Destination Guides Turkey

Kusadasi

Kusadasi is a resort town in the province of Aydin on the Aegean coast of Turkey, 90 km (56 mi) south of Izmir, and 71 km (44 mi) from the inland provincial capital of Aydin. Kusadasi is also a district centre and neighbour to districts of Germencik, Soke and Selcuk. Kusadasi is near the ancient city of Ephesus and to other places of interest including Miletos, Didim and Pamukkale, and a short distance across from Kusadasi lies the island of Samos.

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Pigeon Island

(Local Name: Guvercin Ada) A little way west of the harbor in Kusadasi a 350m/380yds-long causeway leads to the charming island of Guvercin Ada (Pigeon Island; café-restaurant), with a tower which is all that remains of a 13th century Byzantine castle (which later became a pirates lair). The wall around the island dates only from the early 19th century.

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Pergamum

Pergamum was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakircay), that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Today, the modern city of Bergama is located nearby. The Attalid kingdom was the rump state left after the collapse of the Kingdom of Thrace. The Attalids, the descendants of Attalus, father of Philetaerus who came to power in 281 BC following the collapse of the Kingdom of Thrace, were among the most loyal supporters of Rome in the Hellenistic world. Under Attalus I (241-197 BC), they allied with Rome against Philip V of Macedon, during the first and second Macedonian Wars, and again under Eumenes II (197-158 BC), against Perseus of Macedon, during the Third Macedonian War. For support against the Seleucids, the Attalids were rewarded with all the former Seleucid domains in Asia Minor. The Attalids ruled with intelligence and generosity. Many documents survive showing how the Attalids would support the growth of towns through sending in skilled artisans and by remitting taxes. They allowed the Greek cities in their domains to maintain nominal independence. They sent gifts to Greek cultural sites like Delphi, Delos, and Athens. They defeated the invading Celts. They remodeled the Acropolis of Pergamum after the Acropolis in Athens. When Attalus III (138-133 BC) died without an heir in 133 BC he bequeathed the whole of Pergamon to Rome, in order to prevent a civil war. The first Christian bishop of Pergamon, Antipas, was believed to have been martyred here in 92 AD.

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Acropolis

Pergamon is also known as Bergama (road signs) and old Pergamum. Roman marble stones wound up in lime kilns or were moved to museums, so what remains is a genuine Hellenistic acropolis of buildings before the Romans came, with one major exception. Homer and Herodotus studied and wrote here, and the library was the 2nd largest in the world, next to Alexandrias, with over 200,000 books. When Egypt refused to export more papyrus to old Pergamum, people here invented parchment (Latin Pergamem=From Pergamum), using calfskin. The last King willed the land and library to Rome, and Marc Anthony gave the librarys treasures to Cleopatra for the Library of Alexandria, after Julius Caesar inadvertently burned down the latter. The library at Pergamon is now just a small pile of stones. But the Temple of Trajan and the very steep large theater are striking sights.

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