Central Asia, discussed a helmet found near Maracanda, in the tomb of a Sacae leader. The technique of cast helmets was customary in China, which proves that these nomadic Scythians lived far to the east. This particular helmet dated from the 6th century BC and became obsolete afterward. 

The Massagetai tribe living near the Aral Sea also was Scythians. In 529 BC, Cyrus the Great attacked this tribe, ruled by Queen Tomyris. That happened after Cyrus’ negotiation to marry her failed. She bluntly refused to submit to him. As a result, the king attacked her and her tribe, and died on the battlefield. 

The Scythians also successfully withstood Darius the Great’s attack at the beginning of the 5th century BC. Later that century, the Pontic Scythians took possession of Thracia. 

In the 5th century BC, the Odrysian Kingdom was founded – merely a union of more than forty tribes that turned Thracia into a powerful state. The Odrysians and the Scythians had reached peaceful relations through their inter-dynastic marriages, which led to establishing the border of their lands at the Danube River. Both peoples mingled and were generally recognized as Scythians. Their agreement, however, was not meant to last as, in the end, southern and central Thracia was divided among the Odrysian kings. Eventually, Philip II conquered their land in 340 BC. The Getae ruled the northeast section. 

Alexander attacked these Getae after his pursuit of the Triballians to the banks of the Danube River in 335 BC. The Triballians had sought refuge on an island. Instead of attacking them in that awkward position, Alexander decided to isolate them and go after the Getae on the other bank of the Danube. He managed to ferry 4,000 infantrymen and 1,500 cavalry across the wide river by night. No wonder the Getae were in shock when they woke up with this army on their land and fled to the hinterland (see: Crossing the Danube River). 

A noteworthy Odrysian Thracian is Sitalces. His true origins remain relatively obscure, but apparently, he was a prince, maybe even the son of King Cersobleptes of the Odrysian Thracians. He joined Alexander’s army and proved to be a competent commander who led the Thracian javelin men on more than one occasion. The Thracians appear again at the Battle of Gaugamela. They were placed with the main body of the Macedonian troops, under the command of Sitalces once again (see: Sitalces, commander of the Thracians). Sitalces was also one of the three generals who, on Alexander’s orders, executed Parmenion in Ecbatana (see: The Philotas Affair – Part II – His judgment and execution). 

Back in Central Asia, we should mention the story of a Scythian chief named Karthasis, who offered one of his daughters – most probably one of those warlike Scythian young women - in marriage to Alexander. The King declined, but the story may well have triggered the tale of the Amazons. 

In 329 BC, Alexander marched north to Cyropolis, a city founded by Cyrus the Great. But Cyropolis was situated about 10 km away from the Jaxartes River. Alexander felt that it didn’t serve his purpose, i.e., to protect the country against the nomads inhabiting the lands beyond the majestic river. He decided to build a city of his own, Alexandria-Eschate or Alexandria-the-Furthermost (Ultima), right on the banks of the Jaxartes – the location of today’s Khodjend in Tajikistan. Shortly after starting his project, a general revolt broke out, and the entire area exploded into armed resistance, making it clear that the Macedonians were not welcome. The Scythians on the opposite shore of the Jaxartes also grew furious. Consequently, Alexander set the crossing of the river in motion. He conceived a flotilla of large rafts made of stuffed leather tent covers, rigged together and covered with a sturdy platform. These rafts could carry a heavy contingent of men and even horses. Besides, Alexander equipped them with long-range catapults, a kind of machine the Scythians would discover for the first time.

When the Scythians recovered from their first shock and surprise, they played their favorite maneuver by riding and attacking in circles. Alexander threw in a mixed force of infantry and cavalry and successfully broke the circle, sending the Scythians to retreat after being hunted down by Alexander for several miles into the desert (see: Alexandria-Eschate and Cyropolis). 

The above gives insight into the Scythians' link between Greece, Persia, India, and China. It may somehow have laid the foundation of the Silk Road as a vast trade network. 

Although the Scythians have no written records, they left us substantial archaeological evidence of their high skills in metalwork. Monumental burial mounts across the Eurasian steppe reveal high-quality jewelry, weapons, vessels, horse harnesses, belts, and other decorative items, mostly made of gold. 

Inevitably, some of these Scythian tribes, such as the Pontic Scythians, settled as farmers, while others kept roaming the vast steppes from Mongolia to the Black Sea area. In the early Middle Ages, the most westerly tribes blended in and mixed with the early Slavs.

Paphos, the King’s Tombs that belong to no King

One of the most appealing sites of Paphos may well be the so-called “Tombs of the Kings,” although the name is very misleading. No king has ever been buried in any of these underground tombs, but the place is impressive all the same. I stumbled on this peculiar site quite by accident, surprised by the name and location, hardly two kilometers from today’s town of Paphos. 

The “Tombs of the Kings” is an amalgam of underground tombs and burial chambers that create the feeling of a small city – a city of the dead that is. It started to be used as early as the 3rd century BC by Ptolemaic aristocrats and functioned till the 3rd century AD. The burial practice continued into early Christianity when tombs became chapels. Today it has been declared a World Heritage Site. The graves are carved out of solid rock and show a definite Greek, if not Macedonian, influence. The use of this style is not surprising since Cyprus was part of Ptolemy’s heritage after Alexander the Great’s death. The prosperous island (see: Focus on Paphos, Cyprus) was subject to quarrels until the competitive Diadochi finally settled their differences. 

Some tombs appear like miniature houses with a central court surrounded by Doric columns shading frescoed walls. Not all columns are fluted, but the architraves and door lintels often are crowned with the typical frieze of alternating triglyphs and metopes, including the regulae and guttae. In the courtyard and corridors walls, we find niches meant to hold the remains of individual corpses. The space in between the niches displays exciting reliefs. It is not difficult to mentally recreate a lively picture of the costly grave goods and jewelry looted in ancient times. Some of these villa-like constructions are rather elaborate, with arched passageways and staircases running up and down. Originally most walls and tombs were covered with stucco and enhanced with frescoes, of which many traces have survived. It was customary to celebrate the anniversaries of the deceased loved ones with a ceremonial meal, sharing the food with the dead. The custom was common in antiquity, but here the practice creates a rather homely feeling. 

One of the tombs has a large block left uncut in the middle of the atrium, creating more niches. Archaeologists have counted 18 burial sites here, all from Hellenistic times, and three of them were still intact. One of these three contained the remains of a child buried in a terracotta pipe, while the two other tombs revealed precious gifts like a gold myrtle wreath and a fine amphora from Rhodes. 

It is a highly unusual site and most definitely worth a visit!

Looting, looting and more looting

Treasure hunters are of all times, from the Assyrians and Egyptians to the Greek, Roman, or Byzantine times. They don’t care about the tombs, the churches, or city remains as their only concern is to find valuable artifacts, mostly gold objects. These treasure hunters ignore that their finds are out of context forever. Archaeologists arriving on the site after the robbery generally miss too many pieces to recreate what is lost. 

Turkish authorities have assessed that curfews and lock downs to prevent the spread of Covid have encouraged both professional and amateur looters to carry out illegal digs all over the country. 

Turkey is extremely rich in archaeological sites, many of which have not been excavated yet. It is unfortunate to hear the Ministry of Culture and Tourism confirm that during the past two years, some 3,365 illegal excavations occurred. Of those, only 26 cases were caught red-handed.  

It is hard to imagine people able to move across the country unnoticed by local authorities. As reported by an archaeologist, the looters used generators, hammer drills, and other pieces of machinery. The noise made by such equipment is heard from afar, especially in the countryside. Still, the treasure hunters could work unnoticed by local authorities? 

Monumental tombs around the ancient site of Sardes (see: Sardes, the capital of ancient Lydia and a key-city for Alexander’s Successors) have been destroyed forever. Other examples of looting abound, from a thousand-year-old sarcophagus from the Byzantine or Seljuk time to the destruction and robbing of Armenian churches in search of gold mainly. It remains challenging to trace the smuggling route of the artifacts abroad. 

The pandemic has caused the loss of human life all over the country, but nobody could expect this surge of illegal hunters, causing another loss to the history of humankind.