Aigai, also Aigaiai ( or ; or '; or '), was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, later Roman (Ægæ, Aegae), city and bishopric in

Aeolis Aeolis (; ), or Aeolia (; ), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states w ...

. Aegae is mentioned by both

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

as being a member of the Aeolian dodecapolis. It was also an important sanctuary of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

. Aigai had its brightest period under the

Attalid dynasty The Kingdom of Pergamon, Pergamene Kingdom, or Attalid kingdom was a Greek state during the Hellenistic period that ruled much of the Western part of Asia Minor from its capital city of Pergamon. It was ruled by the Attalid dynasty (; ). The ...

, which ruled from nearby

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

in the 3rd and 2nd century BC. The remains of the city are located near the modern village of Yuntdağı Köseler in

Manisa Province Manisa Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in western Turkey. Its area is 13,339 km2, and its population is 1,468,279 (2022). Its neighboring provinces are İzmi ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The archaeological site is situated at a rather high altitude almost on top of Mount Gün (''Dağı''), part of the mountain chain of Yunt (''Dağları'').

History

Initially the city was a possession of the Lydian Empire and later the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

when it conquered the former. In the early third century BC it became part of the Kingdom of Pergamon. It changed hands from Pergamon to the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

, but was recaptured by

Attalus I Attalus I ( ), surnamed ''Soter'' (, ; 269–197 BC), was the ruler of the Greek polis of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama, Turkey) and the larger Pergamene Kingdom from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the adopted son of King Eumenes I ...

of Pergamon in 218 BC. In the war between

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

and Pergamon, it was destroyed by

Prusias II of Bithynia Prusias II Cynegus (Greek: Προυσίας ὁ Κυνηγός; "the Hunter", c. 220 BC – 149 BC, reigned c. 182 BC – 149 BC) was the Greek king of Bithynia. He was the son and successor of Prusias I and Apama III. Life Prusias wa ...

in 156 BC. After a peace was brokered by the Romans, the city was compensated with hundred talents. Under the rule of Pergamon a market building and a temple to Apollo were constructed. In 129 BC the Kingdom of Pergamon became part of the Roman Empire. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 17 AD and received aid for reconstruction from emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

Ecclesiastical history

Ægæ was important enough in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Asia Prima Asia () was a Roman province covering most of western Asia Minor (Anatolia), which was created following the Roman Republic's annexation of the Attalid Kingdom in 133 BC. After the establishment of the Roman Empire by Augustus, it was the most ...

to become one of the many

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

s of its capital

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

's Metropolitan Archbishopric; but it was to fade.

Titular see

The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

. It has sat vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank: * Titular Bishop Gérard-Marie Coderre (1951.07.05 – 1955.02.03) * Titular Bishop

Marius Paré Marius Paré (22 May 1903 in Montmagny, Quebec – 16 February 2002) was a Canadian clergyman and bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicoutimi The Diocese of Chicoutimi () is a Roman Catholic diocese in Quebec, centred on the borough o ...

(1956.02.07 – 1961.02.18) * Titular Bishop Cornélio Chizzini,

Sons of Divine Providence The Sons of Divine Providence (), commonly called the Orionine Fathers, is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded in 1903 by Luigi Orione (1872–1940) in Turin, Italy. Its members add the nominal ...

(F.D.P.) (1962.04.12 – 1978.05.26)

Remains

Layout

The city is situated on a plateau at the summit of the steep Gün Dağı mountain, which can be climbed from the north. The plateau is surrounded by a wall with a length of 1.5 kilometers. On the eastern side are the remains of the three-story indoor market with a height of 11 meters and a length of 82 meters. The upper floor of the Hellenistic building was renovated in Roman times. The partially overgrown remains of many other buildings are scattered over the site. These include the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

which is laid out in terraces, a

Macellum A ''macellum'' (: ''macella''; , ''makellon'') is an ancient Roman indoor market building that sold mostly provisions (especially meat and fish). The building normally sat alongside the forum and basilica, providing a place in which a market cou ...

, a gymnasium, a

bouleuterion Bouleuterion (, ''bouleutērion''), also translated as and was a building in ancient Greece which housed the council of citizens (, ''boulē'') of a democratic city state. These representatives assembled at the bouleuterion to confer and de ...

and the foundations of three temples. About five kilometers to the east the foundations of a sanctuary of Apollo are found on the banks of the river which flows around the ruins. It was an

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

peripteros In Classical architecture Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Ancient Greek architecture, Greek and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more ...

temple from the first century BC. A

cella In Classical architecture, a or naos () is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings: of a hermit's or monk's cell, and (since the 17th century) of a biological cell ...

which is six meters high and three

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

s still remain.

Excavation history

The first western visitors of Aigai were

William Mitchell Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a British archaeologist and New Testament scholar. He was the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor, and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament. R ...

and

Salomon Reinach Salomon Reinach (29 August 1858 – 4 November 1932) was a French archaeologist, religious historian and was a major figure in the Franco-Jewish establishment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was vice president of the ...

in 1880. They reported about their visit in the ''

Journal of Hellenic Studies ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research in Hellenic studies. It also publishes reviews of recent books of importance to Hellenic studies. It was established in 1880 and is published by Camb ...

'' and the ''

Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to: Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) * ''Bulletin'' (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper * ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008) ** Bulletin Deb ...

''. They were followed by Richard Bohn and

Carl Schuchhardt Carl Schuchhardt (6 August 1859 – 7 December 1943) was a German archaeologist and museum director. For many years, he was the director of the pre-historic department of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. He was involved in numerous excavations, ...

, who examined the site as a part of the excavations in Pergamon. Since 2004 the site is being excavated by Ersin Doğer of

Ege University Ege University or Aegean University () is a public research university in Bornova, İzmir. It was founded in 1955 with the faculties of Medicine and Agriculture. It is the first university to start courses in İzmir and the fourth oldest unive ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. By 2010 the access road, the bouleuterion, the odeon, shops, numerous water pipes and large parts of the market hall were uncovered. For the coming years it is planned to re-erect the market hall's facade with the original stones. In 2016, archaeologists discovered a

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

depicting the god

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

. The mosaic was found in the

frigidarium A ''frigidarium'' is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is tho ...

part of the ancient bath. The bottom part of the mosaic contains partly ruined inscription in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: "Greetings to all of you bathing." Archaeologists believe that it dates back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C. In 2018, archaeologists unearthed a

, which is an ancient meat and fish market. In 2022 a marble inscription of the 2nd century AD during the excavations in the parliament building of Aigai found in 2005 was deciphered and records the people's complaints at Roman tax officials' greed. It also states that they sent a man named 'Fortunatus' to the Roman emperor to report on the various levels of taxes from goat skin by each tax collector and demanding that he solve the problem. The inscription is important in proving that the city's trade was based on goats and goat skins. The Roman Emperor later passed a law to fix the rate of tax from goat skin at 1/6th and threatened to enforce it strictly.1800-year-old marble inscription found in Turkey's Aigai excavations deciphered https://arkeonews.net/1800-year-old-marble-inscription-found-in-turkeys-aigai-excavations-deciphered/ File:AigaiAufgang.jpg, Path to Aigai File:AigaiMarkthalle2.jpg, Facade of market hall seen from the interior File:AigaiBouleuterion1.jpg, Bouleuterion File:AigaiOdeon.jpg, Macellum

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic with titular incumebt biography links

Official website of Aigai Excavations (in Turkish)

Official website of Aigai Excavations (in English)

More photos of the site

Description of Aigai on Current Archeology in Turkey
{{Authority control Aeolian dodecapolis Archaeological sites in the Aegean region Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Aegae Former populated places in Turkey Geography of Manisa Province History of Manisa Tourist attractions in Manisa Province Populated places in ancient Aeolis