Ancient Sites: Termessos

 

View from the upper level of Termessos

Unlike most of the ancient sites we’ve visited, Termessos has not been excavated. Apart from having brush cleared away, it’s been left untouched for the thousand or more years since it was abandoned. It makes for an exciting outdoor adventure, especially since the area is on the side of a mountain at an elevation of 1000 meters (3000 feet).

At the lower level, near the car park: a stark reminder of what once was an elegant city.

And, it’s not easy to get to. The site is about an hour outside Antalya, with no convenient public transportation. We were extremely fortunate in that our host, Fuat, was very familiar with the site and asked us to join him and his friend Nilgün on an expedition. He was an excellent guide because, well, he wrote the book on Termessos! Well, almost. He contributed ideas and many of the photos of the book that is the primary tourist reference to the site, written in 1980s. (So Fuat’s been coming there for a long time!)

The Gymnasium, the best-preserved building at Termessos.

 

Fuat points out a detail to Nilgün and Paula 

In front of the Gymnasium

Termessos is very different in character from Perge (and Aspendos, which we have yet to visit). Those cities were built on the flat coastal plain; Termessos is spread over the side of a mountain. Perge was a rich, advanced city populated by sophisticated nobles (and their slaves, of course!). Fuat likened it to the Berlin or Munich of its day (he’s a Germanophile and an excellent German speaker.) Termessos, on the other hand, was a mountain town home to rugged warriors. More like the wilds of Afghanistan. It has the distinction of being one of the very few cities that never succumbed to Alexander the Great when he came through the area. Perge and Antalya (and Aspendos, too, I think) came to terms with Alexander, paying the required tribute and allowing his governors to oversee the cities.

We come upon a vast array of tumbled and ruined tombs.

Nilgün examines a particularly impressive tomb.

Tumbled sarcophagi.

The Tomb with the Lions; what must have been a truly impressive tomb.

Termessos thumbed their collective nose at Alexander, who eventually found the steep terrain, and the city’s warriors, too much for him. He took his rage out by destroying the town’s olive trees, as well as the next city he came across. (Note, though, that Alexander is well remembered and highly honored in this part of the world, where he is known as Iskandar, a name seen frequently throughout Antalya.)

Not one to stand around and complain, Fuat restores a tomb (not really!)

!!!!

Fuat was an excellent guide to the site. It is preserved as a National Park, and so parts of it are well marked and some trails are nicely laid out. However, large parts of the site are hidden and overgrown, and there were some very special areas we would never have found without Fuat’s assistance.

Fuat strikes a heroic pose by the mysterious foot sculpture. How big were these people?!

Incredibly impressive was the tomb of Agatemeros, one of Termessos’ most important generals. The tomb was sufficiently important to be featured on the cover of the book on Termessos. Which is a good thing, because, sadly, it no longer exists. It was blown up sometime in the 1990s by villagers looking for treasure.

Cover of the guide to Termessos featuring the tomb of Agatemeros

Fuat holding the book in front of what is now left of the tomb of Agatemeros

Now this is something I just can’t get my head around. We saw many, many tombs— sarcophagi, actually—carved from solid blocks of stone. All of them have been opened, broken into, tumbled and thrown aside by foragers looking for treasure, or something to sell. But those were ancient times, with ignorant savages roaming the hills whose only thought was survival. Or so I like to think. Now we are more sophisticated—we have an appreciation for historic sites that was lacking in the ignoble peasants who populated these places in times past. Today, though, we respect the past… No, I guess not. Anyway, I find it sad that this work, honoring what must have been a great man, representing many hours of human labor (I mean, carving out that hard stone!) and surviving for so many centuries, should be destroyed by a few individuals on a whim.

The amazing theater at Termessos, seemingly hanging in mid air. (And us, having lunch!)

Moving on, we came to the (mostly) undestroyed tomb/ memorial to Alcetas. He was one of Alexander’s generals, very popular with the young warriors of Termessos when he returned after Alexander’s death in 323 BCE. His rival, Antigonos, another of Alexander’s former generals, wanted the city to give him up. Much to the dismay of the young men, the city fathers surrendered Alcetas to satisfy the attacking forces. Alcetas killed himself to avoid the dishonor of surrender, and his body was “violated” for three days by the soldiers of Antigonos. The young men recovered what was left and built a magnificent memorial carved into the side of a rock face. (That still survives, mostly. At least it hasn’t been blown up yet!)

The (mostly intact tomb of Alcetas, former general of Alexander.

We returned to the lower level where we left the car by a different, steep and more rugged route, rather than along the manicured paths of the National Park. And Fuat showed us yet another surprise: incredible tombs carved directly into the vertical rock faces. I am unclear when these were done, but apparently it was long after the city’s prime, perhaps in the 3^rd or 4^th Century CE. (The Antalya area is known for its many rock tombs, including the simpler ones we saw in our earlier trip to Kaş.)

Amazing rock tombs seen on the long descent back.

We finally--tired, stumbling, and amazed--made it to the car park. But there was yet more to see. Following Fuat along narrow paths through the underbrush we came to another large burial ground, with many more stone sarcophagi, most of them with incredible carvings. While all of these had also been opened and damaged, most were still upright. We wandered through this forest of brush and stone, once more with the sense of wonder that dominated our growing fatigue.

Carvings seen on many of the sarcophagi. The circle represents a shield and indicates a warrier was buried here. Some of these look suspiciously Celtic!

Many of the sarcophagi had intricate carvings on the sides and ends.

Finally we made it to the end, and gratefully piled into the car. At last, some rest! Fuat stopped the car just a short way down the road at the newly-opened natural history museum on the site. Only the first of several rooms were open, and they dealt exclusively with the flora and fauna of the area, nothing to do with the marvels we had been seeing. The museum was very well done and no doubt will be extended, but it did nothing to aid our investigation of ancient times. We left and continued back to the city.

We were tired and sore after that adventure! Four days later I was finally able to walk down stairs without wincing.

Photo on the left is of a small watercolor decorating our apartment (done by a Dr. Phil Otto Baur); on the right is the actual tomb we saw at Termessos. The painting, hanging on our wall, was a nice reminder of our adventure in these amazing ruins.

This will be the last blog on our adventures in Turkey. We’ve just spent two weeks in Rovinj, Croatia, and are about to leave for Montpellier, France. So we’re still behind, blogwise!

Once in France we’ll keep working on catching up. And, we’ll have some big news about our future travels… so stay tuned!

Ancient Sites

While we are currently in Rovinj, Croatia (just around the corner from—and east of—Venice, Italy), we’ve got some catching up to do. So in this blog we are still back in Turkey…

A modern country with all the conveniences, Turkey is home to some of the earliest sites of human habitation found. While the oldest are in Eastern Turkey near the Syrian border, there are any number of interesting archeological places to explore in Antalya.

Three pop to mind immediately (from all the signs advertising tours of them, I suppose): Aspendos with a magnificent theater; Perge and its rows of columns; and Termessos, extensive but completely undeveloped. They are all ancient: Aspendos was first settled around 1000 BCE, and Perge about 600 BCE. Termessos has the distinction of being one of the very few cities that successfully resisted defeat by Alexander the Great, so it was thriving in the 4^th Century BCE.

We didn’t go to Aspendos, as it is a bit outside Antalya and we never worked out the logistics. Perge is an easy 40-minute tram ride (on the new tram!), then a short hop by taxi. Termessos is far outside the city. We were quite fortunate in that our host in Antalya, Fuat, offered to take us there. It’s up in the mountains, a good hour by car, so a tour or a taxi are about the only ways for the car-less traveler to get there.

Museum

 Ah, but there is a fourth site well worth mentioning: the archeological museum in Antalya, right at the end of the old tram line. We went there on one of the few rainy days we had, and were astonished at the collection of Roman statuary. Most of the statues come from Perge. There is also a great collection of stone sarcophagi from the Anatolian region, plus some pottery and carvings from very ancient sites. The hours we spent there flew by. Apart from the wonder of the impressive displays and astonishing artifacts, our visit also gave us a good context for our later visits to Perge and Termessos.

Tiny figurines. Upper and left are from around 6000 BCE.

Some of the extraordinary work of the artists of Perge; probably 2nd C. CE (Roman).

Floor mosaics recovered from Pergre.

The Anatolya museum houses an extensive and amazing collection of statuary from Perge.

There's also a rich collection of carved stone tombs from the Antalya area.

Some of the sarcophagi have incredible carvings.

Perge

The easiest site to access: 40 minutes or so on the new tram (as distinct from the old, or nostalgia, tram), then a 10-minute taxi ride. We arrived in the late morning, and there was exactly one other couple there (by the time we left several other people had showed up—the advantage of off-season travel!). While Perge has been around for a long time, founded sometime in the 6^th Century BCE—and one of the very many cities that swore allegiance to Alexander the Great in the 2^nd Century BCE—the on-going restoration is from the later Roman era, around the 2^nd Century CE. (While in Antalya, the Emperor Hadrian paid a visit to Perge, so he’s got a gate named for him there, as well as in the city of Antalya).

Perge, a very extensive Roman site.

How did they do that? 1800 years old and still standing! But I'm not walkin' under that...

The reconstructed agora (marketplace) of Perge.

The site is quite large (in fact, I found after we left that I’d missed about half of it!. Thankfully Paula was more aware. It would have helped if we'd seen the scale model set up at the entrance.) It is in the process of being excavated and restored; the many columns we saw have been set up in a way that makes sense to the archeologists (and so are likely in their original spots—but who knows for sure?). Many statues, whole and in parts, have been found, and are now in the museum in the city of Antalya. Apparently, though, the original location of most are not known. Many of the walls that have been uncovered have niches, but no one knows what was placed where.

Niche: "a shallow recess in a wall to display a statue." But what statue went where??

A decorative aqueduct serving the city (similar to one in the modern town of Antalya today!).

Like every site we’ve visited—and there have been many!—Perge leaves strong impressions. People have been here for a long, long time. Those Romans, such builders! And explorers. And conquers. And administrators! Perge, like many Roman cities, had (has?) a large market place (covered, in the original plan), impressive waterworks and aqueducts, neat rows of stone houses, huge public works (temples, gates, towers).  All this had to be planned, built, maintained, and paid for. Each of which is a feat unto itself! So yeah, Perge is an indication of a pretty advanced civilization.

Arches! The Romans were big on arches. Top right: above the theater. Lower right: arched chambers supporting seats in the stadium (the spaces were used for shops... just like today!)

 

Paula looking for her seat in the theater.

In the top view of the theater, note the light-colored band of carved marble along the back of the stage. Below, a detail of these intricate decorative carvings. Theaters were always important in Roman cities!

Perge is still under excavation. I watched as diggers lifted shovelfuls of dirt onto a slow-moving conveyor belt that was picked over by a couple of women with hand trowels, pulling out any shards or artifacts. And large areas of the grounds near the entry are covered with bits and pieces—some quite large—of columns and lintels and arches and who-knows-what, all decorated with intricate carvings.

Incredible stone carvings are everywhere!

I find this level of detail and symmetry--carved into solid stone--mind boggling. (Background: arched chambers under the stadium, where shops probably sold the Roman equivalent of hot dogs and beer.)

Odds and ends waiting to be identified and assembled.

While our outing to Perge was fun and rewarding, it was not the most intense, nor the most satisfying, of the ancient sites we visited. For that, we'll have to wait for the next blog!

We (Finally!) Make it to Kemer

An incredibly gorgeous day! From above the Antalya harbor.

After a day of drizzly rain, Sunday dawned clear and beautiful. It seemed there was slightly less snow on the distant peaks, so no snowstorm in the mountains. The spring is progressing, after all (last day in March, in fact!). We were up early because today was the day we would take the boat bus to Kemer, an hour across the water. If the boat was running today…

We worked our short way down to the docks, pausing before descending the step stairs to admire the clear view. A magnificent day for a boat ride!

Paula makes a call on the seagull phone in the Antalya harbor with the Venetian Steps in the background. (I don't know who she's talking to, but calls here are cheep.)

The fellow who sells the tickets recognized us as we arrived—it was, after all, our third (fourth?) time there. He was pleased to announce the boat would be going out today, and did we have ID? (The Turks really are a lot of fun, very friendly and accommodating.) Fortunately this time we remembered our passports so things went quickly.

We were joined on this adventure by a British woman, Anna, whom we’d met at a concert a few days earlier. She’s a long-term Turkish resident and owns a shop not far from where we’re staying, and she’d never been to Kemer either.

The enclosed ferry made a steady 20 knots on its arrow-straight route. It was a pleasant trip, smooth and fast, with the perspective of the mountains constantly shifting, and in an hour we were walking the docks of Kemer’s tiny harbor. It’s clear that Kemer was once a simple fishing village; now it seems to be given over to pleasant, modern residential areas. And shopping, of course! Being Sunday morning, and Election Day, not much was happening as we strolled the streets. A few merchants had their clothing racks out on the wide pedestrian walk: prices were in US dollars and Euros, which says something about the expected clients.

Police patrol the nearly-deserted streets of Kemer (it was Election Day, nobody was out!)

Before long we found a nice restaurant and spent a very pleasant hour or so in breakfast conversation. Anna has considerable experience with Turkey, of course, and is no slouch as a traveler, so there was plenty to talk about. The time passed quickly, and after what turned out to be a long lingering meal we made our way up to the bus station for the trip back to Antalya. We snagged the last three seats on a very crowded bus, and a half-hour later pried ourselves loose to enjoy the relative freedom of the familiar streets of Antalya.

The modern bus station in Kemer. Yes, after a glorious start, the day clouded over and rained a bit!

Our trip to Kemer fully met our expectations: get out on the water, see another town, have breakfast, ride the bus back. Aside from that, there really wasn’t much to Kemer. But our conversations with Anna made it a very fine Sunday outing.

          Back to the Waterfall!

Regular readers of this blog will remember (?) that last time we wanted to take the boat to Kemer we ended up at the Duden Waterfall instead, just a bit down the coast from us but still in Antalya. (You can find that blog post here.) While we were there we noticed the solar lights on the cliffs; ah, must be nice at night! We'll have to come back... and so we did!

We arrived just after sunset as the sky was darkening, and watched the lights brighten as the sky dimmed. Seeing all that water crashing into the sea left me terrified. Glad I'm far away, behind this barrier, I thought.

The Edge! It's not a cutting edge, but watch that first step...

The waterfall at night, illuminated, with the twinkly cliffside lights.

We wandered back and forth, amazed (again!) at the thunderous cascade and the effect of the many lights. I got a number of good photos, then off we went to dinner at a nearby fish restaurant. We'd found it on our earlier visit, and were told it was as government-run restaurant. Our language skills were inadequate to learn much more, but it's a simple cafeteria-style place with very good prices. Good, low-cost meals for the people, and a guaranteed market for the fishermen!

Our "dining consultant" greeted us in excellent English and helped us chose a fish from the case (many restaurants here present the day's catch in an iced display case--choose what you want, and pay by weight). We were seated with our salads, and before long the the star of the show appeared, gloriously grilled. It was delicious, and even though neither of us was particularly hungry, we had no trouble eating every bite! Total cost for the salads and fish? 40 Lira (less than $8USD)!

Daytime photo, from a few weeks earlier.

Another half-hour on the bus and we were back walking the narrow streets of Kaleiҫi, home again.

      Shoeshine

I like to wear leather shoes. Leather shoes require a certain maintenance. It's difficult while we are traveling to give them the attention they deserve. So it is with some pleasure that I find that shining shoes is a traditional craft in Turkey. First in Istanbul, and now in Antalya, I've found it a pleasure to sit before an expert and watch him practice his craft, cleaning, blackening, and polishing with a thoroughness I can only aspire to. Both my pairs of shoes now look better than new. The cost? Going rate is 10 Lira each pair, a bit less than $2USD! 

If I lived in Antalya, I'd visit this guy regularly!

But beware of imitations! We were approached by a youngish fellow with a plain wood box who smeared some kind of cleaner on our shoes, then demanded 50 Lira! I gave him 20--although he deserved less--and we left quickly. A REAL shoe shiner has one of these colorful traditional kits with the brass bottle tops. And they all seem to be older. A dying profession, perhaps...

He's here every day, keeping the shoes of Antalya clean and shiny.

Another master practices his craft.

Time to move on again—much to our dismay, we will be leaving Antalya soon. By the time you read this we will have left Turkey, on our way to Paris for a few days for a concert (not that any reason is needed to go to Paris!), then we’re off to Croatia for a couple of weeks. We are very sad to leave Turkey. It really is a wonderful place with wonderful people.  And, we still have tales to tell of our time here. We visited two amazing but quite different ancient sites, and we’ll get around to writing about them Real Soon Now. For the moment, I’m still sorting through the hundreds of photos we took.

And we'll end with another panorama, this one from Anna's window, looking out across the Kaleici.

Next up: Croatia, and--sooner or later--the ancient Turkish cities of Perge and Termessoss.