Erkmen Senan's Writings: Smyrna Izmir Agora, Prayer Ground

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NOTE: The text and pictures are copied verbatim from the blog page of Ahmet Erkmen Senan, a painter, teacher, archaeology lover, blogger, traveler, resident of Karşıyaka, academician, revolutionary, activist, actor, joker, comrade, friend, relative, lover, sibling, child… who passed away on March 27, 2013 .

Our goal in directly copying the article is to respect Erkmen Senan's work and to ensure that his excellent content reaches a wider audience. Since we were unable to find anyone to obtain permission for the author's content, we felt it our duty to post this announcement here. You can find related images on the site below.

Source: https://erkmensenan.blogspot.com/

Located in the Namazgah district of Izmir, the agora dates from the Roman period (2nd century AD) and was built on three levels near the city center according to the Hippodamos/Izgara city plan. The Izmir agora is one of the largest and best-preserved of the Ionian agoras.

After Palaia Smyrna in Bayraklı Tepekule, the Second Smyrna was founded by Macedonian Alexander the Great in Pagos/Kadifekale in 333 BC.

A large portion of the site was unearthed during the initial excavations conducted between 1932 and 1941 by Rudolf Naumann, Prof. F. Miltner, and Selahattin Kantar, director of the İzmir Ephesus Museum. The İzmir agora is a three-story compound structure, rectangular in shape, built on columns and arches around a large central courtyard (120 x 180 m), and featuring a staircase in front.

The final excavations in the agora began on August 5, 1996.

The demolition of the enclosing wall of the National Pact Primary School, which burned down in the 1980s and was incorporated into the agora, expanded the agora's area to 16,590 square meters. Sponsored by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, the ongoing agora work involves excavation, restoration, archaeological cleaning, and landscaping in five locations: the agora square, the northern gate below the basilica, the western structure (stoa), and the ancient bazaar.

The relief of the goddess Vesta found at the North Gate was understood to be a continuation of the reliefs from the Zeus altar unearthed during the earlier excavations. In addition to statues of the gods Hermes, Dionysus, Eros, and Heracles, numerous male, female, and animal statues, busts, reliefs, figurines, and other artifacts made of marble, stone, bone, glass, metal, and terracotta, along with architectural elements such as architraves and lintels, were also unearthed.

Izmir is a state agora. - The Agora, which is 165 meters wide and 200 meters long, has covered, columned, multi-purpose stoas on three sides and a basilica to the north.

In a relief from the Zeus Altar built in the Izmir Agora around 150 AD, Demeter and Poseidon are placed side by side in the center of a scene of gods, in accordance with the Luvi-Hittite tradition of ancient Anatolian culture (man on the right, woman on the left). According to Prof. Dr. Ekrem Akurgala, when the sculptor from Smyrna placed Poseidon, god of the seas, next to Demeter, god of earth, land, and fertility, in the Agora, they meant to say, "We are rulers of both the land and the sea." Today, these magnificent and meaningful sculptures are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum. The Agora and Pagos/Kadifekalesi/Kaydefakalası, which stands higher up. The ancient theater, surrounded by shantytowns on the slope in front of it and waiting to be rebuilt. The Golden Road/Roman Road in Eşrefpaşa. Four important archaeological architectural elements that should be brought to the city. It is already time to connect this historical axis with a competent project and introduce it to Izmir Archaeology.

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