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Atarneus and Aristotle

Tolun's private Turkey tours Posted on February 7, 2022 by MarielleFebruary 7, 2022
Atarneus

Atarneus is one of the ancient Greek cities which unlike many others, is not known for political, commercial or architectural reasons. Its significance lies in its people, of whom most notable was Aristotle. Aristotle’s influence on science and philosophical studies through ages up to today’s modern world is impossible to overestimate. His teachings have contributed greatly to almost every subject of knowledge in the West.

Finding Atarneus

Atarneus had remained elusive to us until a few days ago. We had been looking for it earlier but couldn’t find it. This time we were lucky. Although there were no sign posts and google maps only gave an approximate location, we persisted and were rewarded. We arrived at the end of the dirt track by a farm house. Nothing there suggested that we were looking straight at the historical site. Just hills with goat and sheep trails and creeks running down the slopes after days of heavy rains and thunderstorms. We decided to start walking up the nearest hillside anyway. If we couldn’t find a city, at least we would have a nice walk in the nature.

Atarneus ahead
Atarneus ahead

However, while climbing, we were trying to look for some signs of civilisation amongst the trees and rocks. And there, up the hill, We spotted a structure like a wall of some sort. We decided to go and investigate. The hill was really quite steep to climb, lots of loose rocks on the way. But I noticed something else. Indeed, the signs of human activity started to appear, more and more different shapes of pieces of ancient pottery scattered allover the hillside. And we were right – there really was an ancient stone wall halfway up the hill. It looked like a thick outer wall of a city. Encouraged by this find, we continued climbing upwards. At the top of the hill we could see more pieces of walls, steps, shapes of buildings, but mostly piles of square-cut stones. It looked like this place had not been visited by many people in modern times. Atarneus seemed like a site holding a lot of secrets still undiscovered underneath the earth and stone rubble.

Ancient Atarneus

The people who lived there long time ago enjoyed a 360 degree views far into the distance, excellent position to spot the possible invaders. The Aegean sea at the West, with the seaside town of Dikili visible on the shore. Lesbos island can be seen across the sea. The other sides of the hill were surrounded by low fertile plains and mountains in the distance. In ancient times this region was called Aeolis of Asia Minor. According to Herodotus Atarneus was given To Chians by Cyrus the Great in exchange for the Lydian king Pactyes.

Atarneus ruins
Ruins of Atarneus

Atarneus flourished in the 4th century BCE when it was ruled by Hermias who was a friend of Aristotle. After his father died, Aristotle was taken care of and educated by Proxenus of Atarneus, who may have been his uncle. Proxenus married Aristotle’s older sister Arimneste and they had a daughter Hero and a son Nicanor. Nicanor later married Aristotle’s daughter Pythias. Heros’s son Callisthenes became a student of his great-uncle Aristotle. Callisthenes became a well-known Greek historian who accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiatic expedition.

Atarneus pottery
Some pieces of pottery we found in Atarneus

Aristotle and Hermias

Aristotle studied at the famous Plato’s Academy in Athens for nearly twenty years and it is there where he became friends with Hermias who was sent to study there for several years when he was young. Hermias was a slave to Eubulus, a Bithynian banker who got Atarneus as a guarantee for lending money to a Persian official. After Hermias won his freedom, he became the ruler of Atarneus and Assos.

Atarneus wall
Ancient wall of Atarneus

Plato’s philosophy has been instrumental in Western thought and Aristotle’s philosophy even more so. After Plato’s death Aristotle together with Xenocrates travelled to Atarneus. Aristotle stayed with Hermias in Atarneus for two years. During his stay there, Hermias became quite influenced by Aristotle and his ruling methods became less tyrannical and more according to Aristotle’s teachings. Aristotle married Hermias’s niece or daughter Pythia. After Hermias died, Aristotle travelled to Lesbos together with his pupil Theophrastus to study botany and zoology of the island. He dedicated a statue in Delphi and wrote a hymn in honour of Hermias who was betrayed, captured and tortured to death by Persian king’s order as Hermias remained loyal to Macedonian king Philip II and wouldn’t divulge his secrets. Later Aristotle went on to be a teacher of Philip’s son Alexander the Great.

Fate of Atarneus

By the 1st century BCE Atarneus was deserted probably as a result of the rioting against Romans. It is found that most towns around Pergamon area were deserted at the 1st century BC. It is thought they were involved in the riots against Romans and their inhabitants fled their homes from Romans’ punishments. It is likely that at that time the people of Atarneus also left their homes and later went to live in Pergamon as it was the most powerful city in the area.

What I really liked about Atarneus was its beautiful and peaceful setting. This is not a site that many people visit. Time has stood still there for over two thousand years. It is not hard to imagine Aristotle and his contemporaries sitting at the terrace of a villa there, admiring the sun setting behind the mountains of Lesbos island, contemplating about life…

Views of Aegean sea from Atarneus
View from Atarneus towards the Aegean sea and Lesbos island
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aegean, Ancient Greece, Aristotle, Atarneus, Hermias, Turkey | Leave a reply

Mysterious Acropolis of Pergamon

Tolun's private Turkey tours Posted on September 8, 2021 by MarielleSeptember 8, 2021
Pergamon acropolis

We were driving up the hill to Acropolis of Pergamon and passed the small homestead. There chickens were pecking around the ancient pieces of fortification wall and antique stone ruins were scattered among wooden sheds and huts in the backyard of the farmhouse. This kind of nonchalant attitude to antiquities is only possible in places spoilt for architectural wonders of the past.

As we ascended the hill, we saw the water reservoir down below. I was surprised how much the water level had decreased compared to how I remembered it from my last visit to Pergamon acropolis a few years ago. Everyone is talking about water shortages and hotter and drier weather than normal these days.

After reaching the summit we were rewarded by strong cool breeze blowing steadily and as a result the heat of the early September sun rays were easier to bear. The weather was clear and from the top of the steep amphitheatre I could see the sea glistening in the sun on the horizon. We were standing nearly 30 km away from the sea at this point.

pergamon acropolis
Pergamon Acropolis

Climbing up and down this theatre is not for the faint-hearted. I am not afraid of heights but even I felt my heart trembling a bit when gingerly taking the steps between the rows of seats sloping sharply downward. Looking down, we saw the sea of read rooftops of the city at the foot of the acropolis. We recognized the Maltepe tumulus among the buildings where we had been just before visiting acropolis. Tumulus is a man made hill where kings and other dignitaries were buried inside the stone built burial chamber during Hellenistic times. Seven such tumuluses have been found in Pergamon area.

This time I will not delve into describing the gleaming white marble columns and remains of different temples and other monuments at the site as I already did that in my earlier post about Pergamon a few years ago https://privatetourturkey.com/en/spectacular-pergamon/. This time I just enjoyed the atmosphere and let my senses absorb the surroundings.

Pergamon was a rich and important city, especially before the rise of Constantinople. It was founded in the 3rd century BC to be the capital of the Attalid dynasty. As Tolun says, Philetairos got 9000 golden talents from Lysimachus, the general of Alexander the Great, and used at least some of the money to reinforce and develop the city.

pergamon temples
Marble columns of temples Pergamon

Tolun writes:”One golden talent must have been the equivalent of 33 kg of gold in those times the sum would correspond roughly to 9000 X 33 kg =297000 of kg of gold. The burial chamber of the possible tomb of Lysimachusat Belevi was blown up by treasure hunters and there seems not to be one single coin of gold. So would it be hidden in the Acropolis of Pergamon? Since the money was given to Philetairos and he spent some of it for the fortification of the walls of the city and kept the remaining part himself, one must think he was very rich and the money might have been inherited by succeeding rulers? Philetairos founded the Pergamon kingdom in 281 BC. and the kingdom lasted until 133 BC when it was handed over to the Romans with the testament of the last king of Pergamon, Attalus the III. During this period Pergamon kingdom didn’t appear to lose a battle. The battle against Galatians at Caecus river (Bakircay down below the town) at 241 BC and the one fought at Magnesia against Anthiochus III of Seleucid dynasty in 190 were victorious. So could it be that all that money was spent for the construction of the fabulous Acropolis? Acropolis was nicely built and was full of beautiful monuments including the Altar of Zeus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world in the Hellenistic period. However they could be built only with a small fraction of that huge sum. It would be logical to think that Philetairos and his successors must have had large sums of gold but were they so naive to hand over money to their Roman allies? I would still think that all the money was not spent and parts of it must be stored somewhere at some very safe place.”

Pergamon was known as cultural and political centre, even the capital of Roman province of Asia in Roman Empire. Nearby there was also a famous healing and medical centre called Asclepion. Pergamon had a well-known sculpture school as well as one of the biggest libraries in the world at its time.

I had been here a few times and Tolun maybe about 100 times but neither of us had seen before the small crosses carved into pavement slabs by Trajan Temple. What were they for? Tolun had seen such crosses in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul which were used as measuring points. But here, in Pergamon Acropolis, could the reason be the same? They didn’t seem to be carved in orderly fashion, looked more randomly scattered. But not all is what it seems… It remains a mystery to us. Just as the Acropolis of Pergamon itself remains a mystery with many legends and stories what might have happened here in the days when instead of a museum, this place was full of people going on about their everyday business and living their lives in the beautiful streets and magnificent buildings.

pergamon amphitheatre
Pergamon amphitheatre
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Acropolis, archaeology, Greek, Pergamon, Roman, Turkey | Leave a reply

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