The largely intact Roman Theatre of Aspendos - Photo was taken in 2018 during our 1st visit
A windless morning today. Yesterday’s cool breeze has gone. Clouds line the mountains above Alanya. We won't be able to use the sails today. Sadly we have to motor. Tonight’s Destination is Phaselis on the Turkish Riviera, about 70 nautical miles away. We plan a short stop halfway to visit Aspendos’ old Roman theater, the best-preserved in the world. Since there is no harbor, we leave the Dragonfly on the sea and go by tender to the shore. A taxi takes us to Aspendos a few miles inland.
The City of Aspendos is close to the River Eurymedon
Aspendos is not one of the cities that made headlines in antiquity. Located in a rich alluvial plain, it was and still is a center for agriculture. It probably supplied more prominent towns like Perge and Side with fresh produce, olive based products, wheat and apparently young horses. The nearby Köprüçay river (ancient Eurymedon) was large enough for barges to ship these goods to the sea.
Aspendos' famous Siphon Aqueduct brought fresh Water from the nearby Hills
Today, Aspendos is known for its Roman theatre and the sophisticated siphon which allowed the transport of fresh water from the nearby hills. It fell in disrepair but it is still visible how it once worked. Described it in one of my previous blogs in 2022.
Site Map of the Ancient City of Aspendos with lower and upper Town
Whilst most of Aspendos town decayed a long time ago and only ruins remined on the rocky outcrop, the Roman theatre survived almost intact. It is in better shape than Orange’s well-known monument. The Roman theatre was built between 160 – 180 AD and could sit 9’000 people. The theatre is still used for performances – with 13’000 seats. Maybe people are slimmer today? It is probably the opposite. The monument is about 100 meters wide and 22 meters high and has 41 rows of seats. Most tour brochures mention that it survived because it was used as caravanserai (han) by the Seljuk who arrived here in the early 13th century.
An excellent Description of the System of Hans or Caravanserais from National Geographic
The first caravanserais date back to ancient Persia (550 BC) and were built along the Royal Road. They were road side inns for traveling merchants and officials. The invention spread quickly through the Persian Empire and reached Egypt, India and central Asia. They were important nods for long-distance trading and could be found everywhere along the silk road. Their high time came with Islam. For Muslim travelers they were essential. The Seljuks were big promotors of these inns. In the 12th and 13th century, they built many of the caravanserais or hans which still stand today in Iran and Türkiye. We visited one of them a week ago in Nicosia. 54 of Iran’s hans made it not too long ago on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
A Persian Caravanserai was both Inn, Camel Stable and Fort to protect the Merchants
Explaining the survival of the Roman theatre in Aspendos with its use as a han has one flaw though. There was no trading route passing through Aspendos which would warrant the establishment of an inn. Commercial traffic in this region followed the sea. There were still a large numbers of Byzantine and Crusader outposts on the Anatolian coast covering the passage to the Holy Land. The ships from Venice and Genoa captured all the trading. The land-based silk road went much further north via the Caspian to the Black Sea but never touched southern Anatolia.
The Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubat turned the Roman Theatre into his Summer Residence
A more plausible explanation is the use of the ancient theatre by Seljuk Sultan Keykubat as his summer palace from where he governed. He remodelled the stage area, added new window frames and apparently decorated the ceilings in typical Seljuk blue (we could not go in thus have not seen it). The Seljuks’ rule was short though and ended already in 1243. The Ottoman started to build their empire after 1335 when the Mongols withdrew. Could not find out whether they used the building as well.
The Arches of the Theatre perfectly accommodate people
Maybe the Roman theatre survived simply by a stroke of luck and its remote location. The entire region around Antalya became a backwater under Ottoman rule. It never regained the importance it had in Hellenistic and Roman times. There were few people living here. Given the Theatre’s solid construction with large stone blocks, it survived the frequent earth quakes which destroyed the town behind. Also, there was no nearby fortress for which the stones of the theatre could have been used.
Seljuk Ceiling in one of the Mosques in Sivas in today's eastern Türkiye
Wonder whether there are Turkish archeology papers documenting the excavation of Aspendos. But I could not find any. Google could translate. Would certainly be interesting to know what happened to the monument after the Seljuks. Be it as it may, the fact that the theatre survived is amazing.
Our Position at the time of Writing my Blog today
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