Nysa ad Maeandrum

Nysa’s urban planning is harmonious with its topography. In this respect, this paper aims to evaluate the relationship
of the city’s urban planning with its environment using the buildings and street system unearthed during archaeological
excavations.
Archaeological excavations have revealed significant information about the urban planning and development of the
ancient city of Nysa, located in the Sultanhisar district of Aydın province. The city’s first detailed topographical plan
was prepared in 1907 and 1909 by W. von Diest. The orthogonal street system was identified during the excavations
in 1990-2010, directed by V. İdil. New excavations led by the Aydın Museum Directorship under the scientific advice
of S. H. Öztaner resulted in new information on Nysa’s street system and urban planning.
Nysa was founded in the Hellenistic period and lies to the north of Maiandros / Büyük Menderes river, on the fertile
basin created by the river, on the southern slope of the Mesogis/Cevizli mountain. The city is situated on the “Eastern
Road” that was extensively used during the Roman Empire period and spans from the Asian provincial capital
Ephesos/Selçuk and continues to Apameia/Dinar, serving as the main transportation and commercial route between
the Western Anatolian coastline and its hinterland.
Excavated buildings mainly date to the Roman, late Roman and Byzantine periods. The Hellenistic period buildings
that date to the foundation of the city lie beneath the Roman and Byzantine period buildings. Trained in Nysa, Strabo
(64-21 BC), the geographer from Amaseia/Amasya, defined the city in his Geographia as a double city on the slope
of Mesogis divided by a gorge created by torrential stream. Among the buildings that Strabo mentions are a bridge,
a gymnasium, a theatre and a stadion on the west side as well as an agora and a gerontikon on the east side, which
should date to the Late Hellenistic – Early Roman Period.
Undoubtedly, the most remarkable buildings that reflect the architectural and engineering character of the Roman
period, and which are built in harmony with the topography, are the stadion, a tunnel and three bridges that connect
the two sides of the city. Two of these bridges are built on the northern and southern sides of the stadion while the
other is situated on the northern end of the tunnel located southeast of the theatre.
Insula dimensions in Nysa were identified by measuring the distances between the excavated streets. They reveal
that all buildings in this topographically challenging city were constructed on rectangular insulae measuring 58,80
m x 116,80 m, i.e. 200x400 Roman feet. The short sides of the insulae are formed by north-south aligned streets
while the long sides are formed by east-west aligned streets. The east-west aligned colonnaded main street, which
connects the two sides of the city through a bridge, has a monumental and ceremonial character.

The preference for certain marble varieties played an important role in the monumental architecture of the ancient cities. in this paper, different marble sorts used in some architectural structures, such as the Gerontikon and the theatre at nysa on the maeander as well as some other buildings at teos in ionia have been discussed. the local marble in nysa appears to have been used particularly in the 1st century Bc, whereas in the 2nd century ad, marble seems to have been imported from the nearby quarries of the region. in teos, most of the marbles used in the buildings were quarried locally, such as marble luculleum (africano) and bi- gio (bigio antico and bigio morato), and recently their quarry was epigraphically attested and localized. on the other hand, thanks to archaeometric analyses, the origin of some of the marbles varieties used in the buildings at teos was determined to be from near- by quarries, whereas the white marble of the late archaic ionic temple at the site did not coincide with any known quarries on the ionian mainland.

Çalışma, Nysa ad Maeandrum kenti Çarşı Bazilikası'nda bulunmuş olan Hellenistik ve Roma Dönemi seramiklerini kapsar. Bazilika, MS 2. yüzyılın ikinci yarısı ya da 3. çeyreğine inşa edilmiş ve tarihi bilinmeyen bir depremle yıkılmıştır. Yapı dolgusunda üç buluntu grubu vardır. Bunlardan ilki yapı iç dolgusudur; Hellenistik, Roma ve Bizans Dönemi seramikleri tamamen karışık durumda ele geçmiş-tir. İkinci grup, yapının kuzey kısmının ortasında yığılı halde bulunan kemer bloklarının altlarında bulunmuştur. Bu grup çok az sayıda seramikten oluşur, bunlardan üç seramik parçası tarihlenebil-miştir. MS 5. yüzyıl ya da 6. yüzyılın ilk yarısına ve erken 7. yüzyıla ait olmalıdırlar. Son seramik grubu Bazilika'nın kuzeyinde, orta kısımda açılan deneme sondajında bulunan seramiklerdir. Bu sondajdan gelen seramikler MÖ 3. yüzyıl sonları ile MS yaklaşık geç 2. yüzyıl aralığına tarihlenebilir. Yapının yıkım tarihi için, kuzey tribunal kısmında bulunan kemer bloklarının altlarından ele geçen seramiklere dayanarak bir tarih önerilebilmektedir. En geç parça MS erken 7. yüzyıla, diğer parçalar MS 5./erken 6. yüzyıl'a aittir. Yapının, MS 447, 494 ya da erken 7. yüzyılda gerçekleşmiş olan dep-remlerden biriyle yıkıldığı söylenebilir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Nysa ad Maeandrum, Çarşı Bazilikası, Hellenistik seramik, Roma seramiği, Geç Antik seramik. Abstract The study comprises the Hellenistic and Roman pottery of the Market Basilica of Nysa ad Mae-andrum. The Basilica constructed in 2nd half or 3rd quarter of 2nd century AD and consequently destructed by an unspecified earthquake. There are three find groups in building's filling. First of all is found in the inside filling of building; the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine pottery were in completely mixed situation. Second group was filled under the vault blocks which stacked in the middle of the North section of building. There is a few amount of pottery, three sherds are datable and they can be dated to 5th century AD or first half of 6th century and the early 7th century. Last group is the pottery of trench which excavated in the middle of North tribunal section of Basilica. The pottery which came from this trench can be dated between the end of 3rd century BC and about late second century AD. A date can be presented by basing on the pottery found under the vault blocks of the North section of building for final destruction. The last sherd is belong to early 7th, other sherds are belong to 5th century AD/early 6th century. It can be said that the building should be destructed by the earthquakes which took place in 447 AD, 494 AD or early 7th century AD.

The Carian city of Aphrodisias is famous for its local marble sculpture tradition and is sur-rounded by marble quarries of both ‘local’ as well as interregional significance (e.g. Göktepe). The studies of D. Attanasio, M. Bruno und B. Yavuz showed that the quarries of Göktepe were the main marble supplier for Aphrodisian sculptors those statuary was exported to Rome and North Africa. L. Long recently studied the local marble quarries surrounding the city and argued that local resources were barely enough to supply the demand for public architecture in the city itself. Therefore the export of Aphrodisian marble for building purposes seems rather improbable.
This poster is focused on the scaenae frons of the theatre at Nysa ad Maeandrum (Caria) and presents new results of provenance determination of the marble used for this column architecture. They indicate that the reconstruction of the scaenae in the late 2nd Century AD was done using marble from Aphrodisias for the entablature and from Denizli for the columns shafts.
After a brief presentation of the architecture of the theatre – that M. Kadioglu reconstructed in a 2006 published monograph – the paper concentrate on the building phases of the monument and on the material used for its construction. The interesting thing about the entablature of the 1st storey is, that not all architectural items were carved of single blocks and that some of them were hollowed out. This indicated that the supplies of Aphrodisian marble used for the theatre of Nysa were scarce and fits with the observations made by L. Long regarding the Aphrodisian quarries. They show at the same time that Aphrodisian marble – thought a limited resource – war exported for building purposes on regional level in the 2nd Century AD.

It is usually thought so far that Iulius Iulianus demarcated the frontiers as procurator agens
vice praesidis between two willages in Phrygian Pınarbaşı, is the governor of joint province of
Phrygia-Caria under Valerianus-Gallienus. On the other hand it is accepted for a long time, the
first governor of new province separated from old senatorial province Asia and established in the
middle of the third century, is praeses-legatus Augusti propraetore Quintus Fabius Clodius Agrippianus
Celsinus (late 249-early 250). Among the governors of Phrygia-Caria there is no any equestrian
procurator except Iulius Iulianus. The same is also true for the province Asia except very few
extraordinary examples. In the Pınarbaşı inscription, Iulius Iulianus is seen as διέποντος κὲ τὰ τῆς
ἡγειμονίας μέρη Φρυγίας τε κὲ Καρίας. The same statement also seen in Lydian Ağabeyköy inscription
should be dated to the Philippus Arabs as διέποντ<ο>ς Ἀἰλίου Ἀγλάου τοῦ κρατίστου καὶ
τῆς ἀνθυπατείας μέρη. It is defended by the author that these two inscriptions must be thought
synchronously. μέρη indicates the division of Asia and as transitional governors equestrian procuratores
had the accession in both provinces as procurator agens vice proconsulis and procurator agens
vice praesidis. So Iulius Iulianus should be the first governor of Phrygia-Caria. After him praesides –
legati Augusti propraetore administered the joint province of Phrygia-Caria. A certain Iulius Iulianus
is known also from Nysa ad Maeandrum. This person may be the same with the governor of
Phrygia-Caria. Concerning Clodius Celsinus some inscriptions captured either from Phrygia or
from Caria by this time. A new Clodius Celsinus inscription from Nysa is being introduced by the
author and it is known from this inscription that Nysa is kept in the new joint province of
Phrygia-Caria, so Nysa was a Carian city in the 3rd century.

http://www.philiajournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=148&lang=en

Abstract: This article presents an inscribed block which was unearthed during the excavations at Nysa ad Maeandrum in 2014. It bears a honorary decree of the demos and the council of Nysa for the prominent citizen M. Aur. Mousaōn. Mousaōn was appointed to offices such as strategia, agoranomia, eirenarchia, paidonomia, argyrotamia and dekaproteia. He was definitely a wealthy member of the civic elite and so was expected to give some benefactions during the fulfilment of these offices.

http://www.philiajournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=149&lang=en

Abstract: M. Aur. Eutychiōn from Nysa ad Maeandrum was honoured by both the crowned athletes and the Olympic association. In the course of his successful career with over fifty victories in sacred games Eutychiōn gained the citizenships of Ephesus, Sparta, Elis and other cities. Although he received honorary titles like paradoxos and pleistonikes, he seems not to have completed the periodos. His victories are listed in chronological order. As a boxer and pancratist he won many sacred games not only in Asia Minor but also in Greece and in Italy. Eutychiōn was active from the 230s to the 250s.
Keywords: Nysa; M. Aur. Eutychiōn; Honorary decree; Boxer; pancratist; Sacred games.

Le bâtiment sujet de cet article se trouve a Nysa du Meandre, actuellement aux frontieres de Sultanhisar/Aydin, et se situe au Sud-Est du theâtre vers le bouleuterion (Gerontikon) et l’agora (Fig. 1). C’est en 1994, lors de l’elargissement de la route moderne conduisant au village de Kavakli, que le bâtiment a ete decouvert. Ont ete alors mis au jour un chapiteau figure ainsi que des elements architecturaux supposes appartenir a une basilique civile. Fig. 1 Plan de Nysa du Meandre (2014) Fig...

Phrygia Pinarbasi’nda iki koy arasindaki sinirlari procurator agens vice praesidis olarak belirleyen Iulius Iulianus’un birlesik eyalet Phrygia-Caria’nin Valerianus-Gallienus Donemi valisi oldugu genel olarak dusunulegelmistir.  Ote yandan da praeses-legatus Augusti propraetore Quintus Fabius Clodius Agrippianus Celsinus’un (gec 249-erken 250)  eski bir senato eyaleti olan Asia’dan ayrilan ve ucuncu yuzyilin ortasinda kurulan yeni eyaletin ilk valisi oldugu uzun suredir kabul goren bir gorustur. Phrygia-Caria valileri arasinda Iulius Iulianus haricinde atli sinifindan bir procurator bulunmamaktadir. Ayni durum birkac sira disi durum haricinde Asia Eyaleti icin de gecerlidir. Pinarbasi yazitinda Iulius Iulianus διέ π οντος κὲ τὰ τῆς ἡγeιμονίας μέρη Φρυγίας τe κὲ Καρίας olarak ge c mektedir. Ayn i ifade Philippus Arabs D o nemi ’ ne tarihlenen Lydia A g abeyk o y yaz i t i nda da διέ π οντ ς Ἀἰλίου Ἀγλάου τοῦ κρατίστου καὶ τῆς ἀνθυ π ατeίας μέρη s eklinde g o r u nmektedir. Yazar tara...