Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:51 AM Sayfa
during the Roman Period. Passing by this and walking towards the
acropolis a bit we come to the stadion. This Roman Period structure is
supported by vaulting. At the eastern end of the stadion is a Roman theater.
The original structure was built in 215 BC but was destroyed in an
earthquake in AD 17. It could accommodate an audience of 20,000.
The other ruins of ancient Sardis are on the road that runs along the
Paktolos River and leads to the Temple of Artemis. On the western bank of
the river to one's left rises the steep pinnacle of Paktolos. Atop it are the
foundations of a Roman or Byzantine house from the 4 th or 5 th century AD
In an excavated depression near the river one sees examples of 7 th and 6 th
century BC ‘Lydian walls’. After passing the houses of the village, we come
to a pyramid-shaped tomb halfway along the road rising towards the
valley's south. This stepped structure is 300 m. high and is the
monumental tomb of a Susan nobleman by the name of Abradates and his
wife Pantheia. King Kyros had this monumental tomb of a Susan
nobleman by the name of Abradates and his wife who committed suicide
upon hearing of her husband's death. The road takes us as far as the
Artemis temple. Let us now examine this magnificent structure.
Excavations have demonstrated that the practice of the Artemis cult at this
site goes back at least as far as the 5 th century BC. The red sandstone altar
standing before temple and only partially excavated measures 21 by 11 m.
and is from the Lydian Period. The Anatolian fertility goddess Kybele, with
whom Artemis was identified, was also worshipped here.
The Artemis temple went through three stages of development. The
original temple was constructed in the 4 th century BC. This first building
faced west and was in the Ionic order. It measured 23.00 by 67.52 m. in
size. It consisted of a pronaos (an outer portico), a cella (an enclosure in
which the statue of the goddess was housed), and an opisthodome (back
chamber). The temple had a double row of columns. This temple was
destroyed and fell to ruin; however, work resumed to build a second one on
the same site between 175-150 BC. Thirteen of the bases of the columns on
the east were erected during this period after which construction came to
a halt. Had it continued, there would have been twenty columns on the temple's
long sides and eight on the short. Only six columns were added to the
opisthodome. Work did not begin again until 150 AD when the work of
building was taken up for a third time and the temple was finally completed
in the pseudodipteros plan laid down three centuries earlier with 8 by 20
columns and measuring 45 by 97.94 m.. In Roman times, the cella was
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