Day Seven

Hello everyone! Today has been a rather rainy and chilly day, so it turned out well that we spent most of it on the bus, to and from Aphrodisias. This city is about 2.5 hours away from Selcuk, but totally worth the drive!

It was famous in antiquity for its Temple of Aphrodite. But for scholars today, it is equally significant that this city had a school for sculpting. There were many marble quarries surrounding this town, and the museum demonstrates this well--chocked full of marble statues! It is really hard to describe, but imagine room after room full of amazingly detailed statues, some as tall as the ceiling. Many of these works are signed, which is also a rarity in antiquity. Then there was a very long hall, with huge friezes of life-size people sculpted into them, lining every wall! These friezes were on the Sebasteion (temple of the Emperors) at Aphrodisias. I've included a picture of me and Jenny (Prof. Knust) with one of the statues. 

Outside, walking around the dig site, we saw amazing ruins of the city. Pics of two of the sites are included below, and are worth mentioning....

First is the stadium at Aphrodisias, below. This is the largest (longest) stadium of antiquity, and also the best preserved. Look closely at the pic to see just how big this place is--it is huge!! It would have been capable of seating 30,000 people. Scholars do not believe that this is any indication of the population size of the city, but rather indicates the magnitude of the festivals of Aphrodite and of the Sebastoi (or emperors). Delegations, athletes, choirs, and citizens from all of the cities in Asia Minor would have attended such festivals, traveling to the respective cities at the appropriate times of the year. Therefore, these stadiums tell us a lot about the significance of such festivals in the religious/civic lives of the cities.

The other significant site is the Temple to Aphrodite. The pic I've included is of the gate to the Temple, with the columns in the background signifying what remains of the actual Temple. It was stunning to see, as a tetrapylon gate (such as this gate) is rare. 

We also saw some really significant sites that represent benefaction from a wealthy freedperson in antiquity. We got to spend some really great time thinking out loud about the implications of freeing slaves, freedpersons obtaining wealth in antiquity, the benefits to the slaveowner of giving manumission, and how that freedperson would have functioned civically.

The city itself was really beautiful, with huge mountains in the distance, some with snow on the peaks. Gorgeous view. 

Tonight, we are free. The rest of the group makes their site presentations at Ephesus tomorrow, so most are here at the library working. I'm blogging :) But we will head for dinner soon....

Hope everyone is doing well!

love, 

Krista