Today’s name for Tralles
is Tralleis nearby the city of Aydin Ephesus
My road ends at a T-crossing,
where mini signs point left towards the city walls and the Roman necropolis or
right to the Gymnasium. I make a right turn and after some turns and twists I’m
driving along some ruins carrying a sign “Roman theatre” and another one “no
photographs”. I don’t understand neither inscription, and the many big stones
don’t make sense since I cannot make out the contours of a theatre in the
landscape, only a short vaulted passage way next to the road gives me a hint. The
view from here over the rolling hills where olives, figs and cotton are grown is
however superb; in a distance I can see a quarry of red marble in the green
landscape. Far below me lay an imposing ruin with vaults that reminds me of an
aqueduct. Getting closer by driving in the opposite direction, I discover that
this is the Gymnasium from the 4th century BC and I realize that Tralles
must have been huge. There is some parking space and not a single soul in
sight. Never mind, I love this!
A large billboard welcomes me
showing the rough lay-out of mainly Roman Tralles, with the theatre and the
adjacent Stadium and further on the Gymnasium. Then some houses and much
further west, the Acropolis. This Acropolis may go back to Hellenistic times. Tralles
was founded by the Hittites in
2500 BC and obviously occupied a strategic position. In later centuries, the
city was ruled by the Phrygians, the Lydians, Persians, Greeks and Romans till
it was totally destroyed by the severe earthquake of 26 BC. Emperor Augustus rebuilt the city,
blessing it with his imperial name Caesarea .
When the Byzantines arrived, they re-baptized it again to Tralles. Then followed
the Seljuks and the days of the Ottoman Empire ,
till in 1922 the city burnt down to the ground. A new city
There is no indication of any
scale or size, probably to discourage illegal digging in this remote
countryside.
The three vaulted arches with
thick walls, which the locals call “the three eyes”, are clear evidence that
this is where the Roman Baths once stood. It seems that excavations are in
progress, exposing a literal maze of water conduits running more or less parallel
to each other but on different levels. This must have been quite a
construction! Between the olive-trees further down, I distinguish some low
walls and more to right a wide straight passage that could refer to a road. What
a place to let my imagination run freely!
I can only guess how far Tralles spreads out in this
landscape, but I am certain that Alexander
must have been very happy with its surrender! (see: Alexander’s presence in Ephesus).
Overall very little is
known about Tralles, except maybe the renowned Anthemius of Tralles, an architect who worked together with Isidorus of Miletus to build the Haghia Sophia in Constantinople .
Anthemius also worked there as
professor of geometry and his brother, Dioscorus,
took over his father’s career as physician in Constantinople while
another brother, Alexander practised
in Rome Berlin.