NORTH FROM ANTALYA

The caravanserai is at the foot of the Çubuk Pass, vvhich at its crest is 925 meters above sea level, at vvhich point vve leave Pamphylia and enter the highlands of Pisidia. Referring to the geographer Artemidorus of Ephesus, \vho vvrote ca. 100 B.C, Strabo describes Pisidia in book XII of his Ceography, vvhere he vvrites about the Pisidians after his account of their neighbors to the north, the Lycaonians:
Contiguous lo ihese are the Pisidians, and in particular the Selgeis, who are ıhe most notable of the Pisidians. Novv the grealest part ol" thenı occupy the sunınıils of the Taurus, but some. situated above Side and Aspendus, Pamphylian cities, occupy hiily places.everyvvhere planted vvith olivc trees; and the region above this (we are now in ıhe mouıitains) is occupied by the Catanneis, whose country borders on that of the Selgeis and the Homonaeis; but the Sagalasseis occupy the region this side the Taurus that faces Milyas. Artemidorus says that ıhe cities of the Pisidians are Selgc, Sagallasus, Petnelissus, Adada, Tymbriada. Cremna, Pityassus, Amblada. Anabura, Sinda, Aarassus, Tarbassus, and Termessos. Of these, some are entirely in the mountains, vvhile others extend cven as far as the foot-hills on either side, to both Pamphylia and Milyas. and border on the Phrygians and the Lydians and the Carians. \vhich are ali peaceable tribes, although they are situated tou'ards the north .. .And the nature of the region is vvonderful, for among the summits of the Taurus there is a country vvhich can supporl tens of ihousands of inhabitanıs and is so fertile ıhaı it is planted vvith the olive in many places, and vvith fine vineyards, and produces abundant pasture for catıle of ali kinds: and above this country, ali round il, lie forests of various kinds of timber.
Just beyond the Çubuk Pass a signposted road on the left leads to the site of ancient Ariassos, a drive of about one kilo-meter. This is the city that Strabo, quoting Artemidorus, calls Aarassus. The site vvas discovered in 1885 by Austrian arehae-ologists, vvbo incorrectly identified it as Cretopolis. The correct identificalion vvas made in 1892 by French epigraphers, vvho deciphered inseriptions on the site and also found coins of Ariassos dating from the Hellenistic period to the mid-third cen-tury A.D. The site vvas surveyed in 1988-89 by a team of British archacologists headcd by Stephcn Mitchell, vvho identified the extant monııments and mapped the site.



Roımın Galemıy al Arias.uı.s
The ancient city vvas built at the bottom and on the terraced orth slope of a steep-sided valley, vvilh the original Hellenistic civic cenler to the southvvest and the later Roman tovvn to the northeast. The most prominent monument is a three-arched monumental Roman gatevvay at the northcastern end of the val¬ley, an almost perfectly preserved strueture standing to its full height of some 12 meters. The gatevvay is dated to the period A.D. 220-40. The consoles on its facade originally supported honorific statucs. The main street of the Roman tovvn led soııth-vvestvvard to the forum, novv occupied by the ruins of an carly Byzantine basilican ehureh. The basilica, 23.4 meters long and 14.4 meters vvide, comprised a cenlral nave flanked by a pair of aisles, vvith a narthex on the vvest and a semicircular apse vvith a synthronon at the cast—the chamber at the southvvest corner probably being the bapiistery. The street continues beyond the forum to a gymnasium-bath :>mplc.\, dated by inseriptions lo the first half of the third cen-Ury A.D. One of the inseriptions, bearing the date A.D. 214-15,

26
PAMPHYLIA AND PISIDIA I
is from thc base of a statııe of ihe emperor Caracalla (r. 211 -17). At the southvvest end of the valley there are the remains of a Roman nymphaeum.
The buildings of the Hellenistic civic center were grouped around a small paved agora at the southvveslern end of the valley. The remains of the bouleuterion are on the north side, a rectangu-lar structure measuring some 18 by 14 melers. w idi ten rpws of seats arrayed around a small orehestra. Opposite the bouleuterion are the ruins of a small prostyle temple, and to the southvvest there is a small building that may havc becn the prytaneion, or senate house.
There are extensive burial grounds outside the city to the east, south, and southvvest. The monuments inelude lidded cists, sar-cophagi, and at least t\venty-five mausolea, many of them vvell preserved.
We novv return to the main highvvay and continue driving north. After about fi ve kilometers vve pass the village of Boğazköy. East of the village there are the ruins of a small ancient city on a hillside. An inseription has identified this as Panemoteichos, a place not mentioned by Strabo among the cities of Pisidia. The earliesl evidence of its existence comes from coins minted during the third century A.D. beginning vvith those of Caracalla and his mother Julia Domna, vvidovv of Septimius Severus. Ali that is lef t of the ancient city are some scattered architectural fragments, many of them built into the village houses. One of them, an inseribed stele, has becn set up in the center of the village; the inseription rceords the dedica-lion of a statue of Septimius Severus (r. 193-211) erceted by the council and people of Panemoteichos.
About a kilometer farther along vve turn left on the road to Korkuteli, Highvvay 635, vvhich four kilometers from the junc-tion passes the village of Kızılkaya. About five kilometers beyond Kızılkaya vve turn off to the right on a road signposted for Ürkütül, a drive of some three kilometers. This brings us

NORTH FROM ANTALYA 27
to the site of an ancient city on and around a mound knovvn as Şerefeönü Höyük. The mound is covered vvith pottery shards and roughly carved stone fragments, vvhile numerous ancient architectural fragments are scattered in the surrounding fields. George Bean identified this as Comama, vvhich Augustus (r. 27 B.C.-A.D. 14) founded as a base for the Roman army ca. 25 B.c.
Stephen Mitchell has recently identified the site of ancient Cretopoiis at the village of Yüreğil, six kilometers duc north of Şerefeönü Höyük. The earliest mention of the city is by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus in his account of the cam-paign of Antigonus against Alcetas in 319 B.c. Diodorus vvrites that Antigonus marehed his forces south from Cappadocia to Pisidia as far as "the city of the Cretans," vvherc he defeated Alcetas. Alcetas then retreated to Termessos, vvhere he subse-quently commıtted suicide. The name Cretopoiis is believed to stem from the fact that Alexander settled some Crctan veterans of his army there after his campaign in Pisidia. Ali that remains of the ancient city are some architectural fragments, most of them built into the local houses, as vvell as numerous shards from the Roman period.
Returning to Highvvay 650, vve continue driving northvvard, passing on our left the shallovv lake knovvn as Kestel Gölü. At the point vvhere the highvvay comes eloseşt to the lake, vve turn right on a road that in a kilometer or so takes us to the Susuz Han, a Seljuk caravanserai built late in the reign of Gıyasettin Keyhüsrev II around 1246. The building, vvhich is very vvell preserved, is square in plan, measuring 26.5 meters on a side.The elaboratcly carved entryvvay Icads to the central aisle, from vvhich five trans-verse aisles lead off on either side, ali of them covered vvith ogi ve vaults, vvith a dome on a drum over thc central erossing.
We return to the highvvay önce again and continue driving north for another nine kilometers or so. We then turn right on a road signposted for the tovvn of Bucak, a drive of three kilometers.

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29

There is nothing of interest in the tovvn itself, but it is a base for visiting t\vo ancient Pisidian sites.
The first of these is near the village of Çamlık, a drive of about tvvelve kilometers east-northeast of Bucak. This is the site of ancient Cremna, fırst investigated in the 1880s by the Austrian Count von Lanckoronski. Nothing further vvas done until the I970s, vvhen it vvas excavated by archaeologists from istanbul University under Jale İnan; in more recent years a nevv study has been made by a British team directed by Stephen Mitchell. A large collection of Cremna's coins from the first century B.c. are novv exhibited in the Burdur Archaeological Museum.
Cremna's lofty site vvas thought to make it impregnable, though it surrendered to Alexander during his Pisidian campaign. Then in 25 B.c. it fell to King Amyntas, a client of the Romans, vvho at that time ruled much of vvest-central Asia Minör. Strabo describes the fail of Cremna and the subsequent fate of Amyntas in book XII of his Geography, vvhere he gives a vivid picture of vvarfare in the mountains of Pisidia in his ovvn time:
Novv Amyntas capturecl Cremna, and, passing inlo the country of the Honıonadeis, vvho vvere considered too strong to capture, and having novv established himsclf as master of most of these places, having cven slain their tyrant, vvas caught by treachery through the artifice of the tyrant's vvife. And he vvas pul to death by those peoplc, but Cyrinius |Sulpicius Quirinus, governor of Syria| overthrevv the inhabitants by starving them, and captured alive four thousand men and settled them in the neighbour-ing cities, leaving the country dcstitute of ali its men vvho vvere in the prime of life. İn the midst of the heights of the Taurus, vvhich are very stcep and for the most part impassable, there is a hollovv and fertile plain vvhich is divided into several valleys. But though the people tilled this plain, they lived on the overhanging brovvs of the mountains or in caves. They vvere armcd for the most part and vvere vvont to overrun the country of others, having mountains that served as vvalls about their country.
Aftcr the death of Amyntas his kingdom vvas annexed by Rome, the vvestern part becoming the province of Galatia.

30

PAMPHYLIA AND PISIDIA I

Augustus established a Roman colony in Cremna and rebuilt the city's defense \valls, vvhîch three centuries later vvere restored by the emperor Probus (r. 276-82). The Iatter restoration vvas necessitated by the great damage that the \valls had suffered (ca. 270) when Cremna vvas seized by a Pisidian brigand chieftain named Lydius, vvho held out against the Romans for some time before they vvere able to recapture the city.
The ancient city is on a spectacular hilltop site high above the Aksu Çayı, the river Cestrus of antiquity. in her book Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minör Barbara Levick describes the site \vith the follovving quote from Count von Lanckoronski:
Cremna stoocl on a plaîeau whiclı Count Lanckoronski vvell described as having the shape of the head and shoulders of a flying eagle, \vith the beak tovvards t hu east. Only on the castern side. aeross the neck of the eagle, is the site easy of access. Here the ground falls away in a gentle slope. Along the w hole length of the southem side run narrovv ledges baeked by steep cliffs, and it is on one of these that the south gate is plaeed. An cnemy \vho tried to enter by this gate vvould be at the merey of the defenders above on his left. The plateau is cut ofl on the approachable vvestern side by a line of fortifications running right aeross its vvidth. Outside this wall is the ceme-tery; vvithin a site of about ninety acres.
The hill slopes dovvn precipitously on ali sides except the vvest, vvhere an ancient road leads up to the aeropolis. The sum-mit is a long and narrovv plateau tapering irregularly to an apex on the east, measuring 1,200 meters east-vvest and 200-500 meters north-south. The ancient defense vvall that proteeted the aeropolis on its vvestern and southern sides survives to a large extent, along vvith tvvo of its gatevvays. The necropolis vvas out¬side the main gate at the vvestern end of the plateau, as evi-denced by the sareophagi lying there. There is also a ruined Byzantine church outside the vvalls at the poinl vvlıere lhe ancient road reaches the summit of the hill.
The civic center of Cremna vvas at the narrovvest part of the aeropolis, approachcd via a stoa some 150 meters in length

32

PAMPHYLIA AND PISIDİA 1

NORTH FROM ANTALYA

33



flanked by t\vin colonnades, a monument dating from the reign ol' Hadrian (r. 117-138). I his Icd lo the main square of ihe Roman tovvn, the Forum Longus,dominated on its northern side by a basilica. At the northvvest corner of the forum we see the splcndid remains of a great marble stairvvay that led to a propy-lon and nymphaeum. At the foot of the stairvvay there is a dam-aged but stili beautiful relief from an exedra, its central figüre a goddess identified as Artemis. South of the forum there are the remains of a handsome library of \vhich one vvall has survived to almost its full height along vvith tvvo arches. East of the forum is the theater, vvhich faces northvvest över a stoa. At its eastern end this stoa leads to a gymnasium, and just beyond that is a pi-shaped Doric stoa knovvn as the Forum Marcellum, a structure originally erected in the Hellenistic period and rebuilt in the imperial Roman era. Other monuments include four small tem-ples and a second Byzantine church, ali of them arraycd along the northern edgc of the plateau.
The second site is t\venty-five kilometers southeast of Bucak on Highvvay 15-26. At the road's end vve come to Kocaaliler, formerly knovvn as Melli, from vvhere a \valk of about a kilo-meter to the southeast brings us to an ancient site that George Bean identified as ancient Milyas. Bean based his identificalion partly on the supposition that Melli, the former name of the nearby tovvn vvas a form of Milyas; but some authorities are not convinced by this. Bean also based his identification on a refer-ence by Strabo in book XII of his Geography. in describing Phaselis, Strabo vvrites: "Above it lies Solyma, a mountain, and alsoTermessos, a Pisidian city situated ncar the defıles, through vvhich there is a pass över the mountains to Milyas. Alexander destroycd Milyas for the reason that he vvished to öpen the defıles." The site here is near one of the passes that leads to Termessos, but ııeithcr does this fact convince many authorities, and its identification as Milyas remains in doubt.

in any event, the ancient city is situated on the top of a hill overlooking one of the tributaries of the river Cestrus. On the summit vve see the remains of a polygonal vvall dating from the early Hellenistic period. Near the summit, on the northeast slope of the hill, vve see the ruins of the Hellenistic theater, of vvhich only ten or so tiers of seats remain of the cavea, as vvell as part of its stage building. Farther dovvn the slope there are the scat-tered masonry blocks of a number of unidentified buildings.The main necropolis vvas on the northvvest slope of the hill, vvhere there are a number of sarcophagi and other funerary monuments. There is also a relief carved on a rocky hillside visible from the path that leads from the tovvn to the archaeological site.
We novv make our vvay back to the main highvvay via Bucak and continue driving north. After about a kilomcter vve turn off to the left on a road that soon brings us to the İncir Hanı, a Seljuk caravanserai built in 1239 by Gıyasettin Keyhüsrev II.
The building is partly in ruins but nonetheless impressive, particularly its ornately carved entryvvay, vvhose fluted outer arch is flanked by the small figures in lovv relief of tvvo con-fronted lions. The gatevvay leads to the outer courtyard, a square area measuring 36 meters on a side. A second gatevvay leads to the caravanserai proper, 28 meters vvide and 40 meters long, comprising a central aisle flanked by seven pairs of transverse corridors, ali of them of them covered vvith ogive vaults, vvith a dome raised on a drum över the central crossing to provide light and ventilation.