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ATTALEIA |
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ATTALEIA |
Ancient Antalya |
 Though Antalya has a historical
Roman-Ottoman core, the ancient cities on its outskirts -Perge, Aspendos, Side, Telmessos
(link to) , Phaselis (link to.), Olympus (link to.) offer more to see in the way of
historic buildings. The area has been inhabited since the earliest times. The oldest artifacts found in the Karian caves, 25 km from Antalya, have been dated to the Paleolithic period. Antalya as a city was founded by Attalus II of Pergamun in the 1st century B.C. and the city was named Attaleia after its founder. It became Roman when the Permamene Kingdom was willed to Rome. The Hellenistic walls of Antalya were expanded to the east and south by the Romans; along one such stretch, to the side of palm-lined Ataturk Caddesi, can be found the more impressive remnant of Roman Antalya: Hadrian's Gate. Emperor Hadrian visited the city in 130 A.D. and this triumphal arch was built in his honor, a tripartite marble structure. Originally two stories high, the gate consists at present of three arched and coffered entranceways separated by piers. Above the arches runs an entablature that projects in front of the piers. Supported by columns with composite capitals, it originally formed the basis for a second story of columns. The ruts in the cobbled road below bear witness to this gate's commercial as well as symbolic importance to the Roman city. Another Roman edifice, Hidrilik kulesi, is a solid square building with a round second story located at the junction of the Roman city wall with the sea cliff in the southwest. It was incorporated into Antalya's defenses after it was constructed (about A.D. 100) and is thought to have been the tomb of a Roman Senator, presumably a local son who did well for himself. The Byzantines took over from the Romans and rebuilt the city walls once again in the 10th century. Most of the Byzantine remains from Antalya, mainly inscriptions and architectural pieces, are confined now in the Cumanin Camii, originally a Roman temple converted later into a Byzantine church and into a mosque with the Ottoman rule. In 1207 the Seljuk Turks based in Konya took the city from the Byzantines and gave Antalya its current name, and also its symbol, the Yivli Minaret (Grooved Minaret). After the Mongols broke Seljuk’s rule of power, Antalya was held for a while by the Turkish Hamidogullari Emirs. It was later taken by Ottomans in 1391. Antalya today is a rich mixture of all these civilizations and offers to the visitor a wonderful feeling of walking through history whilst also being able to appreciate the many good restaurants and shopping areas of the city. Visitors can also take adventage of the city's large museum which boasts a unique ethnic section. |
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