Aspendos Audio Guide

Aspendos: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Aspendos

   Welcome to Aspendos, an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province, about 40 kilometers east of the modern city of Antalya. In its day it stood on the Eurymedon River, which today is called the Köprüçay, roughly 16 kilometers inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Today the site is reached by a turn of about 4 kilometers off the Antalya to Alanya highway, and it lies in the Serik district. Aspendos is famous for one thing above all: its Roman theatre, widely described as the best-preserved theatre of antiquity. It has stood for more than 18 centuries, and it still works as a venue for concerts and shows. But the city around it has a longer and stranger story, with Persian governors, an Athenian admiral, Alexander the Great, and even a medieval dynasty that fell in love with the building. Over the next few stops, we will walk through the city's deep past, step inside the theatre, follow the water that fed the city along its great aqueduct, and see how a ruin has become a living stage again.

2. 02

   A City Between Empires

   Aspendos is usually said to have been founded around a thousand years before Christ, though its origins are told in more than one way. Ancient authors preserved different traditions about its foundation. Today some experts see Greek settlers as its earliest inhabitants, while others point to the Hittites. Recent surveys and excavations have also brought up material from the Early Iron Age, pushing the city's story back even further. By the fifth century BC, Aspendos had stepped onto the stage of the ancient world. The Persians arrived in Pamphylia, and in 546 BC the city came under Persian domination. Yet it kept minting coins in its own name, which suggests it enjoyed a good deal of freedom. On coins of the fifth and fourth centuries BC, the city's name appears as Estvediya, the local Pamphylian form. Its neighbor Side, with whom it shared a border, was a rival, and the two were hostile to one another. In 468 BC, Aspendos came to the fore when a Persian fleet that had sailed up the river was defeated by the Athenian commander Kimon. Then came Alexander the Great. In 333 BC he accepted the city's ambassadors and spared it on the condition that it pay the tax it had paid the Persian king. When the people of Aspendos went back on their promise, Alexander marched on them and made the terms far harsher: an annual tax of 100 gold talents, 4,000 horses, and a Macedonian garrison.

3. 03

   The Theatre That Refused to Fall

   Now to the star of Aspendos. The Roman theatre has a diameter of 96 meters and was built to seat about 7,000 people. Remarkably, the Aspendus Culture and Film Festival has shown that it can hold over 20,000. It dates from the second century CE, and what you see today is mostly original building material. That is what sets it apart. Another famous Roman theatre, in Orange in France, is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Aspendos preserves more of its original fabric than Orange does, and it is distinguished by a richly decorated façade and by the layers of different cultures written into its stones. Look closely at the stage building. In the thirteenth century the Seljuks, a civilization that was not part of the local culture, used and adorned the monument. Seljuk designs can be seen on the stage building, and tiles from that era are on display in the Antalya Museum. Historians read this effort as a sign that the Seljuks found the theatre as astonishing as we do. Some stones on the window frames carry animal figures. These reused stones may reveal Achaemenid traces, which would make them far older than the theatre itself.

4. 04

   Water, Engineering and Protection

   A city of this size needed water, and Aspendos solved the problem with style. A series of aqueducts about one kilometer long brought water to the city from the mountains in the north. It is considered a rare example from ancient times and a sign of extraordinary engineering skill. Scholars have written specifically about the aqueduct at Aspendos and its inverted siphon, a technique for carrying water across a valley under pressure rather than carrying it entirely on high arches. The theatre and the aqueducts together are the reason this site is on Turkey's tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage. The aqueducts show the technological advances of their era, while the theatre shows how a later civilization, the Seljuks, adapted a monument that was not their own. The site and its surroundings are protected under Turkish law on the preservation of cultural and natural property, Law number 2863 as amended. Since the eighth of September, 1994, the area has held the status of a first-degree archaeological site and a third-degree natural site. So the setting around the ruins is protected as well as the stones.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Aspendos rewards the visitor who looks at it as layers. There is a Roman building with Seljuk decoration, set on a site whose earliest traces reach back into the Early Iron Age. There are Persian-era coins that carry the city's own name, and the shadow of Alexander's tax demands. As you take in the scene, notice how much of the theatre is still original stone, and let your eyes wander across the stage building for the decoration and the carved stones that a later age added. If you can, find a spot with a view toward the line of the aqueduct and picture the mountain water running toward the city. Most of the city beyond the theatre is now in ruins, so much of its story is still waiting to be read. Every season of excavation can add to it, and the next discovery might push Aspendos back even further in time.