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ASPENDUS (mod. Balkis Kale , or, more...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 767 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ASPENDUS (mod. Balkis Kale , or, more anciently in the native See also:language, ESTVEDYS (whence the See also:adjective Estvedijys on coins)  , an See also:ancient See also:city of See also:Pamphylia, very strongly situated on an isolated See also:hill on the right See also:bank of the See also:Eurymedon at the point where. the See also:river issues from the See also:Taurus . The See also:sea is now about 7 M. distant, and the river is navigable only for about 2 M. from the mouth; but in the See also:time of See also:Thucydides See also:ships could See also:anchor off See also:Aspendus . Really of pre-Hellenic date, the See also:place claimed to be an Argive See also:colony . It derived See also:wealth from See also:great salines and from a See also:trade in oil and See also:wool, to which the wide range of its admirable coinage bears See also:witness from the 5th See also:century B.C. onwards . There See also:Alcibiades met the See also:satrap See also:Tissaphernes in 411 B.C., and thence succeeded in getting the Phoenician See also:fleet, intended to co-operate with See also:Sparta, sent back See also:home . The Athenian, See also:Thrasybulus, after obtaining contributions from Aspendus in 389, was murdered by the inhabitants . The city bought off See also:Alexander in 333, but, not keeping faith, was forcibly occupied by the conqueror . In due course it passed from Pergamene to See also:Roman dominion, and according to See also:Cicero, was plundered of many See also:artistic treasures by See also:Verres . It was ranked by See also:Philostratus the third city of Pamphylia, and in See also:Byzantine times seems to have been known as Primopolis, under which name its See also:bishop signed at See also:Ephesus in A.D . 431 . In See also:medieval times it was evidently still a strong place, but it has now sunk, in the See also:general decay of Pamphylia, to a wretched See also:hamlet . . The ruins still extant are very remarkable, and, with the See also:noble Roman See also:theatre, the finest in the See also:world, have earned for the place (as is the See also:case with certain other great monuments) a legendary connexion with See also:Solomon's Sheban See also:queen .

On the See also:

summit of the hillock, surrounded by a See also:wall with three See also:gates, See also:lie the remains of the city . The public buildings See also:round the See also:forum can all be traced, and parts of them are See also:standing to a considerable height . They consist of a See also:fine nympheum on the See also:north with a covered theatre behind it, covered See also:market halls on the See also:west, and a See also:peristyle See also:hall and a See also:basilica on the See also:east . In the See also:plain below are large thermae, and ruins of a splendid See also:aqueduct . But all else seems insignificant beside the huge theatre, See also:half hollowed out of the north-east flank of the hill . This was first published by C . F . M . Texier in 1849, and has now been completely planned, &c., by See also:Count Lanckoronski's expedition in 1884 . It is built of See also:local See also:conglomerate and is in marvellous preservation . Erected to the See also:honour of the emperors See also:Marcus Aurelius and L . Verus by the architect See also:Zeno, for the heirs of a local Roman See also:citizen (as an inscription repeated over both portals attests), its auditorium has a See also:circuit of 313,17 feet .

There are See also:

forty tiers of seating, divided by one diazoma, and crowned by an arched See also:gallery of rather later date, repaired in places with See also:brick . This auditorium held 7500 spectators . The seats are not perfect, but so nearly so as to appear practically intact . The wooden See also:stage has, of course, perished, but all its supporting structures are in place, and the great scena wall stands to its full height, and produces a magnificent impression whether from within or from without . Inwardly it was decorated with two orders of columns one above the other, with See also:rich entablatures, much of which survives . In the tympanum is a See also:relief of Bacchus (wrongly supposed to be of a See also:female, and called the Bal-Kis, i.e . " See also:Honey Girl ") . The position of the See also:sounding See also:board above the stage is apparent . Under the forepart of the auditorium, built out from the hill, are immense vaults . The whole structure was enclosed within one great wall, pierced with numerous windows . This structure was probably put to some ecclesiastical Byzantine use, as certain mutilated heads of See also:saints appear upon it; and later it became a fortress and received certain additions . It is now under the care of the local aghd and not allowed to be plundered for See also:building See also:stone .

See C . Lanckoronski, Villes de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie, i . (1890) . (D . G .

End of Article: ASPENDUS (mod. Balkis Kale , or, more anciently in the native language, ESTVEDYS (whence the adjective Estvedijys on coins)
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