Priene (Πριήνη)
Ancient City of Greece
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The Temple of Athena
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Priene (Greek: Πριήνη, modern Samsun kale) was an ancient Greek city of Ionia (and member of the Ionian League) on the foot-hills of Mycale, about 10km (6 miles) north of the Maeander (now called the Büyük Menderes River). It was formerly on the sea coast, apparently built overlooking the ocean from a height of 1250 feet above sea level, accompanying the outlet of the Maeander.[Grant, Michael (1986). A Guide to the Ancient World. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 523-524. ISBN 0760741344.] Today, after several centuries of changes in the landscape, it is an inland site.
History
Although the exact truth is not known, Priene was told to have been first settled by Ionians under Aegyptus, a son of Belus and grandson of King Codrus, in the 11th century BCE. After successive attacks by Cimmerians, Lydians under Ardys, and Persians, it survived and prospered under the direction of its "sage," Bias, during the middle of the 6th century BC.[Template:Cath] Disputes with Samos, and the troubles after Alexander\'s death, brought Priene low, and Rome had to save it from the kings of Pergamon and Cappadocia in 155.
Orophernes, the rebellious brother of the Cappadocian king, who had deposited a treasure there and recovered it by Roman intervention, restored the temple of Athena as a thank-offering. Under Roman and Byzantine dominion Priene had a prosperous history. It passed into Muslim hands late in the 13th century.[This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.]
Archaeological excavations and current state
The ruins, which lie in successive terraces, were the object of missions sent out by the English Society of Dilettanti in 1765 and 1868, and were thoroughly laid open by Theodor Wiegand (1895-1899) for the Berlin Museum. The city, as refounded at a new site in the 4th century, was laid out on a rectangular scheme. The steep area faces south, the acropolis rising nearly 200m (700 feet) behind it. The city was enclosed by a wall 2m (7 feet) thick with towers at intervals and three principal gates.
On the lower slopes of the acropolis was a sanctuary of Demeter. The town had six main streets, about 6m (20 feet) wide, running east and west and fifteen streets about 3m (10 ft) wide crossing at right angles, all being evenly spaced; and it was thus divided into about 80 insulae. Private houses were apportioned eight to an insula. The systems of water-supply and drainage can easily be discerned. The houses present many analogies with the earliest Pompeian. In the western half of the city, on a high terrace north of the main street and approached by a fine stairway, was the temple of Athena Polias, a hexastyle peripteral structure in the ionic order built by Pythias, the architect of the Mausoleum. Under the basis of the statue of Athena were found in 1870 silver tetradrachms of Orophernes, and some jewelry, probably deposited at the time of the Cappadocian restoration.
Fronting the main street is a series of halls, and on the other side is the fine market place. The municipal buildings, Roman gymnasium, and well preserved theatre lie to the north, but, like all the other public structures, in the centre of the plan. Temples of Isis and Asclepius have been laid bare. At the lowest point on the south, within the walls, was the large stadium, connected with a gymnasium of Hellenistic times.[Rumscheid, Frank (1998). Priene: A Guide to the Pompeii of Asia Minor. ISBN 9758070169.]
See also Society of Dilettanti, Ionian Antiquities (1821), vol. ii.; Th. Wiegand and H. Schrader, Priene (1904); on inscriptions (360) see Hiller von Gartringen, Inschriften van Priene (Berlin, 1907), with collection of ancient references to the city.
Notes
External links
Coordinates: 37°39′35″N, 27°17′52″E
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia |
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