The Temple of Athena Polias at Erythrae
 

Location

   Erythrae is one of the twelve cities of Ionia, situated 22 km north-east of Cesme, on a small peninsula stretching into the Bay of Erythrae, at an equal distance from the mountains Mimas and Corycus, and directly opposite the island of Chios (Herod. 1.142).

Map of Mysia and Lydia (Click the image for a full screen view)

History

Bronze Age
   Excavations here have shown that the site has been settled since the early bronze age, and as a result the area around the village of Ildiri has been declared a national heritage site.

Foundation
   According to Pausanias (Paus. 7.3.7), Erythrae was founded by Cretan settlers under the leadership of Erythrus the Red, son of Rhadamanthus, and at the same time inhabited by Lycians, Carians, and Pamphylians. At a later period came Cnopus (Strab. 14.633), son of Codrus, with an Ionian colony, whence the city is sometimes called Cnopopolis. The city did not lie exactly on the coast, but some little distance inland, and had a harbor on the coast named Cissus (Livy, 36.43).

Homer
   Chian merchants, struck by the similarity of the verses they heard Homer recite, acquainted him with the fact that Thestorides was pursuing a profitable livelihood by the recital of the very same poems. This at once determined him to set out for Chios. No vessel happened then to be setting sail thither, but he found one ready to start for Erythrae, a town of Ionia, which faces that island, and he prevailed upon the seamen to allow him to accompany them. Having embarked, he invoked a favorable wind, and prayed that he might be able to expose the imposture of Thestorides, who, by his breach of hospitality, had drawn down the wrath of Jove the Hospitable.

   At Erythrae, Homer fortunately met with a person who had known him in Phocaea, by whose assistance he at length, after some difficulty, reached the little hamlet of Pithys. Besides the satisfaction of driving the impostor Thestorides from the island, Homer enjoyed considerable success as a teacher. In the town of Chios he established a school, where he taught the precepts of poetry.

Ionian League
   In the 7th century BCE as an Ionian city of Asia Minor, Erythrae was a member of Pan-Ionian League. The city gained fame as a producer of millstones during the period of tyrannical rule.

Lydians and Persians
   From ca. 560 BCE on Erythrae was under Lydian domination, and after 545 was subject to the Persians.

The Sibyls
   Sibyls is the name given by the Greeks and Romans to certain women who prophesied under the inspiration of a deity. Homer does not refer to a Sibyl, nor does Herodotus. The first Greek writer, so far as we know, who does so is Heraclitus (c. 500 BCE). As to the number and native countries of the Sibyls much diversity of opinion prevailed. Plato only speaks of one, but in course of time the number increased to ten according to Lactantius (quoting from Varro): the Babylonian or Persian, the Libyan, the Cimmerian, the Delphian, the Erythraean, the Samian, the Cumaean, the Hellespontine, the Phrygian and the Tiburtine.

   The Sibyl of whom we hear most is the Erythraean, generally identified with the Cumaean, whom Aeneas consulted before his descent to the lower world (Aeneid 6.10); it was she who sold to Tarquin the Proud (534—510 BCE) the Sibylline books. She first offered him nine; when he refused them, she burned three and offered him the remaining six at the same price; when he again refused them, she burned three more and offered him the remaining three still at the same price. Tarquin then bought them (Dion. Halic. 4.62). The books were thereafter kept in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, to be consulted only on emergencies.

The Erythraean Sibyl (Click the image for a full screen view)

   According to the researches of R. H. Klausen (Aeneas und die Penaten, 1839), the oldest collection of Sibylline oracles appears to have been made about the time of Solon and Cyrus at Gergis on Mount Ida in the Troad; it was attributed to the Hellespontine Sibyl and was preserved in the Temple of Apollo at Gergis. Thence it passed to Erythrae, where it became famous. It was this very collection, it would appear, which found its way to Cumae and from Cumae to Rome.

Delian League
   The city sent eight ships to the battle of Lade (494 BCE) against the Persians, and its tribute to the Delian Confederacy was the considerable sum of seven talents.

   About 453 BCE Erythrae, refusing to pay tribute, seceded from the Delian League. A garrison and a new government restored the union, but late in the Peloponnesian War (412 BCE) it revolted again with Chios and Clazomenae.

   Later it was allied alternately with Athens and Persia. About the middle of the 4th c. BCE the city became friendly with Mausolus: in an inscription found on the site he is called a benefactor of Erythrae. About the same time the city signed a treaty with Hermias, Tyrant of Assus and Atarneus, based on reciprocal aid in the event of war.

Alexander
   In 334 BCE the city regained its freedom through Alexander the Great who, according to Pliny (HN 5.116) and Pausanias (2.1.5), planned to cut a canal through the peninsula of Erythrae to connect Teos bay with the gulf of Smyrna.

   Erythrae was the birthplace of two prophetesses - one of whom, Sibylla, is mentioned by Straboas living in the early period of the city; the other, Athenais, lived in the time of Alexander the Great.

   When Alexander returned to Memphis in April 331 BCE, envoys from Greece were waiting for him, saying that the oracles at Didyma and Erythrae, which had been silent for a long time, had suddenly spoken and confirmed that Alexander was the son of Zeus. The timing proves that Alexander was already thinking that he was of a more than human nature when he entered Greece: after all, the people of Didyma and Erythrae can never have known that Alexander was recognized as the son of Ra and wanted to be called 'son of Zeus'.

Pergamum
   Erythrae was later associated with Pergamum and with Rome, and after the death of Attalos III in 133 BCE, when the Pergamene kingdom was bequeathed to the Romans, it flourished as a free city attached to the Roman province of Asia.

Rome
   At this time, Erythrae was renowned for its wine, goats, timber, and millstones, as well as its prophetic sibyls, Herophile and Athenais.

   In the Roman period the city was plundered and its importance fainted after the earthquakes of that region in the 1st c. CE.

Sanctuary of Hercules and Temple of Athena Polias

   According to Pausanias (fl.c.160 CE):

   ...[4] The land of the Ionians has the finest possible climate, and Sanctuaries such as are to be found nowhere else. First because of its size and wealth is that of the Ephesian Goddess, and then come two unfinished Sanctuaries of Apollo, the one in Branchidae, in Milesian territory, and the one at Clarus in the land of the Colophonians. Besides these, two Temples in Ionia were burnt down by the Persians, the one of Hera in Samos and that of Athena at Phocaea. Damaged though they are by fire, I found them a wonder.
   [5] You would be delighted too with the Sanctuary of Hercules at Erythrae and with the Temple of Athena at Priene, the latter because of its image and the former on account of its age. The image is like neither the Aeginetan, as they are called, nor yet the most ancient Attic images; it is absolutely Egyptian, if ever there was such. There was a wooden raft, on which the God set out from Tyre in Phoenicia. The reason for this we are not told even by the Erythraeans themselves.

Sanctuary of Hercules (Click the image for a full screen view)

   [6] They say that when the raft reached the Ionian sea it came to rest at the cape called Mesate (Middle) which is on the mainland, just midway between the harbor of the Erythraeans and the island of Chios. When the raft rested off the cape the Erythraeans made great efforts, and the Chians no less, both being keen to land the image on their own shores.
   [7] At last a man of Erythrae (his name was Phormio) who gained a living by the sea and by catching fish, but had lost his sight through disease, saw a vision in a dream to the effect that the women of Erythrae must cut off their locks, and in this way the men would, with a rope woven from the hair, tow the raft to their shores. The women of the citizens absolutely refused to obey the dream;
   [8] but the Thracian women, both the slaves and the free who lived there, offered themselves to be shorn. And so the men of Erythrae towed the raft ashore. Accordingly no women except Thracian women are allowed within the Sanctuary of Hercules, and the hair rope is still kept by the natives. The same people say that the fisherman recovered his sight and retained it for the rest of his life.
   [9] There is also in Erythrae a Temple of Athena Polias and a huge wooden image of her sitting on a throne; she holds a distaff ('êlakatê') in either hand and wears a firmament ('polon', head-dress worn by Goddesses) on her head. That this image is the work of Endoeus we inferred, among other signs, from the workmanship, and especially from the white marble images of Graces and Seasons that stand in the open before the entrance.

Pausanias, Description of Greece (fl.c.160 CE)
Achaia 7.5.4-9

The Archeological Excavations

   The Turkish archaeologist, Ekrem Akurgal, started to excavate Erythrae in 1964. The excavation work started then with two other archaeologists, Hakki Gultekin and Cevdet Bayburtoglu.

   Today, Erythrae remains partially unearthed; the last official excavation having place in 1978. Prior to that there were four more excavation campaigns beginning in 1964, thanks to Akurgal. Due to the lack of funding, however, the excavation of Erythrae has been indefinitely postponed and its remaining relics, buried for as long as 2-and-a-half millennia, lie waiting for archaeological teams to secure enough funding.

   What past excavations have yielded, however, reveal the utter abundance of valuable artifacts in this region. Important structures that have been unearthed in Erythrae include a 3rd c. BCE amphitheater, a Megaran hall, which was the residence of the king of Erythrae (725-675 BCE), a Byzantine aqueduct and a terrace wall, dating back to the first half of the 6th c. BCE and which is believed to be the podium on which stood the Temple of Athena Polias.

The Acropolis (Click the image for a full screen view)

   The Acropolis (85m, 280ft) with its ruins can be seen on the peak that today stands in the middle of the city. The statues which were consecrated to the Temple of Athena Polias were found in the excavations that were made there. The most important of them, is the sculpture of a woman which endured from the Archaic Period and is exhibited at the Izmir Archeological Museum. Gold, ivory and bronze vases were also found during the excavation.

   The impressive city wall, with 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) long is still well preserved; it is of fine ashlar masonry 4-5m (13-16ft) thick, with several gateways. Three inscriptions found on the site indicate that the city wall was built either at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd c. BCE.

   Near the coffee-house in the village, part of a Hellenistic pebble mosaic of griffins is still in situ.

   The theater, cut into the north slope of the Acropolis hill is in a very bad condition today.

The Theater (Click the image for a full screen view)

   The site of the Herakleion, Sanctuary of the Tyrian Hercules, is not known. A cult statue of Egyptian type was described by Pausanias (7.5.4) and depicted on the city coins.

   Herophile, the prophetic sibyl of Erythrae, enjoyed a great reputation in the ancient world, second only to the sibyl of Cumae in Italy. A building claimed to be her Sanctuary was discovered at Ildiri, a structure resembling a Nymphaeum with a number of inscriptions, one of which records the Erythraean origin of Herophile. This building, however, has not yet been identified.

   The official Agora (market) is to be found west of the Acropolis near the houses of the village. There is thought to be the home of the statue of the golden wreathed Artemis.

   Erythrae, like any other proper BCE-city, had a main square, a school and a military post, all located in what today would be called the central business district. To the northeast of the district lies a cluster of 4th or 5th c. BCE Greek houses, and in 1977, the essential parts of a 2nd c. CE Roman villa were unearthed just north of the houses.

The Roman Villa (Click the image for a full screen view)

   The Roman villa was built on the foundations of an earlier Hellenistic structure and was modified in the time of Gallienus (260-268 CE) and again sometime in the Late Roman period. Aside from a large mosaic discovered on the floor of the triclinium (i.e. the dining room), representing a figurative scene, little else has been excavated. The eastern parts of the Roman villa await excavation, pending further funding.

   On a spur running northwest of the Acropolis, looking westwards and dominating the view of the sea, a 2nd c. BCE Hellenistic villa was excavated in 1977-78. This villa was made up of two sections: the Gynaeceum (women's section) and the Andronitis (men's section). Among the gynaeceum's features were a large courtyard, triclinium, slave quarters, bedrooms and a kitchen. The andronitis also contained a courtyard, as well as a megaron, two workrooms and an altar.

Izmir and Cesme Museums

   Findings from recent excavations are displayed in the Archaeological Museum in Izmir. Trenches on top of the Acropolis have yielded much pottery and small offerings in bronze and ivory of ca. 670-545 BCE. The pronounced Cretan and Rhodian style of ivory statuettes confirms Pausanias' statement that Erythrae was originally founded by Cretans and inhabited by Lycians, Carians, and Pamphylians. The city was apparently destroyed by the Persians shortly after the mid 6th c. BCE.

   According to a graffito on a bowl from early 6th c. BCE, the offerings belonged to the Temple of Athena Polias (Paus. 7.5.8). The small lion figurines in bronze, from the first half of the 6th c. BCE, strongly resemble the lion statue from Bayindir now in the Izmir Museum; they are the earliest Ionian examples of a lion type which served as a model for Etruscan artists. From the same trench on top of the Acropolis came a monumental archaic statue of a woman (also in the Izmir Museum); the head is missing, but the folds on the chiton recall such Samian sculptures as the Hera of Cheramyes in the Louvre and the statues by Geneleos. The Erythraean statue is the work of an Anatolian artist of ca. 560-550 BCE.

   The Cesme Archeology Museum is located in the Cesme Fort. It has been arranged and used for the exhibition of works obtained from the rescue excavations made in Erythrae. Sculptures of Gods and Goddesses made of cooked earth, busts, marble sculptures, silver and bronze coins, golden frames and amphora are being exhibited.

Mysia & Lydia map 495 X 390 13 KB	Cesme map 550 X 531 11 KB	Erythrae Acropolis 590 X 395 59 KB
Erythrae E 590 X 395 50 KB	Theater 1 590 X 419 83 KB	Theater 2 590 X 400 71 KB
Theater 3 590 X 416 77 KB	Hercules Sanctuary 339 X 330 32 KB	Erythraean Sibyl 434 X 600 60 KB

  Tourist Information:
 

   Located about half hour drive (17km, 11 miles) on the coastal road north from Ilica is Ildiri, which enjoys the shelter of a small bay protected by a series of offshore islands. Not surprisingly, the locals, who number only about 350, make their livings on fishing boats as well as in artichoke and olive fields (and until 15 years ago, in tobacco fields, too). A number of fish restaurants line the small dock, as well as the road leading to the village. On the road at the edge of the town are a couple of covered shacks called restaurants - the characteristic covered, stone terraces overlook the artichoke and olive fields toward the sea. Stop here for some gözleme (a crêpe filled with cheese, spinach, or both) and an ayran (Turkish buttermilk), or for some fish only recently pulled out of the water.

Cesme Map (Click the image for a full screen view)

   On the edge of Ildiri is the ancient Greek city of Erythrae (free admission, but the caretaker may ask for something; daily 8am-5pm or see the caretaker), whose remains are still mostly hidden beneath the fields of artichokes cultivated by the local villagers.

   Those who climb up to the Acropolis at dusk are rewarded with beautiful views as the sun sinks over the bay and islands.

  Other Views:

Cesme Castle, Izmir.

  Links:
 

Timeline: Greek period.

Perseus Project: Erythrai.

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites: ERYTHRAI (Ildiri) Turkey.

Museums of Yzmyr: Yzmyr , Cesme.

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Cesme.

Welcome to Izmir: Museums.