alexander in turkey

[rob]

i am heading off to turkey next year and want to find a few places that alexander would have been too and that are still in some recognisable to him. i have already been to ephesus, bodrum (halicarnassus) but what about didyma and priene? are they worthwhile and are there are other places of interest?
thanks

[marcus]

Hi Rob,I don't know about Didyma and Priene - in fact, my understanding is that there is very little in *any* of these places that remains from Alexander's time, because so much was re-built during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. However, most of the Aegean cities will not have changed significantly.Alexander did go to Ankara, too... but from what I saw of Ankara the modern city bears absolutely *no* relation to what it would have been like in Al's time!What about the various places on the south coast, round to Tarsus and Issus? Many of them haven't been identified, unfortunately, but there might be some stuff to look at there?All the bestMarcus

[maciek]

Hello Rob!I'm going to visit Turkey in three weeks from now (at 10th I have the flight to Antalya). Well There is many places which remind Alexander. I never been in Turkey so I have card blanche and I can choose the best places. Well I have to see Ephesus - but this You already saw. I think another important region (except west coast) is middle south region. I planned the trip starting from Side and through Aspendos, Perge, Termissos, Phaselis. All these places were visited by Alex. With Aspendos even he had some troubles as they betrayed him. Termissos was very interesting described by Arrian. Even now in tourist guides they write that it was one of only few cities which Alex couldn't take. Well the truth is that he didn't want to spend too much time there because the speed of the conquest was then most important for him. But the city was in very interesting place so I believe it is worth to see it. Also Aspendos is in very good condition so I think this region has much to offer for historian devoted to Alexander;-))Marcus - Issus can be very interesting because of the meaning of the place but all what we could see in Michael Woods movie wasn't impressive there. Some large factories a lot of smoke and no sign in the place with any information about battle. Well we are even not fully sure which river was this one where the battle was fought.Maciek

[susan]

There are two books by Freya Stark :
"The Lycian shore" (tracing the coast of Turkey by yacht)and "Alexander's Path" ( from Caria to Cilicia) which will tell you a lot.Susan

[maciek]

sorry for dubble post.

[maciek]

Oh that would be great to have this before the travel but I think it's too late now. Well I have Arrian and Plutarch!!Maciek