ANCIENT CITY OF PRIENE, Aydın/Turkey

 

ANCIENT CITY OF PRIENE

I. GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORICAL PROCESS

The ancient city of Priene is today on the Didim-Gülbahçe Road, at the southern foothills of Mount Mykale (Samsun). According to Herodotus, 12 cities could participate in Panionion; Miletus, Myous, Ephesos, Kolophon, Lebedos, Teos, Klazomenai, Phokaia, Khios, Erythrai, Samos and Priene. Based on this information, I.He. VII. We can take it to a century. According to accounts from ancient times to date, the colonists who founded the city were colonists who migrated to Ionia. Their leader is Aepytos, the son of Kodros, the legendary founder of Athens. Priene is therefore assumed to have always adhered to Athens in the historical process. Wise Umar mentions that the name Priene consists of the word “Pura/Pria” (Hisar) in the Luwi/Pelasgos language and the jewelry “wana/ana” (Tue-region). In other words, it means” Hisar Yurdu", the name of the city. According to ancient sources, Priene, I.He. He lived under the rule of Lydia between 645-546 and then under the rule of Persia. One of the Seven Sages, I.He. Bias, which is believed to have lived in the 6th century, is mentioned as “Prieneli Bias” in the Historia of Heredotos. Then click Check out.He. He is involved in the Ionian rebellion of 500-494. We know that he fought against the Persians in the Battle of Lade with 12 ships. In the process, we have other than written sources.He. There are electron coins dated to 500 years.

Veli Sevin, due to the alluvial fill that Maindros brought to the Gulf of Latmos, the city of Priene I.He. 5. It moved to higher ground in the middle of the century, he says. In a few other publications, we see today, the majestic city of Priene, mourning Mount Mykale, I.He. It was founded in 350, it is mentioned as. Frank Rumscheid lists three important reasons why the city is in its present position; I. The rock mass dominating the plain facilitated the defense system. II. A permanent water source that comes out of the rock, meeting the city's water needs. III. The fact that the city is high is that it is away from mosquitoes in a swampy area. Prior to these dates, the city of Priene, whose name we know from various places, was located elsewhere under the delta of Maindros, and its exact location is currently unknown. Today, only BAFA Lake remains in this region.

Formation Of Bafa Lake

4 Of Alexander The Great. It is known that he visited Priene in the century and at that time saw and supported the building activities in the city. I.He. 2. At the beginning of the century, he received his share in Priene from the battles for the throne in the east of Anatolia. King orophernes of Cappadocia leaves 400 talents of silver to the Prienelians for their protection. Orophernes ' brother, Ariarathes soon takes over and asks the Prieneans for this money back. But the Prienians refuse, saying that they can give the money to the person they receive, and hand it over to Orophernes. Angered by this, Ariarathes II. Together with Attalos, he attacks Priene and plunges the city. In addition, Priene asks Rome for help and they receive help. After I.He. 2. Towards the end of the century, Priene experiences a bright period. Moschion and Athenapolis, under the administration of the city, spend most of their earnings on the zoning of the city in almost 30 years. I.He. 1. The century, on the other hand, is a period of economic decline for Anatolia, due to the Mitridat Wars and pirate attacks. After that, during the Byzantine period, the city received the title of Episcopal center and became important again. Recent construction activities in the city I.S. 13. It's a century. At that time, they built a castle against the Turks, and then the city fell into the hands of the Turks. The city was also abandoned, probably due to problems with the water system. The rediscovery of the city is based on merchants from Izmir in 1673. The first surveys in the city were conducted by the British in 1765 and 1868-1869 around the Temple of Athena. In 1894, Von Stradonitz and Carl Human, director of the Berlin Museum's Antiquities Department, came to the area and conducted investigations. In 1895, DE Carl Human began archaeological excavations in the area. After his death, he served until 1899. Work was continued by Wiegand.

II. URBAN PLANNING Priene Town Plan The City Was Inhabited By Hippodamos Of Miletus (I.He. 6. it was established according to the plan of yy). The streets intersect each other at a right angle. Priene is recognized as the first and most important city where the Hippodamos plan was implemented. It is said to be the first, but we have the Urartian city of Zernaki Hill (I.He. 8yy) and we know that the Palestinian city of Megiddo was practiced in Assyrian strata. In the city, the main roads run in an east-west direction, and the side roads run in a north-south direction, and most of them are street-shaped, consisting of stairs. But the approximately 2.5 km long fortifications surrounding the city do not comply with this plan, but rather depend on the topographic structure. In addition, the walls were left raw outside and no materials such as mortar clamps were used in the walls. The width of the street, which cuts in half in its own east-west direction, is 7.10 – 7.50 meters and passes in front of the Holy stoann. The width of the other streets parallel to this street is 4.5 meters on average. The width of the streets extending in a north-south direction is 3.5 meters wide. Theater Street has a width of about 4 meters. In priene, the street is not a monumental planning element.. The main streets are paved with cobblestone. Side streets consist of bedrock if necessary. The floor of the streets was usually hardened soil, and Stone was laid in places and canals were created to allow rainwater to flow. As for the canals, the structure in the city is quite developed. Clean water from above was collected in a purification pool at the top of the theater through künkler. Because of a storage system in the south of the city, it had water that could last long, even if it remained under siege. In order for rainwater not to accumulate in the walls, rain holes were drilled into the walls. The city's plan structure did not change much in the Roman and later periods, and the city largely retained its Hellenistic structure. Each building islet has a rectangular plan with an average size of 35.40 meters x 47.20 meters. At the time of the establishment of the city, eight long and narrow houses were placed on the islets of this structure. But in the temporal process, various changes were observed in the internal arrangement of these building islets. The city of Priene had a long period of establishment, and the city was not as rich as Miletus. Building activities here took place with the support of people such as Alexander the Great or the King of Cappadocia.

III. PUBLIC STRUCTURES Priene Theatre Despite the changes made in the Roman era, the theatre has preserved the Hellenistic tradition and is important in this aspect. I.He. It is known to have been built in the 3rd century. It is a theatre with a total capacity of 5000 people with a cavea of 50 rows. Cavea has 6 kerkides, prohyria and awning holes are observed. Proscene is 21 meters long and 2.74 meters wide. Scene has 2 floors, today only the lower floor appears. There were three rooms on both floors, and the rooms on the lower floor were opened to the proscene by a door. b. Temple Of Athena It is one of the oldest and most important buildings of priene. It is about 97 meters above sea level. The architecture of the temple is in harmony with the classical period Hellenic architecture. The temple consists of naos, pronaos, opisthodomos. It is built in an ionic order with 6x 11 columns. The architecture of the temple is Pytheos. (Architect of the temple of Apollo in the mausoleum and Didyma) he is the architect who took Opisthodomos from the Doric order and applied it to the ion order. 24 fluted columns were used in the temple. Vitrivius, in his book De Architectura, gives this temple as an example of Ionian temples.

c. Bouleuterion and Prytaneion Bouleuterion is one of the best preserved structures in the city. It forms a building block with the Prytaneion next to it. Bouleterion has a square form with dimensions of 20x21m. There is an altar in the middle and there are rows of seating parallel to the 3 walls. It has 16 steps on the north side and 10 steps on the East and west sides. Its total capacity is said to be 640 people. The top of the structure is covered with a wooden roof. The Prytans, who make up the prytaneion, are the Executive Board of the bouleuterion. Prytaneion was also a place where the state was represented. Priene Sanctuary Stoa Plan Just north of the Agora, m.He. There is a “holy Stoa” made in the 2nd century. According to an inscription found here, this stoa is the name of King VI of Cappadocia. It is credited by Ariarathes and with this inscription I.He. It is dated to the year 130. A 6-step staircase leads from the Agora to the Stoa. 49 Doric columns are observed on the front of the Stoa and 24 ion columns are observed on the inside. The roof of the Stoa was probably wooden. In the back of the Stoa, there were 15 rooms. It is known from the West that Emperor Augustus saw worship in 9 rooms. From the inscription on the wall of the room, it is understood that the Julian calendar was used at that time. e. Agoras

I.He. It was built in the 3rd century and is located in the center of the city. It is surrounded on three sides by stoas, and behind the stoas are also magazines. The Agora covers a total area of 2 blocks and measures 75.60 X 46.35 meters. In the middle of the Agora is an altar dedicated to Hermes. In the east of this altar there are 2 platforms formed by stones. Many sculptural underlayments were recovered in the Agora. f. Sanctuary Of Zeus

I.He. It is dated to the 3rd century and is located just east of the Agora. It measures 13.5 by 8.5 meters. Prostylos is a planned, Ionian temple. The finds of this temple were taken to the Berlin museum by the Germans who carried out the excavation. It is possible to reconstruct the temple with these parts, and the influence of Pytheos is observed in its architectural decorations. For example, its pedestal is the same as the pedestal of the Temple of Athena, but there are some differences, for example, the openings between the columns are greater in this temple. The fact that the statue pedestal in the naos section of the temple is wide has led to the idea that both Zeus and his wife Hera may have seen the temple here. The remains on the eastern edge of temeno belong to the Byzantine fortress.

IV. PARCEL PLANNING Priene parcel and House plan As mentioned earlier, there are eight long and narrow residences within a building islet. The average dimensions of 35.40 x 47.20 are given for the islets of this structure. Aristotle related to this system of parcelling; in terms of ease of defense, it was better to erratically install houses in the old method, and it is more difficult for mercenaries to enter and leave the city. For this reason, both systems should have been used together, he said.

V. HOUSE Priene House reconstruction and Andron The houses in priene are similar to the Houses of Pompeii and Delos. Almost all of these structures have retained their Hellenistic character. A small part of the walls at the bottom are stone, and the remaining areas are Adobe. The walls of the House facing the street are completely stone. The height of the rooms of the house is between 4.6 – 6.1 meters. The stairs found show that some of the houses had 2 floors. In some houses, earthen slabs measuring 52×79 cm were found, indicating the presence of Windows. These must be the shutters used to close the windows. The windows were glassless and were too high to be visible from the outside. Light and air were provided through doors overlooking the courtyard. The courtyard also contains the House's water well. The main place of the House, oiskos, always looked south, thanks to the prostas section, the sun does not penetrate directly here, but the light and heat, especially in winter, make the most of it. The doors were always 2 Wings, and the sill was marble. Roofs were generally flat or sloping tile. Priene houses were more modest than Roman houses. The reasons for this are as follows; First of all, the Prienians did not have as much knowledge of engineering as the Romans. Secondly, because of the weather conditions in Priene and Ionia, people spent more time in stoas, agoras, and not in their homes during the day. So it doesn't matter if the house is comfortable and stylish, says Friedell. An area of houses that do not have wall contact with each other in the islets of this structure is called the block, and there are 4 houses in each block. The outer walls of these blocks are made almost as intact as public structures. This outer door leads to a corridor, and these corridors lead to a courtyard. Next to the door was an altar for the family to perform presentations, and sometimes a statue of Hermes. During the winter, heating was usually done with a barbecue, and January was found in some kitchens. Only one bathroom was found in the entire Priene. A bathroom room measuring 1.82 x 1.06 meters and a terracotta bath boat measuring 1.08 x 0.51 meters were found in the house, which was also called the rich house. On average, 1 in 3 of the houses have toilets. I of these houses.He. It is estimated that it was built in the 3rd century. The sections where men and women lived in the houses were different. The men lived in a section called andron, and it also served as an admission room. Vitrivius describes Andron as being known as male compartments because men live here undisturbed by women. Symposions would take place in these episodes. In these rooms, called Andron, there were clinics. Priene houses are usually seen as 3s. The female section is called Gynaikon. This room is generally thought to be located upstairs.

Change and development of Priene houses in the historical process Some of these houses were converted into peristyle houses during the Roman period. Especially the houses on the northwest side of the city are like this. The murals show that these houses point to the wealthy. Rumscheid I of the houses in this area.He. He says it was damaged in a major fire in the 2nd century and then abandoned. For the time Priene houses were built, it may be possible to say the following. When the houses were first built, it was tried to be given equally to all the people. But for various reasons, it is impossible to talk about one hundred percent equality. Looking at the overall plan of the city, it will be observed that houses around the city center are more preferable than other houses. Here, people we can think of as more affluent, rich or powerful are likely to buy houses around the city center. Another situation that will create inequality occurs in the islets of the structure. When we look at the houses here, we see that the houses with the largest area are the houses that remain in the southeast and southwest corner. In the southern part, we can see that the area of the rooms to the west of the corridor, which are probably shops, has narrowed with the entrance corridor of the houses that remain in the middle to the courtyard. The situation is worse for the four remaining houses in the northern block of the building islet. Corridor space has been removed for the transition from homes in the Northeast and northwest to two residences in the middle. Therefore, the area of these two houses in the corners is smaller than all other houses, and the areas of these four houses in the North that could be used as shops have become dysfunctional.

I.He. 4. in the dwellings built in the middle of the century, there is equality as mentioned above, while in the later Hellenistic Priene houses and later the late Hellenistic-Roman period (?) in their homes, it is observed that this egalitarian order is largely broken. In the late Hellenistic and Roman period, combining two residential areas or more, Priene's I.He. 4. he seems to have moved away from his plan in the century.