Sayı 11- Ocak/Mart 2013 - Antalya Rehberler Odası

with columns. Three gatesopening to the orchestra canbe seen, and the gate in themiddle preserves its authenticcharacter. The frieze thattops the stage are decoratedwith beautiful carvings depictinghunting scenes. There arethree gates in the eastern partof the stage. These three entrancegates suggest that thecity notables and the ordinarypeople entered the theaterthrough different gates. Thereare walls constructed of marbleblocks extending east andwest of the stage.The World’s First Stock ExchangeBuilding: There is around structure at the edgeof the Penkalos (Kocacay)River, 50 m. from the Southernend of the second bridge.There used to be a mosqueconstructed on this structureuntil the Gediz earthquake of1970. Prof. Dr. R. Naumannand his team, who began excavationsin 1971 at the locationof the mosque, demolishedafter the earthquake,unearthed this round structure.It was understood that thestructure was the meatand fish market (Macellum)in the middle of themarketplace where horsesand foodstuff weresold, and later was usedas the stock exchangebuilding where the pricesof goods were determinedto fight inflation.The food market in naturelike today’s commodity exchangeswas established1750 years ago in 250 A.D.,and the price decree knownas “Diocletian’s Laws” issuedby the Emperor Dioeletianuswere inscribed on the pedestalof this structure, 50 yearsafter its establishment. Thus,both stock market transactionswere made, and pricedeterminations were declaredto fight inflation, beginning in301 A.D. The prices of goodstraded at that time were fixed,and measures against inflationwere taken across thecountry. The purchase andsale of goods at exorbitantprice was prohibited by crosspricing among the goods produced.The inscriptions were writtenon large blocks of marblein the structure with two entrances;one eastern and onewestern. The texts were writtenin both Latin and Greek. Itwas recorded on these blocksthe price of: fruit, skin, fur,leather goods, fabric, wood,wooden furniture, shoes, baskets,silk, sheer fabrics, rawfabrics, gold, silver, marble,various yarns, wild and domesticatedanimals, slaves,medical and chemical drugsand plants, spices and shippingwould be. For example,it is written on the 8 th blockthat the price of a male slavebetween the ages of 16-40was equal to the price of twodonkeys, that is to a monetaryvalue of 30,000 dinars, whilethe price of a horse was equalto the price of three slaves.The price of a male slavebetween the ages of 16-40 was equal to the priceof two donkeys, that is30,000 dinars, and theprice of a horse was equalto the price of three slaves.Again, in the same block, theprices of animals such as alion, leopard, bear, deer, andwild donkey are recorded.With this information from thestock exchange building, wealso gain knowledge of theliving conditions of the Aizanites.The Aizanites neverbroke their connections withthe Aegean cities, and hadclose commercial and culturalrelations with these cities, especiallywith Sardis, Ephesusand Foca. Cotton was importedfrom Sardis, and productsnot cultivated in cold regionssuch as silkworm, raw silk andolives were imported from theother Aegean cities. The cityof Aizanoi did not have muchimports, but exported pulsessuch as wheat, barley, chickpeas,beans, and the lentilsit produced. It lived economicallya very bright period es-