Selçuk

	Selçuk
Basic data
Province (il) :	Izmir
Coordinates :	37 ° 57 ' N , 27 ° 22' E Coordinates: 37 ° 57 '0 " N , 27 ° 22' 20" E
Surface:	277 km²
Residents :	35,281 (2014)
Population density :	127 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code :	(+90)
Postal code :	35920
License plate :	35
Structure and administration (as of 2019)
Mayor :	Filiz Ceritoğlu Sengel ( CHP )
Website:	www.selcuk.bel.tr
Selçuk County
Kaymakam :	Ayhan Boyacı
Website (Kaymakam):	www.selcuk.gov.tr

View of Selçuk and St. John's Church from the fortress

View of Selçuk from Ayasoluk hill

Selçuk is a county seat and a district in western Turkey , in the province of Izmir , 75 km south of the provincial capital . After a regional reform, the city is identical in terms of population and area to the district. The former name of the place was Ayasoluk. It is derived from the nickname Hagios Theologos of the Apostle John . In 1914 the name was changed to Selçuk under the Young Turks .

history

Selçuk is the successor settlement of ancient Ephesus . A conquest by the Arabs in 798 was short-lived, as was the first occupation by the Seljuks under Alp Arslan after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This lasted only until the victory of the Crusaders at Dorylaeum in 1097. After the fall of the Rum Seljuks , the Turks took control of the region and Ayasoluk came to the Beylik of Aydın . At this time, the explorer Ibn Battūta visited the city in 1333 . He reports on a prosperous trading town with blooming gardens and vineyards. The ruler Khizir Beg had contact with the Italian republics, there was a Genoese and a Venetian consulate in the city. In 1391 the place came under the Ottoman rule for the first time under Bayezid II , until it fell back to the Aydınoğulları after Timur's defeat . Under Murad II it finally became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1425 and from then on was the capital of a kaza (judicial district) of the Sanjaks of Aydın . As in later times by the sediments of the Kaistros ( Küçük Menderes of the port) increasingly silted up , the city lost the port of importance in favor of Kusadasi .

Attractions

The Archaeological Museum is located in Selçuk , where the finds from the excavations in nearby Ephesus are exhibited. Ancient remains can be found on some houses because parts of Selçuk - similar to Kuşadası and İzmir - were built from building materials from Ephesus.

On the outskirts are the small remains of the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. On the northeast slope of Panayır Dağı is the dormouse cave of Ephesus , about seven kilometers southwest on the mountain Ala Dağı, called Solmissos in antiquity , you will find the house of Mother Mary , the alleged place where Mary , the mother of Jesus, died .

The first settlement of Ephesus was on the city hill Ayasoluk in the second millennium BC. In the seventh century AD, the place was moved here again because of the silting up of the port and the danger posed by the invading Arabs. At that time the St. John's Church , one of the largest sacred buildings of the Byzantine Empire , was already standing there . It was built in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian I over the presumed grave of the Evangelist John and remained intact until the 11th century with its splendid marble furnishings. For the 110 m long, cross-shaped building with its six domes, the mountain was extended by an artificial terrace . On the upper plateau of the hill is the Byzantine - Seljuk citadel of Selçuk , probably also built in the 6th century.

The Isabey Mosque from the 14th century at the foot of the Ayasoluk has a beautiful stalactite portal, a quiet inner courtyard and an atmospheric prayer room. Nearby are the ruins of the Isabey Hamam , a bathhouse also from the second half of the 14th century.

In Çamlık, a district of Selçuk, there is a railway museum with a large collection of old steam locomotives.

About eight kilometers east of Selçuk is the village of Şirince (until 1926 Çirkince ), which was completely preserved in the Greek style and was a Greek-speaking stronghold before the Greco-Turkish War .

Twin cities

literature

Stephan WE Blum, Frank Schweizer and Rustem Aslan: Aerial photos of ancient landscapes and sites in Turkey. With aerial pictures by Hakan Öge, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2006, 144 pages with 97 color illustrations, ISBN 3-8053-3653-5 (pages 37-43)