Sultanhisar is a municipality and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Aydın Province Aydın Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. Its area is 8,116 km2, and its population is 1,148,241 (2022). T ...

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 ...

. Its area is 220 km², and its population is 20,230 (2022). It is 30 km east of the city of

Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar; Greek: Τράλλεις)'' is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River (ancient ...

on the road to

Denizli Denizli is a city in Aegean Region, Aegean Turkey, and seat of the province of Denizli Province, Denizli. The city forms the urban part of the districts Merkezefendi and Pamukkale, Denizli, Pamukkale, with a population of 691 783 in 2024. Denizl ...

History

The first settlement here was the ancient city of Nysa in Asia (on the Maeander), founded in the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

period and continuing to thrive under the

Ancient Romans The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens (; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman ...

, also as bishopric, where the geographer

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 ...

was educated. Nysa is 3 km from the modern town of Sultanhisar, which was founded by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

in 1270 and brought into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1425.

Geography and economy

Sultanhisar is an agricultural district in the

Büyük Menderes Büyük means "big" in Turkic languages and may refer to: People Given name * Büyük Jeddikar (1929–2013), Iranian retired footballer * Büyük Vatankhah (born 1943), Iranian retired footballer Surname * Adem Büyük (born 1987), Turkish ...

valley. The main products of the area are typical of the Aegean region: olives, figs, citrus fruits, grapes, strawberries etc. and the local industry is the processing of these products: olive oil pressing, spinning cotton, preparing and packing fruit, especially figs. Sultanhisar itself is a small town of 6,000 people on the

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 ...

Afyon Afyonkarahisar (, 'poppy, opium', ''kara'' 'black', ''hisar'' 'fortress') is a major city in western Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Afyonkarahisar Province and Afyonkarahisar District. Its population is 251,799 (2021). Afyon is in the ...

railway line. The local cuisine features typical Aegean dishes such as the bread-pancakes called

gözleme Gözleme is a savory Turkish cuisine, Turkish stuffed Turnover (food), turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama, but is lightl ...

. The town has a horticultural school of Adnan Menderes University. Atça is a well-planned and tidy town, with 7,600 people larger than Sultanhisar itself. One of Turkey's largest strawberry growing districts. There is an annual strawberry harvest festival.

Composition

There are 18

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Sultanhisar District:Mahalle
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023. * Atça * Beşeylül * Demirhan * Eskihisar * Güvendik * Hisar * İncealan * Kabaca * Kavaklı * Kılavuzlar *

Kurtuluş Kurtuluş is a neighbourhood of the Şişli district of Istanbul that was originally called ''Tatavla,'' meaning 'stables' in Greek (). The modern Turkish name means "liberation", "salvation", "independence" or "deliverance". On 13 April 1929, si ...

* Malgaçemir * Malgaçmustafa * Rekmez * Salavatlı * Uzunlar * Yağdere * Zafer

Places of interest

* Nysa on the Maeander - ruins of the ancient

Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...

n city, including a large theatre, bridges ( Nysa Bridge), baths and a gymnasium. The site is still being excavated, led by Professor Vedat Idil of

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

References

Sources and external links

*
archaeology in Nysa
Populated places in Aydın Province Districts of Aydın Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey {{Aydın-geo-stub