Aizonai, the City of Kings, Holiday Travel Guide

HomeHoliday-TravelAizonai, the City of Kings, Holiday Travel Guide

October 20, 2021

Aizonai Pictures

The ancient city, located in the Çavdarhisar district center of Kütahya, dates back to 3000 BC. 120 000 people lived in the city, where the famous Zeus temple is located.

After passing through the Roman bridge rising over the waters of Koça Stream, you enter a large area surrounded by wire fences where the Temple of Zeus, one of the best preserved Roman temples in Anatolia, is located, and you set foot in the Ancient City of Aizonai. Huge podiums and high columns make you feel the magnificence of this city and that it once served kings. There is no one who does not know the name and story of the Temple of Zeus.

Not many people know that this temple is located in the Aizonai Ancient City. This ancient city, built three thousand years ago, has attracted the attention of civilizations throughout the ages. It is thought that the name of the city of Aizonai, located in Çavdarhisar district center, 57 km away from Kütahya, comes from the mythological hero Azan. According to legend, Azan is the son of Zeus.

He is the son of one of his daughters, the Nymph Erato, and King Arkas, one of the Arcadian nobles. Like many hills in the south where the pioneer Phrygians settled, Aizonai is one of the main settlements of the Phrygians. During the excavations carried out around the Temple of Zeus, located on the high plateau of the city, B.C. Settlement layers dating back to 3000 thousand years ago have been unearthed.

One of the settlement mounds recently discovered in many parts of the plain is on the site of this main sanctuary in the early periods of Anatolia. While this region was alternately connected to Pergamum and Bithyni during the Hellenistic period, B.C. It came under Roman rule in 133 BC. II. It is known that the first coins of Aizonai were discovered in the first half of the century. Thanks to grain cultivation, wine and wool production during the Roman Empire

In Aizonai, which became rich and its fame went beyond the borders of the region, definite evidence of urbanization can be found only towards the end of the first century. While Aizonai was a bishopric center in the Early Byzantine Period, VII. It has lost its importance since the century. The temple plain was converted into a fortress in the Middle Ages. It was used as a base by the Çavdar Tatars during the Seljuk Principality period (13th century).

That’s why it was named Çavdarhisar. The region was rediscovered by European travelers in 1824 and was examined and described in the 1830s and 1840s. In 1926, excavations of the German Archaeological Institute started under the direction of M. Schede and D. Krencher. Studies have been continuing since 1970.

It is estimated that around 120 thousand people lived in the ancient city at the time. Among the ruins, there is the Temple of Zeus, a theater with a capacity of 20 thousand people and an adjacent stadium with a capacity of 13 thousand 500 people, two baths, the world’s first stock exchange building, a street with columns, five bridges over Kocaçay, two of which are still standing, the sacred area of Meter Steunene, necropolises, an ancient dam on Kocaçay, waterways and monumental gate structures.

The ancient city of Aizonai is contemporary with cities such as Ephesus, Pergamum and Side. The history of Aizonai dates back to B.C. Although it dates back to the 3rd millennium BC, it can be seen in the city.

All of the structures are 1-2. century belongs to the Roman period. The Temple of Zeus, identified with the city, was also built during this period. It is thought that the temple was dedicated to the mother goddess Kybele as well as Zeus. Other ruins that can be seen in Aizonai include the theater and the adjacent Stadium, the street with columns thought to be 450 meters long, the Gymnasium, the bathhouse and the monumental tomb.

Some of the artifacts unearthed from the excavations in the city are exhibited in the Kütahya Museum. The ancient city of Aizonai, known for its magnificent Zeus temple, is located approximately 57 km inland from the main road. To reach Aizonai, you need to go to Çavdarhisar district and turn towards Emet from there.

The ancient city is only a few kilometers away from Çavdarhisar. Zeus Temple, Aizonai Zeus Temple is a rare example among the ancient structures in Anatolia that has survived to the present day by preserving its original shape. The Temple of Zeus is a double temple dedicated to Zeus and Kybele, as its vaulted infrastructure indicates. The pseudodipteros-shaped temple made of marble has 15 columns on the long side and eight columns on the short side.

It was built during the Roman Empire during the time of “Emperor Hadrian”. Agora, Hereon and Doric Agora.

Agora consists of the colonnaded courtyard in front of the Temple of Zeus and the Hereon inside it. Located on a marble-covered podium, Hereon is thought to be a mausoleum built for one of the city’s notables. To the south of the Agora is the Doric Agora, built adjacent to it. Only a small part of these magnificent structures, most of which were buried under village houses and gardens, have survived.

macellum

The quadrangular area to the south of the ancient site is the Macellum, which was used as a food market. The round planned building in the middle of this area dates back to A.D. 3rd century It is the “Stock Exchange Building” built in 1966, where the ceiling prices are determined. Bath and Plaestra. Between the Stadium and the Temple area, there is the Bath complex with its columned courtyard and rich decorations. The rich marble coatings and water and heating channels of this symmetrical structure can be seen even today.

In front of the bath structure was the Palaestra, a large square-shaped courtyard where sports practices were held. Stadium and theater The Stadium Theater complex in Aizonai is unique. It was built by M.S. It started in the 1st century and was continued intermittently in the 3rd century. It lasted until a century. Since the stadium’s seating groups are slightly polygonal in shape, the structure expands in the middle.

The stadium façade of the wall separating the stadium and the theater was covered with marble, and the stage part of the theater was covered with rich marble decorations. These decorations were destroyed as a result of earthquakes. Roman Bridges are on the Koca Çay called Penkalas. There were five bridges connecting the two sides in ancient times. One of them is a wooden bridge built for pedestrians, and the other four are arched stone bridges.

Only two of them have survived to the present day. Columned Street was unearthed during excavations carried out between 1992 and 1995. aizonaigezicitycitytravelholiday

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