APHRODISIAS in Caria THREE TREES Time of Valerian I Ancient Greek Coin i105584

Greek city of Aphrodisias in Caria Pseudo-autonomous issue
Bronze Diassarion 22mm(6.3 grams) time of Roman Emperors Valerian I and Gallienus
Struck circa 253-260 A.D.
Reference: MacDonald 210 (O249/R463). Martin 73
 ΙЄΡΑ ΒΟΥΛΗ Veiled and draped bust of Boulé to right.
AΦPOΔЄICIЄΩN Three leafless trees within a lattice enclosure.

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In cities of ancient Greece, the boule (Greek: βουλή, boulē; plural βουλαί, boulai) was a council of citizens (βουλευταί, bouleutai) appointed to run daily affairs of the city. Originally a council of nobles advising a king, boulai evolved according to the constitution of the city; in oligarchies boule positions might be hereditary, while in democracies members were typically chosen by lot, and served for one year. Little is known about the workings of many boulai, except in the case of Athens, for which extensive material has survived.

Aphrodisias (/æfrɵˈdɪsiəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδισιάς Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek city in Caria. Its is located near the modern village of Geyre, Turkey, about 230 km (140 mi) south-east of İzmir and about 100 km (62 mi) inland from the coast.

Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, who had here her unique cult image, the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias. According to the Byzantine encyclopedic compilation called the Suda, before being known as Aphrodisias, the city had held three previous names: Lelégōn Pólis (Λελέγων πόλις, “City of the Leleges”), Megálē Pólis (Μεγάλη Πόλις, “Great City”), and Ninóē (Νινόη).

Sometime before 640, in the Late Antique period, the city was renamed Stauroúpolis (Σταυρούπολις, “City of the Cross”).

History

The city was built near a marble quarry that was extensively exploited in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and sculpture in marble from Aphrodisias became famous in the Roman world. Many examples of statuary have been unearthed in Aphrodisias, and some representations of the Aphrodite of Aphrodisias also survive from other parts of the Roman world, as far afield as Pax Julia in Lusitania.

Geologic history

The site is in an earthquake zone and has suffered a great deal of damage at various times, especially in severe tremors of the 4th and 7th centuries. An added complication was that one of the 4th century earthquakes altered the water table, making parts of the town prone to flooding. Evidence can be seen of emergency plumbing installed to combat this problem.

Aphrodisias never fully recovered from the 7th century earthquake, and fell into disrepair. Part of the town was covered by the modern village of Geyre; some of the cottages were removed in the 20th century to reveal the older city. A new Geyre has been built a short distance away.

Ecclesiastical history

Le Quien (Oriens christianus, I, 899-904) mentions twenty bishops of this see, among whom were:

• Ammonius at the First Council of Nicæa in 325
• Eumenius at the First Council of Constantinople in 381
• Cyrus at the First Council of Ephesus in 431
• Critonianus at the Council of Chalcedon in 451
• Severianus at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553
• Ephraem of Caria, a liturgical poet, etc.

Another bishop, Theopropios, is mentioned by an inscription (Revue des études grecques, XIX, 298).

In the 7th century Stauropolis had twenty-eight suffragan bishops and twenty-six at the beginning of the 10th century. Between 1356 and 1361 the see must have been abandoned by the metropolitan, but the title was long retained and he was given the revenues of other churches. Isaias of Stauropolis attended the Council of Florence (1439) and fled to avoid signing the decree of union.

Stauropolis remains a Roman Catholic titular metropolitan see of the former Roman province of Caria.

Buildings and other structures

  The Temple of Aphrodite.   The monumental gateway or tetrapylon.   The odeon.

Temple of Aphrodite

The Temple of Aphrodite was a focal point of the town, but the character of the building was altered when it became a Christian basilica. The Aphrodisian sculptors became renowned and benefited from a plentiful supply of marble close at hand. The school of sculpture was very productive; much of their work can be seen around the site and in the museum. Many full-length statues were discovered in the region of the agora, and trial and unfinished pieces pointing to a true school are in evidence. Sarcophagi were recovered in various locations, most frequently decorated with designs consisting of garland and columns. Pilasters have been found showing what are described as “peopled scrolls” with figures of people, birds and animals entwined in acanthus leaves.

Monumental gateway

A monumental gateway, or tetrapylon, leads from the main north-south street of the town into a large forecourt in front of the Temple or Sanctuary of Aphrodite. The gateway was built ca. A.D. 200.

Bouleuterion

The bouleuterion (council house), or odeon, is centered on the north side of the North Agora. As it stands today, it consists of a semicircular auditorium fronted by a shallow stage structure about 46 m wide. The lower part of the auditorium survives intact, with nine rows of marble seats divided into five wedges by radial stairways. The seating of the upper part, amounting to an additional twelve rows, has collapsed together with its supporting vaults. The plan is an extremely open one, with numerous entrances at ground level and several stairways giving access to the upper rows of seats. A system of massive parallel buttresses shows that the building was originally vaulted. The auditorium would have been lighted by a series of tall, arched windows in the curved outer wall. Seating capacity can be estimated at about 1750.

The available evidence indicates a construction date in the Antonine or early Severan period (late 2nd or early 3rd century AD). The scaenae frons (stage front) was certainly put up at this time, as the style of both sculpture and architectural ornament suggest. Statue bases terminating the retaining walls of the auditorium bore the names of two brothers, senators in the early Severan period, and two inscribed bases placed symmetrically against the exterior facade held statues of Aphrodisian benefactors, Claudia Antonia Tatiana and her uncle Lucius Antonius Dometinus, who were active at the end of the 2nd century. Tatiana is known to have had close ties with Ephesus, and it is possible that the striking similarities between this building and the bouleuterion on the civic agora there, dated by inscription to the mid-2nd century, are due to some initiative on her part. We do not know what stood here before the 2nd century AD, but it is likely that the present building replaced a smaller one contemporary with the laying out of the agora in the late 1st century BC.

The bouleuterion at Aphrodisias remained in this form until the early 5th century, when a municipal official had it adapted as a palaestra, recording his achievement in an inscription on the upper molding of the pulpitum (stage). Palaestra usually refers to a wrestling ground, but in the 5th century it could be used to describe a hall for lectures, performances, and various kinds of competitive displays, as suggested by a number of factional inscriptions carved on the seats. Numerous additional cuttings in the surviving seats, probably for poles supporting awnings, suggest that by this time the building had lost its roof. The orchestra was lowered and provided with a marble pavement, reused, perhaps, from the earlier phase.