20 cities of byzantine asia

Archaeology and the "Twenty Cities" of Byzantine AsiaAuthor(s): Clive FossSource: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 81, No. 4 (Autumn, 1977), pp. 469-486Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/503279 .

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Archaeology and the "Twenty Cities"

of Byzantine Asia

CLIVE FOSS

Abstract

The fate of the great cities of western Asia Minor in the post-classical period has remained obscure and controversial. Most discussions, based on the literary sources, have come to one of two opposing conclusions: that urban life continued without major interruption from the Roman through the Byzan- tine period, or that cities declined to fortresses or small towns. Research based on the sources, which rarely have occasion to mention provincial towns, cannot resolve the problem; the present discussion, therefore, turns to the evidence of archaeology. By considering the remains of twenty cities of western Asia Minor, it is possible to come to a conclusion and, at the same time, to demonstrate the method- ology needed. The cities are those included in a list of the "twenty cities of Asia" compiled by the tenth-century emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The archaeological evidence, where it is available, shows conclusively that a major change took place in the Dark Ages and that the cities were considerably reduced from their ancient size and wealth, the most notable examples being Ephesus, Sardis, Miletus, and Pergamum.

INTRODUCTION1

The history of the Byzantine city is of considerable importance for the social and economic history of the empire. One of the fundamental questions of the field is whether the Byzantine empire had a vital urban culture like that of classical antiquity and may thus be seen as part of a continuum, or whether, like the early medieval west, urban life was in decline and the landscape instead was domi-

nated by villages and castles. Such information is essential for understanding the nature of the By- zantine state, the transition from the ancient world to the Middle Ages, and the situation which existed on the arrival of the Turks. If, for example, urban life in Asia Minor flourished continuously from Late Antiquity2 until the Turkish conquest, that event will be seen to represent a fundamental and destructive change; on the other hand, if the Turks found a country in which city life was no longer of major import, their arrival and actions must be viewed in a different light.

So far, the subject has been discussed in many learned and important articles, of which some have drawn the reasonable conclusion that urban life did not always flourish in the Byzantine empire.3 To one who knew only the general history of the Dark Ages in which the empire was savagely over- run by the Sassanian Persians, amputated of its eastern and Balkan provinces, then subjected to two centuries of Arab attacks, this would seem rational and uncontroversial. Specialists, however, who have access to more detailed information, have rejected these dictates of common sense to arrive at the opposite conclusion-that Byzantium had a vital urban culture which was a basic characteristic of its existence.4 I do not propose here to examine all aspects of this debate, but simply to demonstrate that a large body of material exists which has hardly been used and from which results of de-

1 This paper is based on my unpublished doctoral dissertation, "Byzantine Cities of Western Asia Minor" (Harvard Univer- sity 1972), which will ultimately form the basis of a book on the cities of Byzantine Asia Minor. Meanwhile, the present discussion is offered as a summary of preliminary results.

21 shall make a consistent distinction between Late An- tiquity (by which the age from Diocletian to Heraclius, A.D. 284-6o1 is intended) and the Byzantine period which will be taken to comprise the period A.D. 610-1453.

3 See the fundamental studies of A.P. Kaidan, "Vizantiyskie goroda v VII-IX vekach," Sovetskaya Archeologiya 21 (1954) 164-83 and Derevnia i gorod v Vizantii IX-X vv (Moscow 1960); cf. E. Kirsten, "Die byzantinische Stadt," Berichte zum

XI. Internationalen Byzantinisten-Kongress (Munich 1958) V, 3. There are several important general studies of the Byzantine city (as listed in the bibliographies of M. Hammond, The City in the Ancient World [Cambridge, Mass. 1972]), but they either deal with one part of the period or neglect the archaeological evidence. For a broad treatment of the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages in the Mediterranean cities, see M. Hammond, "The Emergence of Medieval Towns: Inde- pendence or Continuity?" HSCP 78 (1974) 1-33.

4 Note, for example, the firm statements of G. Ostrogorsky, "Byzantine Cities in the Middle Ages," DOPapers 13 (1959) 47-66, and S. Vryonis, The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor (Berkeley 1971) 6-10.



470 CLIVE FOSS [AJA 81

cisive importance may be extracted. I refer to the archaeological record which presents direct and tan- gible evidence for the question. Remains of Byzan- tine sites exist in great numbers, especially in Greece and western Asia Minor. Many of these have been excavated and published. It would seem reasonable to examine this material and to integrate whatever conclusions may be drawn from it into a discussion of the Byzantine city.

In general, studies of the Byzantine city have been based on sources from which few, if any, definite conclusions may be drawn. Historians of the age were primarily concerned with the court, the church, and the army; they rarely discussed provincial cities and towns, and their remarks on them are not illuminating. The mere mention of a city in a source reveals nothing whatever about its size, nature, or condition: Leo III, for example, defeated the Arabs near Acroenus. Who can tell from that whether the place in question was a classical city with grandiose public buildings and colonnaded streets, or a fortress perched on a steep hilltop, or a pile of rubble which preserved an ancient name? With a few exceptions, most of the mention of cities in the historical sources are equally uninformative.

In view of this situation, scholars have turned to such documents as the lists of bishops of the Byzan- tine church and have attempted to maintain that, since the number of bishoprics remained relatively constant during the Dark Ages, urban life underwent no significant decline." This argument reveals a great source of misunderstanding: the difference between ancient and modern conceptions of the city. Under the Romans, the empire was divided into city territories. The cities served as administrative and economic centres of an area which could vary considerably in size; the territory would provide some measure of self-sufficiency for the city. The size of the "city" was not an important consideration, provided that it had certain municipal institutions and could function as an administrative centre. A polis in a remote and sparsely-populated area need have been little more than a large

village or market centre. For the Byzantines, a polis was the seat of a bishop, a centre of ecclesiastical administration after the absolutism of the age had robbed local autonomy of any meaning. The term "city" in such sources, therefore, has no reference to the size or nature of the place. In modern terminology, a city is distinguished from a town or village by its size, population, and, sometimes, administrative function. This terminology is notably different from ancient and Byzantine usage. The question at hand deals with the survival of cities in the modern sense-substantial urban centres which might be the centres of trade and industry, on a larger scale than villages or fortresses. The ecclesiastical documents, therefore, reveal only the conservative nature of the Byzantine church in

maintaining the title of places regardless of their state at the time. However many hundreds of "cities" they may indicate, their contribution to the

present discussion is negligible since they provide no indication of the nature of those cities.

Another kind of evidence which has aroused much discussion is the numismatic which presents a striking phenomenon: for the two centuries from the time of Constantine IV until that of Basil I

(A.D. 668-867) bronze coins are considerably rarer than in earlier and later periods. This phenomenon, noted in collections, in excavations, and in hoards, has led some scholars to draw the obvious conclusion that the economic life, and with it the urban life, of the empire deteriorated during those centuries. Considering the historical circumstances, such a conclusion seems warranted, but others have

attempted to save the notion of a vital urban culture by denying the validity of the numismatic evidence.' The use of numismatic material presents questions too complex for the present discussion; I shall, however, present some conclusions which

may be drawn from the coins insofar as they form

part of the archaeological evidence. A text of the tenth century provides an introduc-

tion to the problem. In his work on the Themes, Constantine Porphyrogenitus presents the follow-

5This line of reasoning is diligently pursued by Ostrogorsky (supra n. 4) 52-61.

6 For a forceful statement of this curious doctrine, see S. Vryonis, "An Attic Hoard of Byzantine Gold Coins . . . and

the Numismatic Evidence for the Urban History of Byzantium," Zbornik radova vizantinoloskog instituta (Belgrade) 8 (1963) 291-300. Such notions will be rigorously analysed by Mr. Michael Hendy in a forthcoming book.



1977] ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE "TWENTY CITIES" 471

ing list of the cities of "Asia," by which he means those of the Thracesian theme:

"There are twenty cities around Asia: First. Ephesus

2. Smyrna 3. Sardis 4. Miletus 5. Priene 6. Colophon 7. Thyateira 8. Pergamum 9. Magnesia

io. Tralles i i. Hierapolis 12. Colossae, now called Chonae, the site of the

renowned church of the Archangel Michael

13. Laodicea 14. Nyssa 15. Stratonicea 16. Alabanda 17. Alinda 18. Myrina 19. Teos 20. Lebedus"7

The list is a unique source; other writers may mention a few cities and provide more information about them, but they do not present an orderly listing of the most important cities of a province. The ecclesiastical notitiae, an obvious exception, were compiled for a different purpose and might reflect an antiquated hierarchical order. This list was written by an emperor who could have had the most current and accurate information. If it is indeed a presentation of the greatest cities of the Thracesian theme, it will be a source of capital value for further investigation.

The de Thematibus, however, is a work which hardly inspires confidence. Edward Gibbon has well described the hope which the reader feels on first consulting it and his subsequent dis- appointment at the banalities which it contains.8

Nor does the section on the Thracesian theme cast favourable light on the accuracy or diligence of the imperial author who opens it with the inauspicious misunderstanding that the ruler of Asia Minor, the proconsul, was called Asiarch and then devotes the bulk of the chapter to a story about Alyattes, king of Lydia, who is supposed to have settled Mysians from Thrace in the country, to account for its name Thracesian. By this point, the reader might not unreasonably feel inclined to dismiss the whole work as the pointless meanderings of an incom- petent and to view the list of cities as one appro- priated from some earlier source.

In fact, the list, unlike others in the work, is not merely abstracted from Hierocles and covers a territory which corresponds to that of the Thra- cesian theme as known from other sources. The twelfth entry, however, shows that it was based on earlier work: the entry on Colossae, a city which no longer existed in the tenth century, has been altered by adding the name of Chonae, the town which replaced it in the Dark Ages. Porphyrogeni- tus, evidently, used an old list of poleis episemoi which he rearranged and modernised.9

The list, therefore, raises important questions: how were the cities chosen; why were some omit- ted (Philadelphia is an obvious example); what does their order mean; and, most important, how far does the list reflect the realities of the compiler's own day? All the problems of this list cannot be approached here, but an attempt will be made to determine whether the cities existed in the tenth century, and, if so, in what condition and size, and whether their importance, as far as it can be determined, is reflected by their order on the list. This will lead to broader questions which can be posed, but not answered, in such a discussion.

The area of the Thracesian theme is most appro- priate for a discussion which deals with archaeology. It was and continues to be rich in the fertility of its broad alluvial plains and abundant deposits of minerals and is eminently suited to support a large and prosperous population."x The gen-

7 Constantine Porphyrogenitus, de Thematibus, ed. A. Pertusi (Vatican 1952) 68. The list of the "twenty" cities actually includes a twenty-first, Philadelphia, which has been rejected as a late interpolation.

8 E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, cap. liii, ad init.

9 On such earlier lists, see E. Honigmann, Die sieben Klimata

und die "episemoi poleis" (Heidelberg 1929); no list has been found to correspond closely with that of Porphyrogenitus.

10 For the geography and resources of the area, see D. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor (Princeton 1950) 34-43, and R. Broughton, "Roman Asia," in T. Frank, An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome (Baltimore 1938) IV, 499-916 passim.




erosity of nature encouraged its early development so that the province of Asia became one of the richest and most densely populated of the Roman

empire. It was particularly characterised by a great network of cities, which could perhaps have been

expected to grow in relative importance as the em-

pire shrank. Here, if anywhere, evidence for the

flourishing of the Byzantine city should be at hand, and it is in western Asia Minor that an investigation should begin. Since the cities of this Aegean region were famed in antiquity, excavation of their sites was begun early and has been rewarded by spectacular discoveries at Ephesus, Pergamum, Mi- letus, and elsewhere. The Byzantines, as the list of

Porphyrogenitus seems to indicate, occupied the same sites; the methods of archaeology may therefore be applied to this later period in anticipation of substantial results.

In the pages which follow, I propose to use the

archaeological evidence to illustrate the list of the twenty cities of Asia and to determine, if possible, the state of each in the tenth century. To keep the work within manageable limits, I shall not repeat the literary sources nor discuss the evidence for Late Antiquity in any detail, but concentrate on the

period from the Persian invasions until the tenth

century with enough retrospective to Late An-

tiquity to provide a context and with a summary of the fate of the cities during the later centuries of

Byzantine rule. The excavated sites will be presented first so that the abundance of material which

they offer may serve as a background for the others which will be arranged in a rough geographical order.

EPHESUS

Ephesus was a flourishing metropolis in Late An-

tiquity as it had been in earlier centuries, when it was the greatest city of Roman Asia Minor. The centre of the city occupied a small plain by the harbour and extended inland in a saddle between two hills; a mile to the east, an isolated hill contained the tomb of Saint John the Evangelist

and overlooked the site of the ruined Temple of Artemis, formerly one of the wonders of the ancient world. The Romans covered the central area with imposing and luxurious public buildings, but the Goths had descended on Ephesus during the reign of Gallienus and caused such damage that parts of the city were in a dilapidated state when Diocletian came to the throne. His government and those of his successors made a determined effort to restore the glory of the capital of Asia; the construction and rebuilding which they effected were so extensive that the overwhelming impression of the remains now visible is that of Ephesus in Late Antiquity.11

In the vicinity of the harbour, two of the greatest buildings, the stadium and the theatre, were ex- tensively restored in the third and fourth centuries while the large gymnasia near each were maintained, at least insofar as they functioned as baths. A third gymnasium by the harbour had formed part of a complex of buildings-the largest in the city-which consisted of a bath, a gymnasium, and an enormous exercise-ground. In the time of Con- stantius II, the bath was lavishly reconstructed and an elaborate atrium added, but the rest was allowed to remain in ruin, to be occupied eventually by houses arranged along colonnaded streets.12 North of this complex, a long market basilica was partially converted into a basilical church, the Cathe- dral of the Virgin, where the Councils of A.D. 431 and A.D. 449 held their sessions. To the east, an elaborate group of structures, consisting of residential quarters, a bath, and a domed reception room, was built in the period and has plausibly been identified as the palace of the proconsul of Asia. A simi- larly rich private building was erected on the hill above the theatre.13 Of the late-antique monuments of Ephesus, the most impressive is probably the broad, colonnaded street paved with marble which ran for half a kilometre from the theatre to the harbour. Its name, Arcadiane, shows that it was laid out in the reign of Arcadius. South of it stood the open, colonnaded Agora which was rebuilt in the

11 For the history and remains of Ephesus, see J. Keil, Fiihrer durch Ephesos (Vienna 1964), and the long article of W. Al- zinger, "Ephesos," in RE Supp. XII. 1588-1704, both with detailed references; cf. Foss (supra n. i) 136-238, a treatment

considerably expanded in Foss, Byzantine and Turkish Ephesus (forthcoming). Gothic attacks: Magie (supra n. Io) 705f, I566f; Alzinger, op. cit., 1611, 1637.

12Stadium: Keil (supra n. 11) 61-63, Alzinger (supra n.

ii) 1637-39; Theatre: R. Heberdey et al., Forschungen in Ephesos II: Das Theater (Vienna I91I2), L. Robert, Hellenica 4 (1948) 62, 87-89; harbour gymnasium: Keil (supra n. ii) 76-83, Alzinger (supra n. ii) I6o8-ii.

13 Church: E. Reisch et al., Forschungen in Ephesos IV,I: Die Marienkirche (Vienna 1932); palace: Alzinger (supra n. I1) 1642f; villa above theatre: Alzinger (supra n. II) I639f, 1644.




fourth century and served as a public meeting place as well as a market."4

The embolos, the street which led between the two hills to connect the harbour quarters with the residential districts and the civic centre, formed the main axis of late-antique Ephesus. Remains of the commemorative statues and official decrees which were constantly being set up in its colonnades still stand.'" The embolos began southeast of the agora opposite a monumental fountain built in the fourth century over the remains of a library; the square was dominated by a great cross which had characteristically replaced a statue of the former pa- troness of the city, Diana of the Ephesians.'6 As it led eastwards, the embolos passed public and private buildings of Late Antiquity, of which the most notable was a series of private houses on terraces along the slope of the hill to the south. The indi- vidual apartments were lavishly decorated with frescoes, marble revetments, and mosaics to give an overwhelming impression of comfort and opulence; they were continuously maintained and modified throughout the period."

The embolos led ultimately to the upper agora, the seat of the municipal government. On its north side stood an Augustan basilica, the prytaneum, the temple of Rome and Augustus, and the senate chamber; on the east was a large Roman bath and on the south a monumental fountain from which the waters of the local aqueduct were distributed. Of these buildings the senate chamber was maintained in Late Antiquity, the baths and fountain were rebuilt in lavish style, and the basilica was restored; the specifically pagan buildings, however, suffered the fate typical of the age: most of the prytaneum was destroyed, a temple of Isis within the agora was razed, and the temple of Rome and Augustus was levelled and covered by houses. Pri- vate constructions also came to occupy part of the agora, changing the appearance of the city in much the same way as did the shops below the nearby

temple of Domitian, which were extended out into the street.8

The activity of Late Antiquity was not confined to the site of the Lysimachean city, but extended far outside its bounds after the triumph of Chris- tianity allowed graveyards to become holy sites of considerable renown. The Seven Sleepers of Ephe- sus had hidden in a cave in the back of the large hill which bounded the city on the east; after their miraculous awakening in the fifth century and subsequent demise, the cave where they had slept and were buried became a shrine which attracted pilgrims and was adorned with a chapel and nu- merous mortuary installations." Those saints, however famous, could not compare with Saint John the Evangelist who lay buried on the barren hill of Ayasuluk. The shrine which had been dedicated to his memory as early as the time of Constantine was replaced by a basilical church in the early fifth century and finally yielded to a magnificent domed basilica built on a cruciform plan by Justinian. With the construction of an aqueduct to bring water to the hill, the church could become the nucleus of a settled community.20

In Late Antiquity, when it was the seat of the proconsul of Asia, a great port city and centre of government, commerce, and finance, the site of two church councils, and the home of such distinguished figures as Maximus the philosopher and Hypatius the bishop, Ephesus was large and flourishing. The archaeological record is substantial and unambiguous: the city occupied as great an area as it had under the Romans, it maintained most of its antique monuments, and it added new ones. In addition, it continued to provide public services of all kinds for its inhabitants. Evidently, some quarters were less elegant than others, and the open regularity of the ancient metropolis seems gradually to have yielded to a more crowded appearance. Many of the restorations and new buildings were executed with reused materials, but for the most

14 Arcadiane: Keil (supra n. Ii) 7If, Alzinger (supra n. ii) 1597; Agora: W. Wilbert, Forschungen in Ephesos III: Die Agora (Vienna 1923).

15 Keil (supra n. II) 121-24.

16 The inscription of the cross was published in H. Gr6goire, Recueil des inscriptions grecques chritiennes d'Asie Mineure (Paris 1922) 104.

17See H. Vetters, "Zum Stockwerkbau in Ephesos," in Melanges Mansel I (Ankara 1974) 69-92, and "Die Hanghauser an der Kuretenstrasse," OJh 50 (1972-1975) 331-80

18Alzinger (supra n. 11) 1646-48, and "Das Regierungs- viertel," OJh 50 (I972-1975) 229-300; temple of Domitian: AnzWien 98 (1961) 71ff; 100 (1963) 57-

19 F. Miltner, Forschungen in Ephesos IV,2: Das Coemterium der Sieben Schlider (Vienna 1937).

20 For the church, see M. Restle, "Ephesos," in Reallexikon zur byzantinischen Kunst I (Stuttgart 1967); Keil (supra n. Ii) 39-40; Alzinger (supra n. 11) 1681-84, and the hopelessly detailed report of H. H6rmann, Forschungen in Ephesos IV,3: Die lohanneskirche (Vienna 1951).




part the standard of construction was high and the monuments bear comparison with those of earlier ages.

This situation changed drastically in the early seventh century, perhaps as a result of the Persian invasions. Around A.D. 614, a date adduced from the evidence of coin finds, the buildings of the

upper agora were abandoned, and the luxurious

apartments of the embolos were ruined forever. The dwellings, which had seen constant activity through the end of the sixth century, were levelled, filled in with rubble, and eventually used as terraces for huts and a storehouse.21 The agora, the

embolos, and the upper agora-the most vital part of late-antique Ephesus-fell into ruin and were not again densely occupied.

During the Dark Ages, Ephesus was protected by a new city wall which has been assigned to the seventh or eighth century-the age when the city was threatened or taken by Persians and Arabs. It begins and ends by the harbour, includes most of the northern part of the old city, rises to the two peaks of the hill to the east, incorporates the theatre as a bastion, then follows an irregular course north of the agora.22 The clear evidence of aban- donment of the quarters to the south shows that this construction is not to be attributed to some fashion which encouraged the construction of shorter walls, but to a genuine reduction (of about

half) in the built-up area of the city. Within the walls, great changes took place between the seventh

century and the time of Porphyrogenitus. In the area near the harbour, the baths of Con-

stantius fell into ruin and were eventually overlaid with a closely-built network of poor rubble houses which extended over the Arcadiane, the magnificent marble street, in the direction of the Byzan- tine wall. Parts of the theatre were occupied by houses, while the palace to the north became the site of small dwellings and a cistern, a necessity

after the aqueducts had fallen into disrepair and each part of the city was obliged to provide for its own water supply.23 One major building was erected within the walls in the Byzantine period. The basilical church of Saint Mary was replaced by a cross-domed church in brick about half its size; this in turn was eventually ruined and replaced by a smaller basilica with piers which came to be the graveyard church of that part of the city.24 For most of these developments, the chronology is uncertain; the brick church of Saint Mary may be assigned to the eighth century, and its re- placement perhaps to the tenth or eleventh. The site seems to have been mostly abandoned by the twelfth century, as the harbour became silted and the city was replaced as a naval base by the nearby towns of Phygela and Anaea.2"

Evidence for occupation outside the walls is scattered, but adequate to show that the metropolis of Late Antiquity had ceased to exist. The agora was left as an open square partially fortified on the north to provide an approach to the city walls; some of its rooms were reoccupied, one of them

apparently as a chapel. The buildings along the embolos were abandoned, but the street was kept open since it still provided the main route between

Ephesus and the south. In place of the apartments on terraces stood small huts and a storehouse which perhaps drew their water from a cistern built over the former temple of Domitian. Graves in the

upper agora and the conversion of a building to the southeast into a workshop suggest that scattered settlements continued along the road where once the city had flourished.26

As the harbour became unusable, the old city of Ephesus was gradually replaced by a strongly- fortified inland settlement on the hill of Ayasuluk, where the great church of Saint John provided a centre. The bishop of the city may have moved there by the sixth century."2 The hill was sur-

21 Upper agora: Alzinger (supra n. 11) 1634-36; the destruction of the houses is dated by coin finds: see AnzWien

107 (1970) 12; 108 (1971) 16; cf. 105 (1969) 84; none of the coins has been published. For the destruction of Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor by the Persians, see C. Foss, "The Persians in Asia Minor and the End of Antiquity," EHR

90 (1975) 721-47. 22 W. Miiller-Wiener, "Mittelalterliche Befestigungen im

siidlichen Jonien," IstMitt ii (1961) 87-89. 23 Houses; Keil (supra n. II) 83; Theatre: Heberdey (supra

n. 12) 5If; palace: OJh 43 (1956) B 12, n. 7; 44 (1959) B

249, n. 5. 24 Reisch (supra n. 13) 8-10, 51-62; Restle (supra n. 20)

174-77. 25 Silting and decline: Foss (supra n. I) 221-28, in more

detail in Foss (supra n. II) cap. 8. 26 Agora: personal observation with Dr. V.M. Strocka; em-

bolos: supra ns. 17 and 21; cistern: Keil (supra n. 11) 124; graves: Alzinger (supra n. 11) 16o0; workshop: OJh 23 (1926) B 278ff.

27Alzinger (supra n. II) 1683; detailed discussion in Foss

(supra n. ii) cap. 5.




rounded by a heavy ring of fortifications in the style of the Dark Ages-a core of rubble adorned with a facing of marble spoils of the ruined past. The well-defended new site became so important that by the ninth century the name of the church, Theologos, usurped that of the city.28 The area within the fortifications was densely filled with houses, shops, and the small establishments of local industry which eventually came to encroach on the church.2"

The history of the Byzantine city is fitfully il- lumined by the sources which reveal that it was still a port of some significance in the ninth century and a commercial centre of importance as the site of a local fair whose revenue is supposed to have amounted to one hundred pounds of gold at the end of the eighth century.30 In the lists of Con- stantine Porphyrogenitus, Ephesus appears as the first city of Asia, which may indicate that it was the capital of the Thracesian theme, and as an administrative subdivision of the maritime theme of Samos. If this double role does not merely represent a careless mistake of the imperial compiler, the city would appear to have functioned as-an important military and naval base.3' Somewhat later, Saint Lazarus the Stylite settled in the vicinity of Ephe- sus, at first near the highway to the north, later in the steep and inaccessible crags of Mount Galesion. From there, his monks had frequent occasion to visit Ephesus, which the biography of the saint usually qualifies as the kastron-that is, the castle of Ayasuluk-to make various purchases and carry out routine business; Ephesus was the regional commercial centre and could provide for local needs."

In the time of Porphyrogenitus, therefore, Ephe- sus was still an important city by the standards of the day, but one totally different from its late- antique forebear; the open metropolis with its splendid marble buildings, monuments, and streets was replaced by two separate settlements: the crowded town by the harbour where small houses clustered behind the walls over the ruins of antique

splendour, and the powerful fortress a mile away, the ecclesiastical and administrative centre.

The centuries between Porphyrogenitus and the Turkish conquest of A.D. 1304 were marked by both decay and expansion. The site by the harbour was finally abandoned, while that of Ayasuluk grew and spread outside its walls. The church of Saint John, in perilous state in the twelfth century, was restored and still the object of veneration and wonder in the fourteenth. Under the Lascarids, whose centre was nearby in Lydia, Ephesus received great attention: the castle was rebuilt, construction took place around the church, and new decoration was added to the grotto of the Seven Sleepers. A substantial place for the time, it consisted of a closely-inhabited castle with settlements scattered outside its walls, a place destined to grow in size and prosperity after its conquest by the Turks of Aydin."3

SARDIS

Sardis, the capital of Lydia, was built at a strategic road junction on the southern side of the broad and fertile Hermus valley and had tradi- tionally derived great prosperity from its abundant natural resources. Its location, about 1oo kilometres inland from Smyrna and the coast, gave easy access to the richest parts of Asia Minor and provided the economic basis for the growth of a large city. In Late Antiquity, when it was a civil and ecclesiastical capital, a military base and seat of the only imperial weapons factory in western Asia Minor, and the home of a philosophical school of some renown, Sardis prospered and grew.34 The evidence presents a pattern similar to that of Ephesus: prosperity until the early seventh century, followed by a striking decline. The excavations of Sardis have covered a much smaller area than those of Ephe- sus, but have been executed, or at least reported, with so much more care that considerable information is available with a chronology satisfactorily established by coin finds.

Late-antique Sardis stretched about two kilometres east and west along a street which formed

28Fortifications: Miller-Wiener (supra n. 22) 91-96, io8f; Theologos: supra n. 25.

29 Miiller-Wiener (supra n. 22) 97. 30 Theophanes 469. 31 Constantine Porphyrogenitus, de Thematibus, 68, 8if. 32 His life is presented in great detail in Acta Sanctorum

(Antwerp 1643- ) (hereafter AASS) Nov. III. 508-88. 33 For the later history of Ephesus, see Miiller-Wiener (supra

n. 22) 109-112; Foss (supra n. ii) caps. 8-1o. 34 The history of Sardis is treated in detail in C. Foss, Byzan-

tine and Turkish Sardis (Cambridge, Mass. 1976) where further references may be found.




part of the main highway of the Hermus valley; major civic buildings were here, at the edge of the

plain, with the steep slopes of the acropolis on the south. The western quarters have been conscien- tiously excavated to reveal much about the history of the city, while other parts have been surveyed or

partially excavated. The main building which the

present expedition has brought to light is a large Roman gymnasium with a broad, rectangular ex-

ercise-ground flanked by two long halls. This com-

plex underwent major changes in Late Antiquity when the entrance portal and baths were restored on at least two occasions and the southern hall was converted into a large and elaborately decorated

synagogue. On the south facade of the gymnasium, a row of shops was added; facing them across the street was a luxurious private mansion of the fourth

century, part of an extensive residential quarter constructed in the same period. This expansion of the city continued outside the city walls (built as a protection against Gothic attack in the late third

century) toward the banks of the Pactolus, where a large basilical church and a villa attest to the

growth and prosperity of the age.35 The evidence, though clearest in these western

quarters, is not confined to them. The main street

passed a building which has tentatively been identified as the weapons factory established by Dio- cletian, a basilical church of apparently Justinianic date, and a Roman bath east of the walls which received repairs and modification in Late Antiq- uity. On the southern side of the city, the temple of Artemis on the banks of the Pactolus had been abandoned and was in use primarily as a quarry for the materials for new construction elsewhere. This work came to produce a small permanent settlement with a church, a suburb of Sardis.3"

Chronology of the excavated buildings and their

phases is assured by abundant finds of the copper coins which formed the medium of small trade; the sequence is especially copious in the shops by the gymnasium, and its sudden cessation with the issue of A.D. 615/616 provides a date for an event of major significance. In A.D. 616, the Persian forces of Chosroes II reached Sardis and inflicted

widespread destruction which has left its traces in the archaeological record."3 The western quarters, where the prosperity of Late Antiquity had been most evident, were destroyed and ruined forever; a way of life established for centuries perished violently. The extent of the disaster and the nature of the subsequent change in urban life are con- firmed by the measures which were taken to restore the city by Constans II. In about A.D. 660, the Hermus valley highway was repaired by workmen who took up their quarters in rooms of the ruined gymnasium which they began to strip of its marble decoration for lime to use in the road bedding. One of the most striking results of the excavation has been the revelation that this cobblestone road was built directly over the ruins of the old colonnaded street; no effort was made to restore the street, shops, or gymnasium complex." Other parts of the site appear to have been abandoned after the catastrophe of A.D. 616, to judge by the lack of later remains."3

Contemporary with the road building was the construction of a powerful fortress on the precipitous summit of the acropolis, a work whose remains still survive to testify to the ruin and dilapidation of the ancient city by the innumerable fragments of buildings incorporated into its facing. The fortress, large enough to shelter a settlement, dominated the city until the Ottoman conquest.40

At Sardis as elsewhere, the centuries of the Arab attacks are obscure; the city rarely appears in the sources, and the archaeological record is scanty until the ninth century. When the city finally emerges from the darkness, it is something far removed from the late-antique metropolis. In the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Sardis consisted of the castle with houses, a chapel and cisterns, and settlements scattered like villages over the ruins of the ancient site. One of these was arranged along streets beside the temple whose interior chamber had been converted into a cistern, another clustered around the old basilica near the Pactolus, and a third occupied the ruins of the Roman bath at the eastern edge of the ancient city. The only known substantial buildings of the age reflect the

35Buildings of the western quarters: Foss (supra n. 34) 35f, 42-47.

36Foss (supra n. 34) 37-39, 48-50. 37G. Bates, Byzantine Coins (Sardis Monograph I, Cam-

bridge, Mass. 1971) I-3; Foss (supra n. 34) 53f; C. Foss,

"The Destruction of Sardis in 616 and the Value of Evidence," IOBG 24 (1975) 11-22; cf. Foss (supra n. 21).

38 Foss (supra n. 34) 57 and supra n. 37. 39 Foss (supra n. 34) 59f. 40 Foss (supra n. 34) 57-59.




fate of Sardis: brick furnaces probably used for the manufacture of glazed pottery were built in the ruins of the gymnasium, which also housed lime- kilns for converting the remains of its marble decoration into material for concrete.41

In the later centuries of Byzantine rule, Sardis

prospered under the wise administration of the Lascarids whose rule is evidenced by a ruined five- domed brick church near the Pactolus, the only major post-Justinianic construction discovered on the site.42 When the Turks came, they brought little visible change to the life of the city which continued for centuries to exist as a small town.

The development of Sardis is parallel to that of

Ephesus, but the contrast between its late-antique and Byzantine phases more extreme. The city prospered and even expanded in Late Antiquity when

peace allowed the trade and agriculture on which the city depended to flourish. The Persian invasion of A.D. 616 wrought fearful destruction which was never repaired, although the government of Con- stans II did what it could in building the highway and the fortress. For the rest of the Byzantine age, Sardis, the third of the twenty cities and seat of a

metropolitan bishop, consisted of its powerful fortress and settlements built on the fertile lands which had once housed a great city.

TMILETUS AND PRIENE

Unlike the cities so far considered, neither Mi- letus nor Priene, which face each other across a silted gulf, was in a position to benefit from the munificence of governors or metropolitan bishops by being a provincial capital. Miletus, nevertheless, shows ample trace of building activity which at- tests a certain level of prosperity in Late Antiquity; Priene, on the other hand, had been in decline since the Hellenistic period and provides no impression of a rich urban life but rather a valuable example of the fate of a small and undistinguished place, a

town rather than a city in modern parlance. In both cases, the sources are virtually silent; knowl-

edge of the two sites depends almost entirely upon the excavations.

Miletus had met an attack of the Goths in A.D. 263 by the construction of a new fortification wall from reused materials, mostly grave monuments; the wall enclosed the whole area of the ancient city and did not involve the demolition of standing public buildings.43 After that threat had vanished and order was restored by Diocletian, the city began to prosper on a modest scale. A propylon and a large civic basilica to which it led were built in the main square, while the monumental triple gate which led to the south market, the theatre, and the stadium was restored around the time of the Te- trarchy.44 The fourth century saw major works in- cluding the drainage of the lower Maeander, which constantly threatened to overwhelm the port with masses of alluvium, reconstruction of the huge baths of Faustina, and the curious conversion of another set of Roman baths into a private villa, an act which may indicate decline in public and commercial activity in the northern part of the

city.45 Such activity continued until the end of the pe-

riod. A basilical church with baptistery, elaborate marble decoration, and fine mosaic floors replaced the basilica on the main square around A.D. 500,46 and the reign of Justinian produced a spate of activity. This work was the result of the munificence and influence of Hesychius Illustris, a Milesian writer and rhetorician who had practiced his craft at the imperial court; he restored the baths, regu- lated the course of the Maeander, and erected a large church and a column bearing a statue of the emperor-an exceptional program of construction for the age. In addition, the market gate was again restored." The decoration of a church in A.D. 602, when the empire was about to enter upon the most

41 Sardis in the tenth century: Foss (supra n. 34) 70-76. 42 Foss (supra n. 34) 82-84. 43 The following is summarised from Foss (supra n. i) 278-

319; for convenience, use will be made here of a summary work, G. Kleiner, Die Ruinen von Milet (Berlin 1968), where full references to the original reports may be found. Wall: Kleiner, 32.

44propylon and basilica: Kleiner (supra n. 43) 137; gate: H. Knackfuss, Milet 1,7: Der Siidmarkt (Berlin 1924) 151; Theatre: Th. Wiegand, in AA 1904, 2-10o; Stadium: Kleiner (supra n. 43) II2f.

5 Drainage: Louis Robert in J. des Gagniers et al., Laodicee du Lycos (Quebec-Paris 1969) 346-49; baths of Faustina: A. von Gerkan and F. Krischen, Milet 1,9: Thermen und Palds- tren (Berlin 1928) 92-94, 164-66; Roman baths: Kleiner (supra n. 43) 99f.

46Kleiner (supra n. 43) 135-37, G. Kleiner et al., "Milet

1972," IstMitt 23-24 (I973-I974) 131-37. 47 The works of Hesychius are commemorated by a series

of verse inscriptions: von Gerkan and Krischen (supra n. 45) 164-66; for the identification of Hesychius, see Foss (supra n. I) 292f; restoration of gate: Gregoire (supra n. 16) 219.




perilous period of its existence, is the last recorded work in any of the cities here considered.48

The relatively scanty record of late-antique Mi- letus is adequate to show that a provincial city still had the resources to maintain its ancient buildings and to add to their number. In this age, the city seems to have retained its large ancient area, but

gradually to have abandoned the regular Hippo- damian plan which had characterised it. In the northern and western quarters, slipshod new construction invaded ancient streets, destroyed colonnades, and filled in open spaces. The quality of much of the new private construction was low, and the appearance of the city doubtless deteriorated from its classical regularity, but the fact that monumental buildings were erected and others rebuilt is evidence of relative prosperity. The excavations have concentrated on the central part of Miletus, but surveys and soundings in the large southern district have revealed other late-antique constructions and suggest that generalization based on the excavated buildings is valid.

For the following age, texts are almost entirely lacking, inscriptions virtually nonexistent, and coins, if they have been found, unpublished. Con-

sequently, the chronology of the great transformation which the city underwent cannot be established with certainty. The stages of development, however, are sufficiently clear to merit attention. The chief Byzantine monuments of Miletus are the fortifications: the wall which includes the centre of the city, about a quarter of its ancient area, and the castle over the theatre." Both were built of the

fragments of ancient glory and incorporated exist-

ing walls and buildings as far as possible: the baths of Faustina and the theatre became major bul- warks, the market gate was fortified by a tower, and many of the walls of the south market and other buildings were incorporated into the Byzan- tine defences. The city wall cannot be dated exactly but may be attributed to the Dark Ages, contem-

porary perhaps with the transformation of the theatre into a castle. In that work, which dates from the seventh century, a heavy wall with towers

formed a citadel and eventually came to contain a whole village with houses in the cavea, a church over the orchestra, and a cistern nearby. Some of the houses date from the ninth century; the evident self-sufficiency of the castle may indicate a further drastic reduction in the size of the city during the Dark Ages.

In the tenth or eleventh century, the city walls and the theatre-castle were destroyed by earth- quakes and rebuilt. At that time, Miletus consisted of an inner citadel, the theatre, and a larger fortified area with small houses scattered over the ruins and rubble of the ancient city. Subsequently, the walls seem to have fallen into ruin while the castle alone was restored. Comnenian and Lascarid Mi- letus, therefore, consisted of the theatre-castle and settlements dispersed through the plain. The con-

temporary name for the city reflects the situation: it was to kastron tan Palatian, "the castle of the Palace," the designation which the natives, ignorant of the city's past, applied to the theatre.

Although it does not appear in the list of Porphy- rogenitus, the temple of Apollo at Didyma, origi- nally included in the territory of Miletus, has a

history valuable for the light which it casts on the nature of a Byzantine bishopric and therefore

polis.50 In the third century when the Goths attacked, the temple was still unfinished; to save it from destruction, it was fortified by a heavy wall which carefully respected the architecture of the building. The wall was a success; the defenders were able to hold out against the Goths, especially since Apollo miraculously provided them with a spring of fresh water. After the danger subsided, construction resumed and continued well into the fourth century when the temple was patronised by the emperor Julian who was enrolled as a prophet of Apollo and ordered the destruction of Christian

chapels which had been built nearby. Christianity, however, triumphed after the collapse of Julian's brief effort and brought the construction of a basilica built of spoils inside the cella of the temple. This church stood until it succumbed to an earth-

quake in the early middle ages.

48 Kleiner (supra n. 43) I37f. 49 For the fortifications, see Miiller-Wiener (supra n. 22) 24-

38, and "Das Theater-kastell von Milet," IstMitt 17 (1967) 279-90. The city walls have previously been dated to the time of Justinian on the basis of the inscription of the market gate (Gregoire [supra n. 16] 219), which, however, refers only to

the gate; see Foss (supra n. I) 481, n. 45, 483, n. 55. 50 For the history of Didyma, see Louis Robert, "Didymes

a l'epoque byzantine," Hellenica II-12 (i960) 495-502; Mill- ler-Wiener (supra n. 22) 38-41; H. Knackfuss and H. Rehm, Didyma (Berlin 1958) 29-34.




In the seventh century, the fortifications of the temple were strengthened. Like the walls of Mi- letus, they were ruined by an earthquake in the tenth century; subsequently, a heavier fortification was erected. In the meantime, the Theodosian church had been destroyed and replaced by a smaller building which became the centre of a monastery. The fortress and church were presumably the nucleus of a settlement which stretched outside the walls. By the mid-seventh century, this small place became independent of Miletus and was organised as a separate bishopric under the name Hieron, "Temple." This is a striking example of the nature of the Byzantine city. There is no evidence that public buildings other than the church stood here in the Byzantine period; the new polis, like most of the old ones, consisted of a castle, a church, and a village; its bishop could hardly have been more than a parish priest. If such a place were elevated to the status of bishopric, other places which already had the rank could have been of comparable size and nature. In fact, Mi- letus was not much larger in the Dark Ages, nor were many of the other cities to be discussed.

Priene, which had never been very large, had shrunk to occupy about half its ancient site by Late Antiquity. The centre of the town was a basilical church built of the spoils of a Roman gymnasium and of the temple of Athena; it was in use long enough to undergo at least one major repair. Un- like the cities so far considered, Priene was not large or rich enough to maintain its theatre, which was partially occupied by houses and a chapel and otherwise used as a quarry and cattle-pen; habitation within its wall was apparently continuous until the seventh century. The gymnasium on the south side of the church was also abandoned and built over with a bath and houses and shops which extended over the street, destroying the ancient regularity of the city plan. Habitation extended over the eastern part of the site where ruined ancient buildings were used as sources for building material or covered by houses; the western quarters seem to have been almost entirely abandoned.51

Some chronology for the late-antique occupation is provided by finds of coins in a fairly continuous sequence through the early seventh century.52 A

long lacuna from then until the late tenth century may be taken to indicate that the site of the city was abandoned under the pressure of the Arab invasions and that the population took refuge in the steep and high acropolis where new fortifications have been dated to the seventh or eighth century. After peace was restored in Asia Minor, the coin sequence shows that the lower city was reoccupied from the late tenth century until the thirteenth, when Priene achieved a brief moment of notoriety as the capital of the principality of Sabbas Asidenos which had risen on the ruins of the Byzantine state after the Fourth Crusade.

During the centuries of renewed occupation, the lower town of Priene consisted of houses, chapels with graveyards, and a small castle poorly built of spoils over the temple of Zeus. The citadel on the acropolis was rebuilt twice, under the Comneni and by Sabbas. In the time of Constantine Porphy- rogenitus, therefore, the archaeological evidence- virtually all that is available-suggests that Priene was still confined to the precipitous crag to which it had withdrawn during the Dark Ages and that when it came to reoccupy the lower site it consisted of little more than a large village.53

The three sites of the lower Maeander had much in common in the tenth century: Miletus was a small walled town with a citadel made from its ancient theatre, Priene was a castle perhaps with houses scattered below, while the new "city" of Hieron consisted of a fort which contained a church, made from the ruins of one ancient temple, and presumably dwellings around. In each case, the contrast between the Byzantine period and Late Antiquity is as striking as at Ephesus or Sardis, although on a much smaller scale. In these examples, where the literary sources are deficient, the archaeological evidence is particularly important.

PERGAMUM

Pergamum, the capital of a rich Hellenistic king- dom and a flourishing city under the early empire, received a blow in the late third century from which it never recovered. A new fortification wall was built to include only the early Hellenistic city on the acropolis; buildings on the lower slopes of

51 For late-antique Priene, see Th. Wiegand et al., Priene (Berlin 1904) 477-85.

52 K. Regling, Die Miinzen von Priene (Berlin 1927) 186. 53 Byzantine Priene: Miiller-Wiener (supra n. 22) 52-56.




the hill and the Roman quarters which extended out into the plain were excluded, while the world- famous shrine of Asclepius outside the city was abandoned." A Gothic attack may have been re-

sponsible for the contraction of the city which remained in eclipse through Late Antiquity when it was neither a political, military, commercial, nor ecclesiastical centre. Among the vast number of in-

scriptions found on the site, very few are late-

antique; coins of the sixth century, abundant on the other sites, are rare here, and the physical remains of the age are correspondingly poor and

meager. Besides a church built into the agora of the lower city, there is no trace of major new construction, and, for the most part, rebuildings and alterations are also on a modest scale, with the notable exception of the transformation of the enormous temple of Serapis in the plain into a Christian basilica. Otherwise, the city on the acropolis seems to have become a residential area with houses built into and over the ancient monuments, some of which were preserved to continue their function as colonnades and markets. The majority, however, seem to have fallen into ruin, or to have been transformed for new uses. In the plain, now

occupied by the modern town and therefore unexcavated, the Asclepieum was partially reoccupied with dwellings and a church; it may have con- stituted a separate settlement outside the main

city.55 Although the physical record is one of decline,

Pergamum was a major intellectual centre in the fourth century. It was the seat of the school of Aedesius who trained most of the famous sophists and theurgists-magicians, fortune-tellers, and clair-

voyants-of western Anatolia. Maximus of Ephesus and Eunapius of Sardis were products of the school, and the emperor Julian was its most famous stu- dent. At the same time, Pergamum was the home of the medical writer Oribasius, whose voluminous

writings still survive." The city, however reduced its physical circumstances, could still support a school, but otherwise hardly appears in the historical record of the age.

Most of the Byzantine period at Pergamum is even more obscure than that of Late Antiquity; the sources are virtually silent until the twelfth century when the frontier was at the edge of the Anatolian plateau and the city was subject to the attacks of the Turks. Two events are recorded in the Dark Ages: the capture of Pergamum by the Arabs in A.D. 663 and again in A.D. 716, an occasion when the inhabitants distinguished themselves by the ghastly barbarism of cutting open a pregnant woman, cooking the fetus, and dipping their sleeves into the brew to give themselves magical protection against the enemy."7

The archaeological record is more complete and indicates the appearance of the city during the invasions and after. The straitened circumstances of the age are illustrated by the new fortification wall, built largely of fragments of public buildings, which enclosed only the summit of the acropolis, leaving out most of the area which was inhabited in Late Antiquity. Finds of coins suggest that the work was carried out in the time of Constans II (A.D. 641-668)." Half a millenium later, a new wall recognised the growth and recovery which took place under the Macedonian and Comnenian dynasties: Manuel Comnenus enclosed the lower city on the slopes of the acropolis with fortifications which closely followed those of the third century as part of his reorganisation of the defences of the region against the Turks.5"

Within the walls, the remains which have been reported give an adequate impression of Perga- mum in the time of Porphyrogenitus. Two small churches of reused fragments were built on the acropolis, one of them over the ruins of the temple of Athena, the other on two feet of debris which covered the theatre terrace. Both were surrounded by graveyards and seem to have been built in the Macedonian period. The other remains consist mostly of houses of the eleventh century or later with some evidence of industrial activity-lime- kilns and sheds-on the acropolis. The houses were crudely built of spoils, pieces of brick, and poor mortar or earth and occupied the site of ancient

4 General accounts: A. Conze, Pergamon I: Stadt und Land-

schaft (Berlin 1912), W. Zschietschmann in RE, s.v. "Perga- mon," Foss (supra n. 1) 239-77. Walls: Conze, 299-304.

55Foss (supra n. I) 253-57. 58 See especially Eunapius, Vitae Soph. 461-76 passim. 5 Arab capture A.D. 663: Th. N6ldeke, "Zur Geschichte der

Araber im i. Jh. d. H. aus syrischen Quellen," ZDMG 29

(1876) 97f; A.D. 716: Theophanes 390f. 58 Coins: Conze (supra n. 54) 359; dating proposed in

Foss (supra n. i) 475, n. 33; cf. Foss (supra n. 21) 742, n. I. 59 Conze (supra n. 54) 307f, Muiller-Wiener (supra n. 22)

71, n. 126; cf. Nicetas Choniates, i94f, for the work of Manuel in the region.




buildings which had been covered with debris. One group of them stood behind the wall of the seventh century and had a graveyard around it. Another settlement was in the lower town, where a cistern built into the former gymnasium provided a water supply, while small houses covered ancient public buildings and a church and graveyard replaced the late-antique basilica.60 Further excavation is reveal- ing more houses and suggests that much of the acropolis hill was built over in Byzantine times to form a crowded, walled settlement of small houses on narrow streets.

The impression of a medieval settlement differ- ing greatly from the ancient city is not one noted only by moderns. In the middle of the thirteenth century, Pergamum was visited by the future emperor Theodore Lascaris who described it in a letter which provides a rare contemporary insight into a Byzantine town. As he climbed the acropolis, he reflected with sadness on the ancient works which no one in his time could conceive or execute. Com- paring the good fortune and greatness of the ancient city with the hovels of his own day, he likened the latter to mouseholes in houses. He was as- tounded by the walls and towers of the theatre, but filled with dismay as he contemplated contemporary work." This letter was written after Pergamum had recovered and expanded and was at the height of its prosperity under the Byzantines. The transformation from antiquity is remarkable, especially since it may be viewed through the eyes of a contemporary, as well as through the remains.

In the case of Pergamum, archaeology again provides the material for an understanding of historical development. Unlike the other cities, it already was in decline in Late Antiquity, though the presence of the philosophical school and the conversion of the temple of Serapis into a huge church may suggest that there was more prosperity than has been apparent from the excavated sectors and that the city may have expanded again into the plain after the troubles of the third century. For the Byzantine age, however, the evidence is unambigu-

ous; Pergamum first was reduced to a heavily- walled fortress on the acropolis, like Sardis, then expanded to occupy the whole slope of the hill. For the whole period, the walls seem to have contained clusters of small houses, churches, and graveyards built over the imposing remains of antiquity.

SMYRNA

The history of the remaining cities illustrates the value of archaeology for such an investigation; since they have been only partially excavated, if at all, the narrative has to depend on the feeble literary sources and becomes quite exiguous. The lack of detail thus shows the limited value of conclusions drawn from the sources alone. Smyrna, for example, was almost certainly the most important of the twenty cities for most of the Byzantine period; it occupied a strategic location, which benefited from the silting of the harbour of Ephesus, and both the sources and the remains give tantalising hints of its size and prosperity, but the total picture has only the vaguest outline because of the lack of excavation. Such a lack, of course, reflects the present importance of the city, which alone of the twenty is still a substantial metropolis. The modern city oc- cupies the same area as that of the ancient and Byzantine so that the site presents few opportuni- ties for excavation.

The historical record of the late-antique city is negligible, the archaeological evidence provides a few hints, and some epigrams in the Greek Anthol- ogy offer useful information. The only excavation has been in the ancient agora; it shows that the buildings were still in use, though apparently not the subject of any major rebuilding, through the sixth century. A new aqueduct to bring water from springs south of the city was built in the fifth or sixth century; traces of villas of the period were reported from the vicinity of the springs.62 Walls near Basmane Station have been identified with the walls named for Arcadius which the proconsul Anatolius erected and commemorated in a verse inscription: they may represent a new fortification

61Churches: Conze (supra n. 54) 309-18; other remains: Foss (supra n. I) 273-75.

61 Theodore Lascaris, Epistula 8o, ed. N. Festa (Florence 1898) Io7f; cf. H. Gelzer, "Pergamon unter den Byzantinern und Osmanen," AbhBerl 1903, II, 1-101, which may be con- sulted for a prolix treatment of the history of the age.

62 Agora: F. Miltner and Selahattin bey, "Izmirde Roma

devrine ait Forumda yapilan hafriyat hakkinda ihzari rapor," TtirkArkDerg 2 (I934) 232f, and R. Naumann and S. Kantar, "Die Agora von Izmir," in Kleinasien und Byzanz (Berlin 1950) 78, Io3f. Aqueduct: G. Weber, "Die Wasserleitungen von Smyrna," Idl 14 (1899) 177-81. Villas: G. Weber, Guide du voyageur h Eph~se (Smyrna 1891) 8.




or a partial or extensive rebuilding of an old one.63 Among other inscriptions, milestones show that the roads radiating from the city to Pergamum, Sardis, and Ephesus were maintained by the Te-

trarchy and into the reign of Arcadius.64 The most interesting indication of the prosperity

of the late-antique city is provided by a series of

epigrams in the IX and XVI books of the Greek

Anthology, which commemorate construction of a

lighthouse and of a mole with a cistern in the fourth century and rebuilding of the city after an

earthquake in the time of Justinian, as well as restoration of a bath and a public latrine.65 These alone are adequate to show that the city flourished, especially as a port, and that it received the atten- tions of successive proconsuls. Smyrna was evident-

ly a worthy rival of Ephesus, whose ecclesiastical

primacy she constantly attacked. For most of the Byzantine period, the evidence

is even more tenuous. Only the thirteenth century, which falls outside the scope of this study, is well illuminated by the documents of the monastery of Lembos and by the imposing remains of the citadel on Mount Pagus. Otherwise, the sources record that

Smyrna was taken by the Arabs in A.D. 654 and A.D. 672, that it produced enough food to relieve a famine in Lesbos in the early ninth century, and, most significant, that it was the headquarters of the naval theme, or province, of Samos in the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus." That its importance had increased by then is reflected in the promotion of its bishop to the rank of metropolitan in A.D.

869, granting him independence from the bishop of Ephesus, a city which Smyrna was beginning to surpass as a naval and commercial centre."7

The only archaeological evidence relates to the fortifications. Inscriptions of Heraclius datable to A.D. 629-641 were found on a city gate near Bas- mane Station, and show that the walls, or that sec- tions of them, were still functioning in his reign, and may imply that Smyrna suffered no such devas- tation as Sardis and Ephesus during the Persian

wars."6 Two centuries later, Michael III refortified the city; an inscription of A.D. 856/857 celebrates the construction of a tower. The walls do not survive, but are probably to be identified with a line of walls in the southwestern part of the city which appear on a nineteenth-century map."6 These new walls, which run from the acropolis to the harbour, suggest that Smyrna still covered a great area.

Few conclusions can be drawn from such scattered evidence. Smyrna would seem to have flourished in Late Antiquity, and to have suffered no real diminution in succeeding ages. In the time of the Lascarids, it was a large and prosperous metropolis, the greatest city of the Aegean region. If more information were available, it might be possible to see Smyrna as the one city of the region where a vital urban culture continued from classical antiquity into the Middle Ages.

CITIES OF THE MAEANDER

The three cities of Magnesia, Tralles, and Nysa were the most important of the broad and fertile Maeander valley, which historically provided a route from the Anatolian plateau to the Aegean. They grew in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, but fell into a common obscurity thereafter. The historical record contains virtually no mention of them between the classical age and the late eleventh century when the Maeander valley became a prime route for the invasions of the Turks. For the period here considered, therefore, the archaeological record becomes virtually the only source, and that a feeble one. Two of the sites, Magnesia and Nysa, have been summarily excavated, and explorations have been carried out in Tralles, but in no case was the work extensive or the attention devoted to the later periods more than cursory. Knowledge of the cities thus remains fragmentary.

At Magnesia, a historical development is apparent. In Late Antiquity, parts of the Agora were characteristically rebuilt with spoils, while the tem-

ple of Zeus which it contained was decorated with

63 Inscription: Gregoire (supra n. 16) 65; walls: W. Miller- Wiener, "Die Stadtbefestigungen von Izmir, Sigacik und

Candarli," IstMitt 12 (1962) lO6-14. 64 Magie (supra n. io) 796.

65Anthologia palatina IX, 615, 631, 642-44, 662, 670-72; XVI, 34, 42, 43; cf. Louis Robert in Hellenica 4 (1948) 61f, I3If.

66 Arabs: Constantine Porphyrogenitus, de administrand&

imperio, 20, Theophanes 353. Famine in Lesbos: Acta Davidis

Symeon et Georgii, AnalBoll 18 (1899) 225, cf. 231. Naval theme: Constantine Porphyrogenitus, de thematibus, 82.

67 H. Ahrweiler, "L'histoire et geographie de la region de Smyrne . . . (io81-1371) ...," Travaux et memoires I (1965) 76; the same article provides a detailed discussion of Smyrna in the later Byzantine period, with full references.

68 Gregoire (supra n. 16) 79, 8o. 69 Gr6goire (supra n. I6) 82bis; Miller-Wiener (supra n. 63)

63f.




a Diocletianic cadastral survey and subsequently restored by Julian. An inscription of the proconsul Eutropius (A.D. 371-372) reveals that he rebuilt the city after an earthquake. The famous temple of Ar- temis Leucophryne, which was also excavated, shows no evidence of late-antique work. In the unexcavated quarters, a "late Roman" building was erected next to the theatre, and a monumental structure, apparently late-antique, was put up west of the Agora.70 This sparse record is perhaps adequate to suggest that the town prospered to some extent in the period and was considered worthy of what may have been extensive restoration.

For the Byzantine period, only one monument survives, but that of a highly significant nature. A new circuit of city walls of mortared rubble faced with blocks from the Hellenistic walls was built to include a small fraction of the ancient city, an area about 300 metres square, roughly the size of the agora. The walls were dated by the excava- tors to the time of Heraclius for no stated reason; the suggestion accords well with their style of construction and the historical circumstances." Byzan- tine remains were not found in the excavated sectors, probably indicating that they were abandoned.

This tiny fortified settlement was dignified with the name "Protomaiandroupolis" at the Quinisext council of A.D. 692; if the title is not mere Byzan- tine bombast, it may suggest that the other cities were even worse off; nothing in their remains would refute such a notion."7 In the late tenth century, Magnesia makes a rare appearance in history as the home of Saint Lazarus, whose life, which mentions two local monasteries and the fact that a stylite saint occupied a column in the neigh- bourhood, suggests that the area was peaceful, prosperous, and rustic."7

Evidence for Tralles, now the greatest city of the region, is even less satisfactory, though providing more detail for Late Antiquity. In the time of Dio-

cletian, Tralles was noted for its production of skins and linen cushions; Constantine plundered it of statues to adorn the Hippodrome of Constan- tinople.74 In the mid-fourth century, the proconsul Caelius Montius built an aqueduct 300 stadia long with tunnels and arches; his munificence, honoured by the Council with a verse inscription, indicates the continuing importance of the city.5 Finally, in the time of Justinian, Tralles was the centre of the remarkable missionary work of the monophysites John of Hephaestopolis and John of Ephesus; the former ordained more than 50o heretic priests in the gallery of the local orthodox church during services, while his namesake converted thousands of pagans in Mount Messogis, where a temple was destroyed and replaced by a large monastery, an action which indicates ample resources available in the region."

The archaeological record adds a small amount to confirm an impression of late-antique prosperity: a large gymnasium was built in the period, as was a church with three apses, while another gymnasium was converted into a church." Unfortunately, information for the Byzantine period is completely lacking until the late thirteenth century, so that it is impossible to determine the subsequent fate of Tralles.

The history, if one may call it that, of Nysa is similar, except that it appears not at all in written records between the third and the thirteenth centuries. The excavations show extensive work in Late Antiquity: construction of a gymnasium and a church, and much rebuilding in the agora and bouleuterion. A city wall built of spoils includes the whole of the ancient site; its dating, whether late- antique or Byzantine, has not been determined.78 Lacking that, and with no reported evidence of Byzantine remains, the record of Nysa remains as unsatisfactory as that of Tralles. Of the three cities, it may only be said that they all prospered in Late Antiquity and that Magnesia underwent notable

70 For the remains, see C. Humann, Magnesia am Miander (Berlin 1904) 4-6, 32f, and for the inscriptions, 0. Kern, Die Inschriften von Magnesia (Berlin 900oo) 108-13, I35f; cf. L. Robert (supra n. 65) 63.

71 Humann (supra n. 70) 2, 19, 33; Miller-Wiener (supra n. 22) 88 and n. 156.

72 J.D. Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio (Florence 1769- ).

7 Vita Lazari, AASS. Nov. III. 569f. 74Diokletians Preisedikt, ed. S. Lauffer (Berlin 1971) 8.1;

28, 46, and 276; Patria Constantinopoleos, ed. Th. Preger (Leip- zig 1907) II, 189.

75 Robert (supra n. 65) II2f. 76 John of Ephesus, Lives of the Eastern Saints, ed. E.W.

Brooks in Patrologia Orientalis 18 (Paris 1924) 336; idem, Historia Ecclesiastica III, 36.

77 C. Humann and W. D6rpfeld, "Ausgrabungen in Tralles," AthMitt 18 (1893) 397f; Edhem bey, "Fouilles et d&couvertes a Tralles," RA 4 (1904) 348-51, 359; cf. BCH 28 (1904) 57, 76, and plan facing p. 200.

78 Remains of Nysa: W. von Diest, Nysa ad Maeandrum (Berlin 1913) 11, 23, 33, 36-39, 44-51; K. Kuruniotis, "Anaska- fai en Nyse," Deltion 7 (1921-1922) 19, 36f, 39.




decline in the Dark Ages. Whether their inclusion in the list of the Porphyrogenitus is some indication of their continuing importance remains un- resolved.

CITIES OF SOUTHWESTERN PHRYGIA

Another group of three cities forms a geographic unit: Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae lie within a day's journey of each other in the valley of the Lycus, above its confluence with the Maeander. Their record is only marginally more complete than that of their neighbours of the Maeander. La- odicea, the capital of a province and apparently of the diocese of Asia,79 benefited from the largess of late-antique governors and vicars, several of whom were honoured by inscriptions. At the same time, the city was a major centre for the production of clothing and was the site of a church council in about A.D. 380. Otherwise, virtually nothing is known of its history. The large and unattractive site, now wholly ruined, has been the subject of

only one excavation, that of a nymphaeum in the centre of the city. The structure was rebuilt at various times in Late Antiquity until it was finally abandoned in the seventh century; by itself, it will hardly support generalisation."s

Hierapolis, which overlooks the Lycus valley from a ridge of gleaming white limestone deposits, clearly enjoyed considerable prosperity in Late An-

tiquity. Although it was the residence of the em-

peror Valens in A.D. 370, its history is unknown, but the recent excavations have revealed a remarkable abundance of churches which show the sanc-

tity of the site and suggest that the resources available for construction must have been considerable.81 The most magnificent of the churches, an octagonal shrine to Saint Philip who had been buried in the

city, was erected outside the walls in the late fourth or early fifth century. Four other large churches, on the basilical plan, have been attributed to the fifth century and to the reign of Justinian. With the exception of a nymphaeum of the fifth century, the secular buildings have not been excavated. The

city walls have been dated, on grounds which are not made clear, to the late fourth or early fifth century.

Sometime around the middle of the sixth century, the church of Saint Philip was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt; instead, a small chapel was built into the west side of the shrine. By the tenth century, the church was as ruined as it is today; squatters had moved into the building and built their hearths and a lime-kiln in it. Other churches show a similar decline: the basilica near the north gate was replaced by a chapel built into the south aisle after a fire, and the final stage of the basilica near the theatre consisted of chapels and small houses constructed in the aisles of the ruined building when its roof had collapsed. The city resembled a village, its ancient plan obscured by a network of alleys. Around the year A.D. 00ooo, however, this ramshackle town had a bishop who was able to

purchase the great manuscript "A" of Plato, now in Paris, but, like many of his day, he may have been resident in the capital. By A.D. 119o, when the Third Crusade passed through, the place could be described as dirutam civitatem Hierapolis; its history had long since ended.82

The third Phrygian city, Colossae, had been in decline since the Hellenistic age; it has not been excavated, and its history is virtually unknown. Only a dedication to Constantius Chlorus shows that it continued to exist in Late Antiquity.8" As the city further declined, the inhabitants moved to a safer site on the mountainside about three miles to the south, where the town of Chonae grew to become an important Byzantine centre. The change, to judge from the titulature of the local bishops, took place by the end of the eighth century.84 The new site was renowned for its great church of the Archangel Michael, one of the most famous centres of pilgrimage in the empire. The church, which may actually have been located in the valley at the old site of Colossae, frequently appears in the sources and gives some reflected glory to the town, itself a major frontier fortress in the time of the

79 Laodicea as diocesan capital: Robert (supra n. 65) 45-57; I shall discuss the evidence in detail in Byzantine and Turkish Ephesus (forthcoming).

so Des Gagniers (supra n. 45) I24, 127-35, 248. 81 For all that follows, see two works of the excavator of

Hierapolis, P. Verzone: "Hierapolis" in Reallexikon zur byzan- tischen Kunst II (Stuttgart 1971) 1203-23, and "L'urbanistica di Hierapolis di Frigia," offprint from Atti del XVI Congresso

di Storia dell' Architettura (1969), with further references. 82 Manuscript: W.M. Ramsay, The Cities and Bishoprics

of Phrygia (Oxford 1895) 14; Crusade: Ansbert in MGH, Scr. rer. germ. V (Berlin 1928) 75.

83 MAMA VI. no. 38; cf. no. 49, a fragmentary late-antique or Byzantine inscription.

s4 Ramsay (supra n. 82) 213f; cf. Foss (supra n. I) 383-86.




Turkish invasions. The shift of the inhabited site from the broad but exposed valley to the hills provides an important example of transition from a classical to a medieval system. Taken with the evidence from the excavations of Hierapolis, it suggests that serious decline affected the cities of this inland region as it had those of the coast.

THE MINOR CITIES

It is difficult to tell why the Porphyrogenitus included the remaining small sites in his list. Of them, Thyateira in Lydia stands alone; the rest fall into two groups, one in Caria, the other on the coast. None of them seems to have been distinguished in Late Antiquity or the Byzantine age, though further excavation at the first may be illuminating.

Thyateira has no history between the Romans and the Third Crusade; its remains consist of bits and pieces, mostly from the flourishing days of the Lascarids, and one small excavated site of some in- terest. A large Roman structure in the southern part of the city, apparently a gymnasium, has been partially uncovered. Next to it ran a colonnaded street with marble pavement and capitals which seem to date from the fifth century. By itself, this may seem trivial, but the excavations of Miletus or Pergamum offer nothing comparable, and it is possible to take the street as part of a grandiose late-antique structure which may imply some real prosperity in the period. Of the succeeding age, however, nothing is known.85

The remaining towns contribute nothing to the discussion. Remains show merely that Alabanda, Alinda, and Stratonicea, as well as Myrina, Colo- phon, Lebedus, and Teos, were still occupied in Late Antiquity and that some of them survived into the Byzantine period. It is hardly likely, however, that they consisted of anything more substantial than large villages. No evidence is available at present to demonstrate any historical development.86

SOME CONCLUSIONS

Of the questions posed at the beginning of this discussion, not all can be answered satisfactorily. This is especially true of those which concern the list of Constantine Porphyrogenitus; the reasons

for his choice and order of cities are far from clear. Certainly, there is no reason to doubt that the list includes most, if not all, of the cities of the region which were of some significance in the early tenth century. Three omissions, those of Philadelphia and Magnesia in Lydia and of Antioch on the Maean- der, are notable; these were important in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and had been substantial settlements under the Romans. Typically, their history in the intervening period is obscure and could probably only be reconstructed with excavation, but it is hard to imagine that they were ever as insignificant as, say, Teos or Lebedus. The inclusion of such places-the minor cities and Priene-seems to make no sense in terms of the situation in the tenth century, and it is only possible to conclude that the imperial pedant was using an older list, probably from Late Antiquity or earlier, which he modified to suit the boundaries of the Thracesian theme.

More important, however, is the insight which such a study can bring into the size and nature of the Byzantine city and its development from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. In about half the cases, the material is adequate to support generalisation and to show that a tremendous transition had taken place between Late Antiquity and the time of the Porphyrogenitus; most of the remaining cities were already obscure in the classical period and would only contribute to the subject if they were thoroughly excavated.

In almost every instance, the cities prospered in Late Antiquity; this is especially true of the provincial capitals, but not confined to them. Extensive rebuilding and new construction took place, and public services were maintained. At the same time, city walls and churches gave the cities a new aspect, as the bodies and souls of the inhabitants were fortified. At Ephesus and Miletus there is some indication of deterioration in the appearance of the cities as the classical regularity of their plans was partially obscured by new and often shoddy buildings, but in general, the age seems to have been a relatively flourishing time.

The great change took place in the Dark Ages, during the Persian and Arab invasions, no doubt aided by the devastating outbreaks of the plague

85 The excavations are not yet published; I write from personal observation. For the marble fragments, see the useful work of G. Lampakis, I efta asteres tis apokalipseos (Athens

1906) 315-23- 86 For these places, see the full discussion with references in

Foss (supra n. I) 389-96.




under Justinian and Constantine V. Almost all the cities suffered a substantial decline; Smyrna alone

may have formed an exception. In some instances, the reduction was drastic: Sardis, Pergamum, Mile- tus, Priene, and Magnesia became small fortresses; Colossae disappeared, to be replaced by a fort high above the ancient site. Ephesus remained a major centre, but suffered considerable diminution as the most vital parts of the late-antique city were ruined and left outside the new walls, and Hierapolis seems to have continued to occupy much of its ancient area, though in a state of ruin and squalor.

The cities reached their lowest point in the seventh and eighth centuries. By the time of Constan- tine Porphyrogenitus, some recovery and growth had taken place, but in no case did the revived towns bear much resemblance to the ancient cities which they succeeded. Urban life, upon which the classical Mediterranean culture had been based, was

virtually at an end; one of the richest lands of classical civilisation was now dominated by vil-

lages and fortresses. These conclusions, of course, apply only to the

area here studied, but considerable observation suggests that they would prove valid for the whole

Byzantine empire." As will be evident, they are based almost entirely on the results of archaeology; it is the remains which illustrate the destruction of Sardis, the shrinkage of Ephesus, the great changes at Pergamum, Miletus, Priene, and, to a lesser extent, Magnesia and Hierapolis. Without such evidence, the vague mentions in the literary sources would only permit general statements about Ephe- sus and some details about a few of the others. The value of the archaeological evidence is especially apparent in the contrast between the detailed ap-

preciations of Sardis and Ephesus which are possible and the vague picture of Smyrna, or, on a smaller scale, between Priene, where the development of a quite trivial place may be traced, and the unexcavated minor cities, where almost nothing may be concluded.

The investigation of these cities has also shown the value of the numismatic evidence as part of the archaeological context. At Sardis and Ephesus, coins provide a date for the destruction levels in which they were found; at Pergamum, they suggest a

chronology for the walls, while at Priene their sequence, taken in connection with the remains, indicates the decline and resurgence of the town. In each case, the coins are used with the other archaeological evidence to provide chronology. All the evidence suggests that the conclusions which many have drawn from the well-known shortage of excavated coins of the Dark Ages are indeed valid-that fewer were found because there was less economic activity.88

The historical development here presented raises many questions: what caused the change? Is war sufficient to account for such evidently drastic decline, or should some divine agency, like climatic

change, be suspected? Were the cities, perhaps, al-

ready in decay before the invasions? Was there, as would appear from all the evidence, widespread depopulation in one of the richest regions of the

empire? Such questions cannot be approached here, but whenever they are considered, I hope it will be obvious that the archaeological record provides an

indispensable tool for their investigation.

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

BOSTON

87 Note that similar conclusions were independently reached by A.P. Kaidan (supra n. 3) and by Michael Hendy, in "By- zantium, Io81-1204: an Economic Reappraisal," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 20 (1970) 35f, on the basis of

literary and numismatic evidence. ss For the opposite point of view, see supra n. 6, and for an

analysis of the utility of numismatic evidence at Sardis, see Foss (supra n. 37).



20 cities of byzantine asia

Documents

cities of asia

urban life

jstor terms

jstor archive

byzantine city

city life

byzantine empire

evidence of archaeology