Flooded area of ancient Smyrna to become open-air museum

Dialogues between archaeologists and government officials are always difficult. That is nothing new, and the situation in Izmir is no exception.

After demolishing an old shopping center to construct a new one in 2016, historical remains were exposed requiring the attention of archaeologists. They discovered an ancient bath complex, a gymnasium, several shops and storage areas dating from the 2nd century AD. In fact, these buildings had been newly built after a major earthquake hit Smyrna in 177 AD.

[Picture from the Hurriyet Daily News]

The Greek orator and author, Publius Aelius Aristides Theodorus, in short Aristides had delivered a great speech just a year earlier that deeply impressed Emperor Marcus Aurelius who was visiting at the time. So, when Smyrna, as Izmir was known in antiquity was destroyed by the said earthquake, Aristides appealed to Marcus Aurelius. His plea was so impressive that enough imperial funds flowed into the reconstruction of the city. In thanks, the people of Smyrna erected a bronze statue of Aristides in the marketplace. It carried the worthy inscription “For his goodness and speeches”.

Thanks to Aristides, we have a perfect picture of Smyrna’s dazzling gymnasiums and many baths, its agoras, theaters, temple sanctuaries, and harbor area.

To save whatever remains of the ancient city, authorities agreed that the ruins should be preserved, but since 2018 the entire project is on hold because of a recurring problem with the groundwater.

As time passed, nothing was done to protect and secure the archaeological site. As a result, the groundwater kept rising, and excessive rainfall raised the water to an even higher level. It is clear that this water table causes physical, chemical and biological degradation of the exposed walls and floors. 

Instead of building a shopping mall, the construction company will now collaborate to protect the site and create an open-air archaeological area that should be completed in August 2020. Maybe we should put a question mark behind the date, I wonder?

Priority should be given to a drainage system to safeguard the site from any future flooding. The constructors have great ideas to cover the mosaic floors with glass panels and by doing so, to protect them from the weather conditions. Such glass panels can only be efficient as long as the groundwater problem is thoroughly solved. Let’s hope it will work out and that this part of Smyrna will soon be accessible for tourists.

Hello? Dr. Galen?

The physician Claudius Galenus, better known as Galen of Pergamon, was the most famous doctor in the Roman world of the 2^nd century AD and probably the most famous of antiquity.

He was born in Pergamon, where he studied, and he completed his education in Smyrna (modern Izmir), Corinth, and Alexandria. He learned his skills in his natal city while serving as an apprentice at the sanctuary of Asclepius. His main clientele was the gladiators, and through this work, he gained much experience in treating wounds of all kinds. This led to an unrivaled knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, and neurology. His fame was such that it reached even the imperial court of Rome. He moved to that city in 161 AD, where he became the personal physician of the emperors Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus. By that time, he had specialized in anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, but he was also well-versed in philosophy and logic.

The influence of Dr. Galen lasted for many centuries as his works were translated first into Arabic and later into Latin. His comprehension of the anatomy and physiology of the human body was not surpassed till the 17th century. He borrowed his philosophy from Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus and wrote an analysis of dreams seventeen centuries before Sigmund Freud. Renowned Islamic physicians, pharmacologists, and botanists heavily leaned on Galen’s studies. Over the centuries, many scholars translated his books, reviving his vast field of knowledge that was, by the 11th-12th century, taught at the newly founded European universities like Oxford, Paris, and Bologna.

 

It is evident that after almost two thousand years, Galen’s legacy has been disseminated among monasteries, madrassas, museums, universities, and private collectors worldwide. This makes it difficult to get a complete list of his works and almost impossible to know to what extent our books are complete. Lady Fortuna plays a vital role in such matters, and from time to time, new works or hitherto unknown passages are discovered.

Papyri and parchments were expensive commodities in antiquity, and in the Middle Ages, thrifty monks searching for writing support for their prayers effectively reused old parchment. They scraped off the ancient manuscripts to overwrite them with their Christian psalms and hymns perpendicularly to the initial writing. This process is called Palimpsest.

[Picture from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory by Farrin Abbott]

One such Palimpsest surfaced in Germany at the beginning of the 1900s. Its origin has been traced back to the Monastery of St Catherine on the Sinai Peninsula. Close examination with special X-ray imaging revealed an underlying text in Syriac from the 6th century, constituting the most complete surviving copy of an original book by Galen. This text was erased and written over in the 11th century. 

Thanks to modern imaging and digital processing techniques, scientists and scholars have uncovered and studied the Roman physician’s original text over the past decade. Eventually, this precious evidence will be added to the existing high-resolution images made available online by the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. This institution is collecting leaves from the same Syriac manuscript that made their way to different locations, such as the libraries at Harvard University, Paris, and the Vatican, to name just a few. 

The intention is to digitally reconstruct Galen’s book. This is a long-term project, considering it takes about ten hours to scan one single page. Only when these complex scans are completed will the research team be able to start analyzing the words and thoughts of this great physician to fit them in the context of the pages that are kept elsewhere.

Details on this time-consuming research can be found in the article “Hidden Medical Text Read for the First Time in a Thousand Years” by Amanda Solliday."

The little known oracle of Claros

It is not common knowledge that Claros ranges among the three most important oracles in antiquity, together with Delphi and Didyma.

The first cult of Claros occurred some time during the 7^th century using a round altar, which a century later, was replaced by a larger rectangular one of circa 15x6 meters. At the same time, the foundations were laid for the marble Temple of Apollo at the nearby spring, and another yet smaller temple was erected in honor of his sister, Artemis. This makes the oracle of Claros the oldest prophecy center in the ancient world.

The sanctuary remained untouched till the 4^th century BC when plans were made to enlarge it. These plans were, however, only realized in the 3rd century BC with the construction of a new Temple of Apollo and a new altar. The temple seems to be inspired by the one in Delphi having a similar crypt-like adyton where the oracle delivered her prophecies. The vaulted corridors are still visible today, although the passage is more often than not flooded by the sacred spring.

It seems the renovation works were never completed. It is astonishing to learn that only a few years ago (2006) divers found eight drums of a ten-meter-high column and its capital in Doric style in the nearby shipwreck of Kızılburun, about 60 kilometers from Claros (see: Sunken column finally delivered to the Apollo Temple in Claros). It clearly never reached its destination.

Unlike most oracles in antiquity, the diviners in Claros were men. After fasting for 24 or 48 hours, the question was whispered in the diviner's ear. He then drank some holy water, reappeared from the cave room, washed his hands and face, and formulated the question to the god Apollo. Through either inspiration or revelation, he later received the answer which he delivered to the priest in the shape of a poem. These rituals were held at night and the messages were written on tables that were erected in front of the temple for all to see. Yet, their content traveled as far as Dalmatia, Rome, Sardinia, Algeria, and even Britain and Russia! With the spread of Christianity, the oracle was gradually abandoned.

In this sanctuary, one still can read many of the ancient inscriptions on walls and steps, even on a curved marble bench. It is the largest group of such inscriptions that survived from Greek antiquity. It is also the only place providing us with a clear picture of how the priests could perform the hecatomb, i.e., a sacrifice to the gods in which as many as 100 cattle could be killed simultaneously. This ritual may have been performed at the end of the Claria Games which were held at Claros every five years in honor of Apollo (a similar ritual existed in Olympia at the closure of the Olympic Games).

Today’s visitors can still admire the remains of the Temple of Apollo with its vaulted adyton when it is not flooded. This happens generally in spring since Claros is located in the river valley and the temple itself is below the local water table. Yet, this adds to the charm of the place.

In front of the temple, archaeologists have painstakingly reassembled the fragments of three colossal sculptures, a seated Apollo holding his lyre, flanked by Leto and Artemis, standing seven meters tall. 

It seems that even Alexander the Great consulted this oracle before building the fortress on the nearby hill of Pagos where the residents from Smyrna were resettled.

Side didn’t put up any resistance to Alexander

The name Side means “pomegranate,” a well-known fertility symbol in antiquity that we also find on coins. The origin of Side itself is shrouded in mystery. Arrian tells us that the city was founded by people from Cyma, a town north of Smyrna (modern Izmir). However, if we believe Eusebius, the city was settled at least two hundred years before the Trojan War, i.e., about 1405 BC. For now, neither option can be proved.

In antiquity, however, Side occupied a special place because of the language spoken there, which did not resemble any other known language or dialect and didn’t sound like Greek. It was unique to Side if we believe Arrian (and why shouldn’t we believe him?). Inscriptions and coins use this unique language as far back as the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. In any case, it has been determined that it can only be of Anatolian origin, i.e., proper to Pamphylia, because it is unrelated to Sillyum or Aspendos's Greek dialects. Greek started to be used only after the conquest of Alexander the Great, which is supported by an inscription from about 300 BC.

On his march through Pamphylia in the early spring of 333 BC, Alexander took possession of Side. Not much has been said about it, just that he left a garrison behind before moving on to Sillyum. After his death, his general Ptolemy ruled the city until the Seleucid Dynasty took over in the 2nd century BC. Later on, Side was included in the Pergamon Empire. However, the town was involved in the profitable piracy business, and the Cilicians used it as a pivotal base for their slave trading. When Emperor Pompey expelled the pirates in 67 BC, the people of Side hurriedly erected a statue in his honor. The city flourished under Roman occupation but weakened as soon as the empire fell apart. This is evidenced by the city walls built about the fourth century inside the once larger city limits.

However, there was a short revival in the fifth and sixth centuries. The theater was repaired, and a new Forum was built in honor of Arcadius (395-408), as well as several other buildings. But the Arab invasion of the 7th century caused its final decline, and by the end of the 10th century, the few remaining inhabitants moved to the newly founded Antalya. The last people who lived here were the Seljuks in the 12^th century. We have to wait till 1895 when Greek Muslims migrated from Crete and sought refuge among the ruins. The new village called Selimiye is consequently built on top of the old Side. Finding the ancient remains among today’s houses, gardens, and alleys takes some detective work. On the other hand, a large part of the antique city is still buried under drift sand, especially in the northeastern corner, where the Roman city walls literally disappear in the dunes.

A parking lot has been built at the city entrance, and I’m glad I can leave my car there and don’t have to figure out the narrow street pattern. I am lucky to enter the city exactly where I wanted, meaning through the Hellenistic Gate (Megale Pyle) from the 2nd century BC, with its two round towers, just like the ones in Perge, but in much poorer condition. If I had not seen the Hellenistic Gate in Perge, I would have missed this one entirely, and it would have been complicated to imagine what the towers looked like.

The shocking picture here is the newly asphalted road, a coat smeared over and on top of the old Roman pavement – a barbarian crime, nothing less!

Behind me rise the impressive remains that belong to a large Nymphaeum, another mental link for me, this time with Sagalassos. I didn’t expect to find a fountain of this size in Side. The explanation panel is set up in Turkish, English, and German, with a drawing of the fountain’s reconstruction. This Nymphaeum dates from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, just like most of the ruins around here – i.e., the heydays of the Roman Empire.

The antique and now asphalted colonnaded street runs past elegant remains of a covered sidewalk with shops behind them. I can walk freely among these remains, which adds to the charm. I climb to the top of one of the sand dunes, hoping to spot the sea, and I do. In fact, my view reaches as far as Alanya to the east, while in the north, I’m stopped by the peninsula of Side. Inviting dark blue water splashes against the rocks and sunken ruins, creating a screen of thousands of sunlit stars.

I move on and climb to the next dune top, and from here, I clearly see the large Theatre, but that is for later, as I’m close to the beach and decide to walk to the old port, which is now entirely sanded up. I pass impressive ruins with column stubs belonging to a Nymphaeum of which only the facade is still standing. The space in front was once occupied by the Agora, measuring nearly the standard 100 x 100 meters, but I miss the shops that usually surround it. Remains of columns and ceiling caissons lie everywhere, and I can’t help thinking that the sand surely will damage these carvings (a standard abrasive) – not the happiest way to preserve ancient stones.

The road now leads me to the center of today’s Selimiye, with a continuous row of restaurants and souvenir shops on either side. The merchants and waiters try all the tricks in the book to draw the attention of the tourists. Nothing has changed since antiquity.

At the end of the next side street, the white marble columns of the Temple of Apollo appear, the standard picture in every travel guide, which now becomes real. The effect of Carrara marble against the intense blue sky and sea is simply perfect. From between the arches of nearby Lima Basilica, I take my first pictures. At the same time, I marvel at the size of this Basilica from the 5th/6th century, which remained in use for many more centuries in a reduced size.

The longer I stare at those few slender columns of the Temple of Apollo, the more I see. The delicate, not entirely Corinthian capitals supporting a pediment decorated with numerous individual faces staring down at me. Somewhere between the broken marble on the floor, I find a piece of the pediment with one of those faces, finely decorated edges with lion heads; this temple must have been something extraordinary. Next to it, I should find its twin, a temple dedicated to Artemis, but I fail to see anything indicating the presence of a building. As always, the location has been chosen with perfection and is no less impressive than the location of Cape Sounion in Greece.

Back in the streets of Selimiye, I get terribly annoyed by the noise, the cars, and the tourists, but above all, by this idiotic asphalted street still lined with stubs of the original colonnade. I discovered the remains of the Roman Baths, the so-called Harbor Baths from the second century, but since modern houses have been built inside and against the old walls, it is difficult to get a clear overall picture. These baths must have been quite large, measuring 36 x 19 meters, but it is a pity to find them in such poor shape.

Finally, I arrive at the theater, which has been considerably propped up, and the many vaults are reinforced with iron beams. I wonder how safe it is to get inside. I always find a theater a fascinating place to visit, where the past remains so palpable simply because, over the centuries, thousands of people have walked through its open or vaulted corridors or chatted comfortably sitting on the stone benches. The entrance takes me immediately to the diazoma, the promenade halfway through the theater, right in the middle. It is said to be one of the largest theaters in Pamphylia and should hold approximately as many people as the one in Aspendos. This is hard to judge because the scene is poorly preserved, and almost nothing is left from the backstage wall (paraskenia), either. From the coolness of the vaults, I admire its location amidst the sand-covered remains behind which the entire coastline unfolds towards Alanya.

The sides and upper parts of the theater are off-limits because of the danger of collapse, but most of the “safe” parts have been well restored. Like the city, this is clearly Roman, although there was originally a Greek theater on this spot. Meanwhile, I have stepped all the way down, and when I look back over my shoulder, I’m surprised by the height. Of the people at the entrance to the diazoma, I only see their heads. This was the first time in my life that I felt dwarfed in a theater, overwhelmed by the entire construction. I walk to both extremities of the semi-circle while admiring the decorated remains on the podium. It is said that the scene was completely overgrown with trees and bushes when it was first discovered, tearing the construction apart. Comparing the pictures George Bean took in the 1960s (see: Turkey’s Southern Shore) with today’s appearance, it is evident that a lot of work has been done. After a while, I climb back to the diazoma to find that the stairs to the upper seats start in the vaulted corridor – there was no outside access in this theater.

Back outside on the main street, I automatically reach the small Temple of Dionysus attached to the remains of the Arch of Vespasian. The cars must drive underneath the Arch, taking turns since the opening is not wide enough to enable two vehicles to pass together. When in the 6th and 7th centuries, the population of Side had shrunk considerably, this Arch became a city gate in the newly built protection wall. In a way that is still visible today, because, beyond this point, the modern restaurants and shops stop, giving way to the ruins of the antique stores with walls reaching approximately one or two meters high. One of these stores is quite unique because the owner's living quarters were located behind the up-front store, and in one of the rooms, I even discovered the original mosaic floor still in place.

To the right of the Triumphal Arch of Vespasian are the remains of a Nymphaeum, squeezed between the street and the space that belongs to the Archaeological Museum. This museum has been set up inside the well-preserved Roman Baths. It is one of those rare occasions where I can have a real feel of what such baths must have looked like in spite of the modern concrete roofing that seems to blend in elegantly. Entering through two arched doorways, I access the frigidarium, the coldest part of the baths; next is the sweating room, and finally, I reach the largest room, the caldarium or hot room, where pipes of the floor-heating system are still visible in places; the last two rooms were the tepidarium or washing rooms. The marble floors and the walls of the basins are in excellent condition, and the spare natural light sources add to the genuine feeling. Among the statues and other artifacts of the collection, I cannot find many striking pieces, except for an inscription in the language of Side, which I have never encountered before, and a Pamphylian sarcophagus from the 2nd century with high reliefs of dancing cupids under the sloping roof festooned with lion heads. The less important or broken pieces have found refuge in the adjacent garden, but are undoubtedly worth a visit; also, the workshop where a richly decorated sarcophagus is being painstakingly pieced back together.

All in all, I spent three and a half hours walking around in Old Side, purposely ignoring the modern tourist traps - lovely!