Güllübahçe Turun

Our next sightseeing stop was the ruins of the ancient Ionian city of Priene. I don’t recall ever visiting these ruins, located in Söke … more specifically, in Güllübahçe. Thus, I was especially glad we had the time to check them out today.

The original city of Priene was built around 1000 BCE at the mouth of the Meander River. But that is not the Priene we visited. In fact, the ruins of that city have yet to be unearthed.

Instead, we visited the ruins of New Priene, built on the slopes of the Mycale Escarpmen during the 4th century BCE. Construction of the city was begun by the Persians. But then the Macedonians took the region from them and Alexander the Great assumed responsibility for the development of the city. He and Mausolus intended for Priene to be a model city, with Alexander funding the construction of the Temple of Athena, which he dedicated to the goddess in 323 BCE.

Archaeologists agree that what has survived the ravages of time is an example of an entire Ancient Greek City. Though none of the wood remains, the marble used in the building of Priene still stands all over the site. The city was built on the Aegean Coast as a deep-water port, but silt carried by the Meander River has long since filled the bay, leaving the ruins of Priene far inland.

On arrival at Priene, Hakan and Serenay headed up to the top of the escarpment since they had already been to the ruins this year … MüzeKart allows one free entry per site, per year. The rest of us showed our cards and entered the ruins. From there, we all went our separate ways … different things catching our eye as we explored the agora, the sanctuaries, the bouleuterion (senate), the Temple of Athena, the baths, the theater, and more.

The ancient city of Miletus would have been a nice addition to the day, but we had somewhere else to visit this time, so those ruins will just have to wait until another year.Read more