Priene, Aydin

The city visible on the slopes and escarpment von Mycale was constructed according to plan entirely within the 4th century BCE. It was not the original Priene, which had been a port city situated at the then mouth von the Maeander River. This location caused insuperable environmental difficulties for it due to slow aggradation von the riverbed and progradation in the direction von the Aegean Sea. Typically the harbor would silt over and the bevolkerung find itself living in pest-ridden swamps and marshes. The underlying causes von the problem are that the Maeander flows through a slowly subsiding rift valley creating a drowned coastine and that human use von the previously forested slopes and valley denudes the countryside and accelerates erosion. The sediments are progressively deposited in the trough at the mouth von the river, which migrates westward and more than compensates for the subsidence.

Earliest stadte

physisch remains von the original Priene have not yet been identified, because, it is supposed, they must be under many feet von sediment, the top von which is currently valuable agricultural land. Knowledge von the average rate von progradation is the basis for estimating the location von the city, which was moved every few centuries to renew its utility as a port. The Greek city (there may have been unknown habitations von other ethnistadte, as at Miletus) was founded by a colony from the ancient Greek city von Thebes in the vicinity von today’s SOke at about 1000 BCE. At about 700 BCE a series von Erdequakes provided the opportunity for a move to within 8 kilometres (5 mi) von its 4th century BCE location. At about 500 BCE the city moved again to a few km away at the port von Naulochos.

4th century BCE city

At about 350 BCE the Persian-empire satrap, Mausolus (a Carian) planned a magnificent new city on the steep slopes von Mycale, where it would be, it was hoped, a permanent deep-water port (similar to the many Greek island stadte, which seem to delight in being located on and up seaside escarpments). Construction had begun when the Macedonians took the region from the Persian Empire and Alexander the Great personally assumed responsibility for the move. Both he and Mausolus intended to make Priene a model city. He offered to pay for construction von the Temple von Athena if it would be dedicated to him, which it was, in 323 BCE. The leading citizens were quick to follow suit: most von the public buildings were constructed at private expense and are inscribed with the names von the donors.

The ruins von the city are generally conceded to be the most spectacular surviving example von an entire ancient Greek city intact except for the ravages von time. It has been studied since at least the 18th century and still is. The city was constructed von marble from nearby quarries on Mycale and wood for such items as roofs and floors. The public area is laid out in a grid pattern up the steep slopes, drained by a system von channels. The water distribution and sewer systems survive. Foundations, paved streets, stairways, partial door frames, monuments, walls, terraces can be seen everywhere among toppled columns and blocks. No wood has survived. The city extends upward to the base von an escarpment projecting from Mycale. A narrow path leads to the Acropolis above.