THE CITY SERVED THE KINGS: AIZONAI
THE ANCIENT CITY, AIZONAI SITUATED IN THE
CENTER OF THE ÇAVDARHISAR DISTRICT OF KÜTAHYA IS A RELIC FROM 3000
B.C. THIS CITY WITH ITS FAMOUS ZEUS TEMPLE, USED TO BE INHABITED BY
120,000 PEOPLE IN THE PAST.
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Upon crossing the Roman bridge stretching over the Koça
Brook, one enters a vast area surrounded by barbed wire. This is the
Aizona Antique City where one of the best-preserved Roman temples in
Anatolia, the Zeus Temple, is located. The gigantic podiums and the high
columns invoke the splendor of this city that used to serve kings once
upon a time. While the name and the story of the Zeus Temple is known
widely, few are aware that this temple is in the Aizona Antique City. This
ancient city built three thousand years ago has for ages attracted the
attention of a myriad of civilizations. |
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It is thought that the name of the city of Aizonai,
the city being in the Çavdarhisar district center, which is 57 km to
Kütahya, was derived from the mythological hero, Azan. According to
the myth, Azan is the son of Zeus' daughter, Water Fairy Erato and the
Arcadian King Arkas. Like many other hills in the south where the
pioneer Phyrgians had settled, Aizonai is one of the main settlements
of the Phyrgians. Around the Zeus Temple, which is on the high plateau
of the city, archeological excavations have uncovered |
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settlement layers belonging to 3000 B.C. One of the
settlement hills spotted at several sections of the plateau recently was
in the main sacred area during the early periods of Anatolia. During the
Hellenistic period this area was variably under the rule of Pergamos and
Bithyni; in 133 B.C it was placed under Roman rule. It is known that the
first coins of the Aizonai date back to the first half of the Second
Century B.C. Aizonai, enriched due to its cereal agriculture, wine and
wool production during the Roman Empire period had fame that transcended
the boundaries of the region but the findings on proper urbanization
belong to the end of the first century. Aizonais privileged status as the
center of episcopacy in the Early Byzantine Period waned from the VIIth
Century on. The base of the temple was transformed into a fort in the
Medieval Period. It was used by the Çavdar Tartars as their base during
the Seljuki Period in the 13th century. For this reason, the area is
called Çavdarhisar. This area was re-discovered by European travellers in
1824; was examined and described in 1830-1840's. Led by M. Schede and D.
Krencher, the excavations of the German Archeology Institute took start in
1926. The work has been going on since 1970. It has been estimated that
the antique city had approximately 120,000 habitants in old times. |
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Among
the ruins are the Zeus Temple, a theatre with a capacity of 20,000
people and adjacent to it a stadium of 13,500 people, two hammams (Turkish
baths), the first stock-exchange building of the world, a street with
columns, five bridges across Kocaçay of which the two are intact, the
sacred area of Meter Steunene, necropolises, an ancient dam on the
Koca Brook, water channels and monumental gate structures. The city of
Aizonai was contemporary with the cities of Ephesus, Pergamos and
Side. Although the history of Aizonai goes back as far as 3,000 B.C.,
all of the buildings in |
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this city
are from the 1st and 2nd centuries of the Roman period. The Zeus Temple
identified with this city was also built during this period. It is thought
that the Temple was dedicated to both mother goddess Kybele and Zeus. The
theater and the adjacent stadium, the 450-meter long columned street, the
gymnasium, the hammam and the monumental tomb are some of the other ruins,
which can be seen in Aizonai. Objects unearthed from the excavations in
the city. |
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