Herakleia on the Latmos
Coordinates: 37 ° 30 ′ 7 ″ N , 27 ° 31 ′ 29 ″ E
Herakleia am Latmos ( Greek Ἡράκλεια πρὸς Λάτμῳ ; Latin name form: Heraclea ad Latmum ) was an ancient Greek city in western Asia Minor in the Caria region . According to legend, the grave cave of Endymion was near Herakleias . The moon goddess Selene was particularly venerated in ancient Herakleia .
geography
Herakleia is located today in the Turkish province of Muğla on Lake Bafa , a former bay of the Mediterranean that was separated by silting processes and converted into freshwater, called Latmikos kolpos (Latmian Gulf) in ancient times . The place is located at the foot of the difficult-to-access Latmos Mountains. In the vicinity there were high-yield marble quarries in ancient times.
The village of Kapıkırı now stands between the remains of the ancient city .
history
Herakleias predecessor settlement Latmos was built around 1000 BC. Chr. By by conquering Greeks displaced Karer in the inhospitable but safe rocky landscape of Latmosgebirges. The originally Carian city, like the cities of Ionia, came under Lydian and later Persian rule in the 6th century . 499-494 BC Like the rest of Caria, Latmos took part in the Ionian revolt against Persia. After 494 Latmos received a fortification. It became a member of the Attic-Delian League with a minimum contribution of 1 talent / year, which reflected its economic potential. Latmos came under Persian rule again and became part of the satrapy Caria, which was ruled by a local dynasty (house of the Hecatomnids ), the most famous representative of which was Mausolos . This operated between 377 and 353 BC. A massive policy of Hellenization in Caria.
Around 300 BC The Hellenistic foundation of Herakleia replaced the old Latmos (10 minutes' walk away). The exact date and authorship for this establishment are disputed. Are favored Asander , Demetrios Poliorketes or Pleistarchus , brother of Cassander . In any case, the Duodez-Diadoche Pleistarchus made Herakleia the capital of his empire encompassing parts of Caria and renamed the city Pleistarcheia. After the end of his not too long reign, however, they returned to the original name Herakleia. It remains to be seen whether the renewed name change, which condemned the alleged "founder" Pleistarchus to (become) forgotten, is due to the fact that the old Latmos was completely destroyed by him and its inhabitants were relocated against their will. Just as controversial as the question of the foundation is the question of who was responsible for the expansion of the massive and state-of-the-art fortifications and the extensive road network (but only accessible by pack animals and pedestrians), which covers both the city's territory developed and secured the connection to the regional traffic routes.
Rome gave Herakleia, which as a precaution and prudently before the defeat of the Seleucid Antiochus III. had changed sides against Rome in the early 2nd century BC. The freedom. The city's golden century began. 133 BC Herakleia and Caria became part of the Roman province of Asia . The peripherally located Herakleia did not win the favor of imperial or senatorial sponsors. Only a Roman miniature thermal bath changed the old Hellenistic cityscape. In the 6th century, remote Herakleia was the second largest city in the province of Caria. In the 7th century the Latmos Mountains were settled by monks from Sinai and became a holy mountain comparable to Athos .
At the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans defeated the regional rival Turkish dynasts in southwest Asia Minor. By this time at the latest, Lake Latmos was completely separated from the sea and Herakleia's economic development was deprived of its basis.
buildings
The 6.5 km long, 2-3 m wide and z. Walls, some of which are 6 m high and reinforced with 65 towers, are an excellent example of Hellenistic fortifications. The Agora (forecourt of today's village school) and an Athena temple to the west of it are also known. A theater can be found near the eastern city walls, partly overgrown by olive trees. Near the lake there is a rock sanctuary for Endymion with a five-column porch. Remains of the port facility are visible in the lake near the shore. There is also a small odeion in the village.
City fortifications
Temple of Athena
Theater in the olive grove
The Latmos mountain in the background
See also
literature
- Fritz Krischen : The fortifications of Herakleia on the Latmos (Milet; Bd. 3,2). Association of Scientific Publishers, Berlin 1922.
- William L. MacDonald: Herakleia under Latmos, Caria, Turkey . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
- Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat : The Latmos. An unknown mountain landscape on the Turkish west coast ( Zabern's illustrated books on archeology / special edition). Zabern, Mainz 1996, ISBN 3-8053-1994-0 .
- Michael Wörrle : Inscriptions from Herakleia on Latmos III. The synoikismos of the Latmioi with the Pidaseis . In: Chiron , 33, 121-143 (2003), ISSN 0069-3715 .
- Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat: Field research in the Latmos. The Carian city of Latmos (Miletus Vol. 3, 6). de Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-11-018238-6 .
- Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat: Herakleia am Latmos. City and surroundings (Homer archaeological guides; Vol. 3). Homer Kitabevi, Istanbul 2005, ISBN 978-975-8293-72-8 .
- Oliver Hülden: Pleistarchos and the fortifications of Herakleia on the Latmos . In: Klio , Vol. 82 (2000), pp. 382-408, ISSN 0075-6334 .
- Albert Distelrath: Settling and living in a ruin site. A conservation concept for Herakleia am Latmos. Ege Yayınları, Istanbul 2011. ISBN 978-605-5607-64-7 (also dissertation, TU Berlin 2008; in German and Turkish).
