Smyrna Temple of Athena — Bayraklı (Old Smyrna)
Bayraklı Athena Tapınağı · Old Smyrna Athena · Bayraklı Athena
Geometric to Archaic (Old Smyrna)·Ionian Greek (Aiolian foundation)·🇹🇷 Izmir Province, Bayraklı, Old Smyrna Tepekule, Izmir Bay north, Turkey
About
About Smyrna Temple of Athena — Bayraklı (Old Smyrna)
Old Smyrna (Bayraklı Tepekule) on small hill 4 km north of modern Izmir, 38.462,27.168, Homer's birthplace claim, Ioian city with 7th-century BCE hekatompedon Temple of Athena (630 BCE, 33×14 m, earliest monumental Greek temple in Ionia with Aeolic capitals), preceding Ephesus Artemision. Mudbrick city walls 8th BCE oldest in Greece, re-built after Alyattes destruction 600 BCE. British Ekrem Akurgal excavations 1948–. Unlike Kadifekale (Alexander's new Smyrna), Bayraklı shows Old Smyrna's 2-ha walled early Iron Age harbour town stratigraphy with Protogeometric graves, Lydian siege destruction layer. UNESCO Tentative Izmir Historical Port City 2020. Izmir Bay siltation model.
Why it mattersEarliest monumental Greek temple and oldest city walls, origin point for Ionia and Homeric epic topography.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Aeolic capital at Ionian Smyrna
- 02Alyattes destruction identification
Theories
- 01Old vs New Smyrna as synoecism case study
- 02Homer Meles river Smyrna geography
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.700 BCE city walls; Athena temple 630 BCE hekatompedon
- Period
- Geometric to Archaic (Old Smyrna)
- Culture
- Ionian Greek (Aiolian foundation)
- Builders
- Smyrnaian Ionians and Lydian destruction/rebuild
- Purpose
- Old Smyrna polias Athena on Izmir Bay harbour controlling Hermos road before Lysimachus moved city to Kadifekale
- Abandoned
- c.600 BCE Alyattes destruction; resettled Alexander 300 BCE at Kadifekale
- Rediscovered
- 1948 Akurgal British-Izmir excavations
- Excavation
- Excavated
800 BCE
City wall mudbrick oldest Greek
630 BCE
Athena hekatompedon
600 BCE
Lydian Alyattes destruction
On the ground
Structures & features
38.4620° N · 27.1680° E · 18 m · 2 mapped features
- Bayraklı — Athena Temple Archaic (Hekatompedon)archaic temple7th-century BCE hekatompedon Athena temple (630 BCE, 33×14 m) with Aeolic capitals, earliest Greek temple in Ionia38.4630° N · 27.1690° E
- Bayraklı — Greek City Wall 8th BCE and Graveyardcity wallOldest Greek fortification (8th BCE mudbrick) and Protogeometric cemetery beneath temple terrace38.4610° N · 27.1670° E
Gallery