 | Panionium: Encyclopedia II - Panionium - Location
Panionium - Location
The approximate location of the Panionium is given by several ancient writers. For example, Herodotus says it is on "Mycale facing north",5 and Strabo says it is "after the Samian strait, near Mt. Mycale, as one sails to Ephesus … lying three stadia above the sea".6 However the exact location of the site, was lost.
A potential clue to the Panionium's location was the discovery of an inscription in the area in 1673. Theodor Wiegand discovered a site at the end of the 19th century, and it was excavated in 1958 by Kleiner, Hommel and Müller-Wiener. It is located 17 km south of Kuşadası, near Güzelçamlı, on the north slope of Mt. Mycale, on the top of a low hill called Otomatik Tepe (i. e. 'machine-gun-hill'), overlooking the sea.
Wiegand's site has been for many years identified as the Panionion. It was enclosed by a temenos wall, of which, one to three courses can still be seen, with an entrance from the west. In the central area can be seen evidence of a 17.5 m by 4.25 m rectangular stone, presumed to be the altar of Poseidon, dated from the end of the 6th century BC. At the foot of the hill, 50 m southwest of the altar, is a small theatre or odeum. It is 32 m in diameter a little bit more than semicircular, with 11 rows of seats, cut into solid rock, and is presumed to be the council chamber for the meetings of the Ionian League. It dates from the 4th century BC, when the Ionian League and the Panionia were revived. Between the sanctuary and the council chamber is a large cave, although what if any cult function it may have had is unknown. Ancient sources mention sacrifices,7 but no temple, and none has been found.
However, in 2004, the German Archaeologist Hans Lohmann, surveying the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, discovered another archaeological site high in the mountains, a settlement and an archaic temple (about mid 6th century BC) of the ionic order. In the summer of 2005, the temple was excavated in cooperation with the Museum of Aydın. Lohmann assumes that this site, overlooking most of the Ionian region, has to be identified as the Panionion, if only because it agrees better with the written sources.
Other related archives1673, 1958, 19th century, 2004, 5th century BC, 6th century BC, 800 BC, Alexander the Great, Anatolia, Ancient Greece, Archaeological sites in Turkey, Aydın, Diodorus, Ephesus, Geography of Turkey, Ionian, Ionian League, Mt. Mycale, Persian, Poseidon, Priene, Roman, Samian, Theodor Wiegand, Thucydides, Turkey, ionic order, odeum, panegyris, sanctuary, stadia, temenos, İzmir
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Location", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
