[See the following for more:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/aphrodisias/
http://www.armory.com/~turkiye/turkey/ege/aphrodisias/aphrodisiashist.html
http://meeuws.s2swebhosting.nl/turkije/aphrodisias_ned.htm ]
x0x Land of Aphrodite
By Nermin Baycin
`In all of Asia I chose this one single city to be mine.' This marble
city in the valley of the Menderes River in western Turkey was
beautiful, privileged, inviolate and celebrated. Aphrodisias was
beloved of the Roman emperors and protected by a goddess from whom
they claimed divine nobility, who as the earth mother of fertility
embraced the earth, seas and skies, and was the symbol of love. Under
her guardianship Aphrodisias was happy indeed. The city that had won
such fame in the ancient world for the cult of Aphrodite was also the
chosen city of Augustus, the first Roman emperor.
For Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) Aphrodisias was of special significance
among all the cities of Asia. This was the city of the patron goddess
of the Rome of Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), whose legacy Augustus
inherited. The Roman emperors believed that they were descended from
Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) and founder of
Rome.
Therefore they naturally added their own names to the pantheon of gods
on Olympus.
During archaeological excavations in 1979-1981, a group of buildings
known as the Sebasteion were uncovered at Aphrodisias in the village
of Geyre near Karacasu in the province of Aydin. Their dazzling
splendour shows clearly what it meant to be a `chosen' city of the
Romans. The magnificent reliefs adorning these buildings make the
Sebasteion one of the most outstanding buildings of the ancient world.
The complex consists of a temple, a monumental gate and a pair of
buildings rather like colonnaded porticos 90 metres in length. Carved
reliefs the height of a man extend the full length of these long
narrow buildings, depicting the imperial world of Augustus, each
conquered land and nation symbolised by a female figure, together with
mythological figures, Greek gods, and emperors crowned with victory
and divine authority. The two hundred reliefs are remarkable both as
works of art and for their subject matter.
The Aphrodite who is depicted on the monumental gate of the Sebasteion
in her role as ancestral mother is not so much the licentious goddess
of love and beauty worshipped by the ancient Greeks as a Cybele or
Ephesian Artemis, the mother goddesses of ancient Anatolia. The famous
statue of Aphrodite found at Aphrodisias on the site of the Temple of
Aphrodite at the heart of the city has close affinities with the
Ephesian Artemis who symbolised fertility and governed the earth,
seas, skies and underworld. On her heavy robe decorated with reliefs
are depicted Zeus (the sky), Selene (the moon), Helios (the sun), Eros
and other mythological figures representing all the powers of nature.
She herself is also there, accompanied according to the Hellenistic
tradition by a dolphin and a Triton, and riding half naked upon a goat
with a fish's tail. All the many symbolic meanings with which she is
attributed suggest that the origins of Aphrodite, her cult and the
city of Aphrodisias go far back in time.
According to the Byzantine historian Stephanos (6th century) the
city's name was Ninoe, deriving from the mythical King Ninos, founder
of the Assyrian-Babylonian Empire, conqueror of western Asia and
husband of the famous Semiramis. He is associated with Near Eastern
goddesses of fertility, war and love like Astarte and Ishtar (also
known as Nin, Nino or Nina). Although the arrival of Greek culture
changed many things, including the city's name that now became
Aphrodisias, devotion to the cult did not alter in any significant
respects. Some figures in the reliefs discovered in the Roman
basilica, where legislative and other public functions were carried
out, throw light on the little-known early period of the city's
history prior to Greek and Roman domination. Among these figures are
Ninos and the clever and accomplished Semiramis, who built the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, revealing them to be the mythical founders of the
city.
Yet archaeological finds in recent years have revealed that the city
is even more ancient than Ninos, stretching back into prehistoric
times.
Inscriptions in the theatre are valuable documents providing
information about the Hellenistic and Roman periods at Aphrodisias.
They tell of the honours bestowed upon the city and the cult of
Aphrodite by the emperors, of oaths of allegiance, of administrative
and political ranks, and of privileges like exemption from tax and
inviolability for the sanctuary of the goddess.
With the protection and support of the Roman Empire, Aphrodisias
became one of the most celebrated cities of the ancient world and a
work of art in its own right. In this rise to glory which began in the
1st century BC the city won fame in another sphere other than the cult
of Aphrodite. This was the school of sculpture. Magnificent statues
adorned the monumental gates of the city, the agora, public baths, the
school of philosophy or house of philosophers, and the council hall,
in a flamboyant demonstration of the cultural and economic wealth of
Aphrodisias.
Nermin Baycin is an archaeologist.
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