Last week was spring break, and I took the first part of the holiday to hike on the Efes-Mimas Trail, a 240 km challenge that I have been hiking since last September.
When my new principal was recruiting me for this job ten months ago, he was pleased to hear that I enjoyed hiking. “You know,” he told me, “I hear that a lot of hikes around here end at hilltop ruin or the site of an ancient city.”
I have the dust of 134.5 of those Efes-Mimas kilometers on my hiking boots, and I can honestly say.
He was right.
The first leg of my two-day hike ended at one such ancient site, the city of Teos. This was my third trip to Teos, and it was my best chance to put some of the pieces of history together.
Ancient Greece, Was there Such a Thing?
The challenge one gets with the term, “ancient city,” in Turkiye is this: which ancient does one mean?
This is in stark evidence at the site of Troy, where 13 different cities are stacked one on top of each other, dating across 4400 years from 2900 BCE to 1300 CE. (Troy is a place I have visited twice, but I’m still reading books, trying to figure it out for myself before explaining it to my readers later this year.)
The ages of Greek culture we study in the West cover the last half-millennium before Christ. “Archaic” culture takes us from 750 to 480 BCE and covers the era of Homer and Herodotus. It ends with the Persian threat to the Peloponnese (480 BCE was the date of the Battle of Thermopylae).
“Classical” culture begins there and culminates in the conquests of Alexander the Great in from 336 to 323 BCE. This is the era of Athenian democracy, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the amazing dramatists, Aeschylus and Sophocles.
The final era BCE is called “Hellenistic,” and it covers the expansion of Hellene culture throughout Asia and north Africa and that culture’s eventual absorption into the Roman Empire, founded in 30 BCE, the end of that era.
That’s a nice, efficient description, but it ignores a lot of history. It accounts for only 750 of the 4,200 years of Troy’s existence, less than 1/5th.
To go further back before 750 BCE, we begin to look at “ages” like the Bronze Age (3300 to 1200 BCE) and the Iron Age (1200 - 600 BCE). There is much evidence of these earlier eras and civilizations like Minos, Mycenae, and Troy (known as “Wilusa” in ancient Hittite texts). There is also an historical gap known as the “Dark Ages” that separates “Greek” civilization from its murky origins.
Visiting Teos, I revisited one of the history’s most legendary migrations – and the Dark Age that preceded it, and I got to reflect on my own migration to this remarkable country.
Teos and the Ionian League
Before I get to the founding of Teos, I need to explain the “Dark Age” that I referenced before. It occurred at the end of the Bronze Age, near the beginning of the 12th Century. Our best evidence of the End of the Age are the charred ruins of Troy VIa, which were burned during a likely invasion around 1182 BCE.
The ancient tales state that the Achaean victors at Troy didn’t outlive that city by very long. Agamemnon was murdered in the bath after his return. Odysseus wandered for another ten years, only to find his home occupied. Whether these are true or not, the Mycenaean culture that conquered Troy had been wiped off the map within a decade of the Trojan Horse.
But the thing about these tales is that they were written in the 8th Century, describing the legendary events of the 12th. The “Dark Age” covers the 400-year gap between Hector and Homer, whose Iliad is an important if problematic source for the end of the age.
These years were part of an era of upheaval throughout the Aegean and Mediterranean worlds. Long-established kingdoms in Mycenae and Minos fortified, then collapsed in the face of seaborn marauders who left behind no written texts or signs of their culture beyond charred ruins. The Hittite Empire of central Anatolia disappeared.
The only record we have of these marauders is an Egyptian inscription by Rameses III who brags in one record that he encountered an invading force of “sea peoples” on the Nile delta and defeated them, saving his kingdom. (One group of marauding migrants of this era were the Hebrews, whose Exodus from Egypt – or lands across the sea – may date to this dark age.)
If you, dear reader, are wondering how I wandered from Teos to Egypt and Caanan, I can assure you that it wasn’t by foot… or pirate ship.
I write it to point out why Teos was settled around 1100 BCE by settlers from the Greek mainland. Many of the largest cities on the Aegean Coast were settled at this time, usually by bands of men who then intermarried with local, asiatic tribes known as Carians or Lelegs. (Smyrna was a Leleg city at that time, Miletus was taken from the Carians.)
A civilization grew among the settlements along the Aegean Coast of Anatolia. The cities bonded together as a confederation in the late 8th Century BCE: the Ionian League connected cities between Smyrna and Miletus, while the Aeolian League connected the coast between Smyrna and Troy (which was rebuilding). Smyrna, initially part of the Aeolian League, was the only city to switch sides.
(A side note on the Aeolian and Ionian leagues. The major scale that is prominent in western music is known as the Ionian Mode, while the less-common minor scale is called the Aeolian Mode. The latter mode is tied to the unique sounds of Middle Eastern music. I have much to learn about Turkish music, so I won’t elaborate here, but it is a rabbit hole worth examining.)
The Ionian League united around the worship of Poseidon, and they celebrated a religious/ athletic festival known as the Panionium at the base of a mountain south of Ephesus. Eventually, the growing strength of the inland kingdom of Lydia threatened the independence of the city states. They were conquered and incorporated into the kingdom of Croesus.
This era, 700 - 540 BCE was a Golden Age in Teos, which spread from a high acropolis to a harbor on the Aegean. Trade among the cities of the League and with cities across the sea brought wealth, and the area, even today, is rimmed with fertile fields that were filled with springtime daisies and poppies for my visit there last week. There were two harbors for the site: a north harbor (now part of the city of Sığacik) and a southern harbor which is still part of the archaeological site.
The Golden Age under Lydian rule came to a crashing end with the Persians, who conquered Lydia in 540 BCE. There were two results of this occupation: a large number of Teosians moved back across the Aegean and settled in Thrace; those who remained in Teos took part in the Ionian Revolt of 494 that was brutally crushed (Persia was still 4 years away from its comeuppance at the Battle of Marathon). Teos contributed 17 ships to the 383 Ionian ships defeated in the naval Battle of Lade by 600 Persian ships during that revolt.
A Walk through Teos Today
Most of the ruins at Teos today were built during its second golden age after liberation by Alexander. The city fell under Seleucid rule and prospered greatly. It now had two harbors and trade to further-flung places than before.
The first structure visitors reach after the entrance is the Temple of Dionysos, built around 300 BCE, just after Alexander’s triumph over Persia. Most of the structures on the site date to this Hellenistic Era. The temple became a regional center of Dionysian worship, and a huge amphitheater was built about 200m from the temple.
Imagine the worship services at this Temple! Its high priests were also accomplished actors, and its attendants numbered themselves among the Union of Dionisian Artists of Ionia, a literary and dramatic collective. Teos’s most famous literary son was Anacreon (575-495 BCE) a lyric poet and hymn-writer who was esteemed throughout the Greek world of his day, the tumultuous time of Persian conquest in the area.
(Anacreon’s connection to Teos and Dionysus outlasted his reign as an eminent hymnist. Anacreon Societies endured in Europe where wine, women and song were celebrated. American readers should note that Francis Scott Key’s lyric, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was set to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heav’n”, a favored song of British drinking clubs.)
There is a nice counter-clockwise walking route of the Teos site, but I always prefer to go from the temple to the theater, a sacred space connected to the celebration of Dionysus. As I walk to the theater, I always pause at the Umay Nine Ağacı Olive Tree. This huge, 1800-year-old grandmother tree has seen many centuries (niné means “granny” in Turkish).
The theater seated over 3,000, and it remains in relatively good shape. You can walk into the grassy orchestra half-circle and the stage supports are still up, but not the set. If you climb to the top of the theater, several of the tunnels are passable and fun to explore. There are some shady spots thanks to olive trees growing among the ruins.
I enjoy sitting in the seats and looking out over the valley toward the agora and the sea. It is a striking place to watch a show – or perform one, as I did with my students last November. When we were there, students asked me about a vivid, green circle in the middle of the orchestra.
“Why is it so green?” they asked me.
“That’s where they made the sacrifices,” I told them.
Plays were an important part of worship, a way that stories of the gods, and lessons for pious living were passed down. Considering that wine was such an important part of worship as well, the performances must have been epic!
My third stop after the theater is always the acropolis. There is a short, 150m trail from the top of the theater up the hill to the highest point on the site, where the foundations of the fort are evident. The fort area has a lone pine tree growing out of the top. On my hike, knowing what to look for, this tree was the first sign I spotted of ancient Teos – a very welcome one.
Just 20m south of the fort is my favorite place in Teos, the ancient gymnasium, with flagstones spread out over about 400m2. The views of the harbor are stunning, and I just love to think about ancient educators, reciting lines by Homer or Anacreon, teaching music, or leading students through calisthenics and physical games. Educators have been a part of civil societies for a very long time, I’m reminded. I teach because they taught, and these flagstones are foundation stones of my profession.
From the acropolis, the trail to the right leads back to the entrance. One can also just exit down the back of the hill to go into Sığacik (a splendid tourist town with an Ottoman castle). There are a few more sites to see in Teos, so I go back down through the theater and bear left just past the Granny Tree.
This takes me into the city center. The council chamber lies to the left, with another 1500-year-old olive tree shading the seating area. This “council theater” is much smaller than the theater, with seating for about 200. This is where the town senate met. It is also the place where students sat for exams, the signs say at the site.
The view from the site takes in the ancient agora and ruins around the area that include an imperial temple and warehouses. There are many pieces of pillar and block excavated here, but the council chamber is the only site that has seen any restoration. The rest has to be filled in by the imagination. (And while I’m imagining, I know that the vast, empty spaces between the temple, the theater, and the city center, were once filled with wooden houses, stables and markets. This was quite a polis – not so big as Ephesus became, but impressive nonetheless.
A walk towards the south harbor passes the old city wall, as well as two Byzantine-era ruins: a cistern that was once part of a bath complex, and, right next to the harbor, the foundations of an 11th-century CE Christian chapel.
The second day of my hike last week took me north from Teos to the north harbor. There is a prominent hill there that I had seen as I was hiking in – taller than the Teos Acropolis, it was visible from three miles away. As I approached I noticed cliffs and gouges in the rocks, sure signs of quarrying.
When I got to the hill, sure enough, there was a huge quarry dug into its side. Black marble had been quarried there in ancient times and shipped throughout the Mediterranean world. The marble I see in most Greek sites is white marble, but apparently the Romans and Byzantines really loved black marble and were eager markets for Teos’s supply.
About 500m from “Black Mound” as I’ll call it is Kara Göl, a.k.a. “Black Lake.” As I approached, I passed a dozen huge pieces of raw marble that had been excavated there. Like many quarry sites I’ve seen, this one had filled with water and was a small lake about 100m in diameter.
Where do I Go Next?
My next hike will begin in Ovacik and take me to the ancient city of Klazomenae, close to the modern city of Urla. At that point I will be on the northern side of the Izmir Peninsula, and I will follow the coast another 80 km or so up to Karaburun.
I will take my first trip to Istanbul next weekend. I can’t wait to explore that amazing city with a college friend. It will be a weekend only, but if you have a top-five list of sites in Second Rome, please let me know in the comments.
I had hoped to share a legend with you by now, but it takes a long time to write, re-write, and re-re-write these stories. A big share of my time on the hiking trail is going over stories and trying to find new insights on the characters. My story about Narcissus is almost ready to share, and I have been working on stories about Achilles and Arachne (still in early drafts). After researching this travelogue, I feel like Anacreon deserves a tale of his own. The idea pipeline is full!
My next blog will be a lifestyle blog with a focus on how I made friends and found a ready-made community in which to grow my social circle.
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