Port city of Iasos awaits visitors

MUĞLA

The ancient city of Iasos, which is a port city established by the people of Argos in Milas district of the western province of Muğla, impresses with its magnificence on a peninsula. Excavations continue in the ancient city in Kıyıkışlacık neighborhood.

The city is almost an open-air museum with big walls, aqueducts, agora, theater, tombstones, Roman tombs and fishermen’s market. As a result of archaeological excavations in Iasos, the oldest settlement in the city dated back to the end of 3,000 B.C.

The head of Iasos excavations, Professor Asuman Baldıran, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that it is possible to see traces from the Neolithic, Archaic, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Young Byzantine, Medieval, Menteşe Dynasty, Seljuk and Ottoman periods in the city.

Explaining that there are five marble quarries determined to be used in antiquity in Iasos, Baldıran said that the marbles were extracted by a hydraulic system during the imperial period.

Stating that the marble quarries with red, pink and white veins are usually located at the water’s edges, Baldıran said, “It is known that marbles were cut by the hydraulic system in the quarries operating during the imperial period. Unique red marbles that were removed in Iasos only and determined to have been cut with a hydraulic system in the past were also used as panels on the walls in Hagia Sophia.”

She stated that they determined that the red marble in Iasos was also used in the tomb of the Italian poet Dante in Ravenna and in some administrative structures in Greece and Israel.

Noting that the marbles extracted in Iasos were exported to many countries by sea, Baldiran said, “Iasos is an important city. It is very important especially commercially and we know that marbles extracted from here were sent to many countries. Among these are especially Italy, Africa, Israel and Istanbul in Turkey.”

Baldıran also added that the Iasos marble was also used in many churches and religious centers.