Alabanda, Turkey

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The remains of the Carian city of (Ancient Greek: Αλαβάνδα) or Antiochia of the Chrysaorians lie south of Aydm, in the village of Araphisar. Take Highway 6, running between Aydm and Muğla, to Çine. The ruins are seven kilometers west of Çine. This location puts Alabanda in ancient Caria proper, south of the Meander River, west of Marsias, or the Turkish Çine Çayı River. The city was situated on a broad plain at the base of two hills to the south. This plain made up the territory of Alabanda, which was controlled from the acropolis on the eastern hill.

Ancient Greek Theater at Alabanda

The city is located in the saddle between two heights. The area is noted for its dark marble and for gemstones that resembled garnets. Stephanus of Byzantium claims that there were two cities named Alabanda (Alabandeus) in Caria, but no other ancient source corroborates this.

History
Herodotus mentions Car, brother of Lydus and Mysus; the three brothers were believed to have been the ancestral heroes and eponyms of the Carians, the Lydians and the Mysians respectively. This Car was credited by Pliny the Elder with inventing the auspicia.

Car was said to have founded the city Alabanda, which he named after Alabandus, his son by Callirhoe (the daughter of the river god Maeander). In turn, Alabandus's name is said to have been chosen in commemoration of his Car's victory in a horse fight— according to the scholar Stephanus of Byzantium, "Alabandos" was the Carian word for "winner in a horse fight". Another son of Car, Idrieus, had the city Idrias named after himself

On one occasion, Herodotus mentions Alabanda being located in Phrygia, instead of in Caria, but in fact the same city were meant. Amyntas II, son of the Achaemenid Persian official Bubares, is known to have been given the rule over the city by king Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BC).

Later mention is made at the end of the third century when a traveller to Delphi praised the government and stability of Ala- banda. Shortly afterwards the city and territory were declared free and inviolable. The Seleucid Kings might ordinarily have enjoyed a great sense of security from this honor. The following year, however, King Philip of Macedon sacked the city in his conquest of Caria, ignoring the Delphian declaration of Alabanda's status  in 201 BC.,

During the rule of the Seleucids, the city's name was changed to Antiocheia. It was again changed to Alabanda with the destruction of Seleucid power in 190 B.C., when Lycia and Caria south of the Meander were given to Rhodes. Alabanda acted as a free city during this period, and is known to have taken sides with Mylasa against Rhodes in 167. And during the Roman period, Alabanda carried on just as freely, sustaining good relations with the Empire. The city was immune from taxation with the status of «convectus», a special rank from the provincial governor. The city was later to become a bishopric.

Early colonization was under control of the Seleucids which resulted in a predominantly Greek population. 

The Romans occupied the city shortly thereafter.

The Greek bouleuterion in the ruins of the city of Alabanda, in Turkey.

According to Cicero in Greece they worshiped a number of deified human beings, at Alabanda there was Alabandus.

In 40 BC, the rebel Quintus Labienus at the head of a Parthian army took the city. After Labienus's garrison was slaughtered by the city's inhabitants, the Parthian army stripped the city of its treasures. Under the Roman Empire, the city became a conventus (Pliny, V, xxix, 105) and Strabo reports on its reputation for high-living and decadence. The city minted its own coins down to the mid-third century. During the Byzantine Empire, the city was a created a bishopric.

Famous residents included the orators Menecles and Hierocles, who were brothers.

The ruins of Alabanda are 8 km west of Çine and consist of the remains of a theatre and a number of other buildings, but excavations have yielded very few inscriptions.

The names of some bishops of Alabanda are known because of their participation in church councils. Thus Theodoret was at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Constantine at the Trullan Council in 692, another Constantine at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and John at the Photian Council of Constantinople (879). The names of two non-orthodox bishops of the see are also known: Zeuxis, who was deposed for Monophysitism in 518, and Julian, who was bishop from around 558 to around 568 and was a Jacobite. No longer a residential diocese, Alabanda is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see

Description and monuments

An archaelogical mission under the leadership of Hamdi Bey undertook excavations at Alabanda in 1905 - 06.

The Walls

The ancient city's walls enclosed a large area on the plain, at the foot of the two hills, and extended along their crests. Unfortunately, nothing much remains of the city walls in the lower area. Many of the ruins have been plundered or inundated and covered by soil washed down by a flooding stream. Atop the two hills there are several well-preserved portions of the walls where its numerous towers can be recognized. Six or seven gates are indicated by gaps in the wall.

The Council-House

A rectangular building on the plain near the south wall is well-preserved though unexcavated. It is said to have been a council house, and is the most noticeable building on the site.

The Temples

On the southwest hill stand the foundations of a temple of the Doric order. This structure was uncovered by the excavations in 1905. There were eleven unfluted columns on each side and six at each end. 

The ancient Greek Temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus, built in the 3rd century BC, Alabanda

The west end, unlike that of most other temples, was the front of the building. It is presumed, though not certain, that this was a Temple of Artemis. A statuette of Artemis-Hecate was found by the excavators as well as a number of coins with the head of Apollo dating the temple to around 2000 B.C. 

The ruins of the Ionic Temple of Apollo Isotimos in Alabanda, built in the 2nd

The excavations of 1905 also unearthed a Temple of Apollo in the Ionic order. It was the most important building of the ancient city, and was originally thought to have been built by Hermogenes himself, from a text by Vitruvius. The translation has, however, come into doubt. There were thirteen white marble columns on each side and eight at the front and back. Portions of a frieze depicting a battle between Greeks and Amazons were found, and an inscription indicates the dedication of the temple to Apollo Isotemus and the Divine Emperors. Unfortunately, not much remains of the excavated temple but a few blocks of marble.

Theater 

The Hellenistic theate, located on a natural south-facing hillside, in the 4th century AD repairs were made using block rocks from the Temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus, Alabanda, Caria, Turkey

Little remains of the theater which stood at the foot of the southeastern hill. Only the retaining walls can be seen today. From their dimensions, it is estimated that the theater's façade was about ninety meters long. Of the seats and stage nothing remains, and no excavations have been carried out on the building. It is thought to date to pre-Roman times, however.

The Baths

Of the Hellenistic and Roman baths which once stood to the east of the Temple of Apollo, nothing remains but a pile of stones. No excavations have been undertaken.

The Agora 

What was once the Agora lies between the council house and the baths. It covered an area of 72x112 meters, but not much of it can be seen today.

The Necropolis : Outside the walls, to the west, is a necropolis in which hundreds of tombs were found. They are plain granite sarcophagi with worn inscriptions indicating the professions of the deceased.

The ancient Greek Bouleulerion 

The Late Hellenitic Bouleulerion (concil house), the interior of the building has a rectangular plan measuring 36x36 meters, Alabanda, Caria, Turkey