Myus Temple of Dionysus — Avşar Kalesi Peninsula
Myus Dionysos Tapınağı · Myus Dionysus · Avşar Myus
Archaic to Roman·Ionian, Hellenistic, Carian·🇹🇷 Aydın Province, Söke, Avşar Kalesi Peninsula, Lake Bafa SE, Turkey
About
About Myus Temple of Dionysus — Avşar Kalesi Peninsula
Smallest Ionian League city Myus (B. 425, former Aegean gulf harbour silted by Maeander. 6×10 Ionic white marble Dionysus temple (2nd BCE, possibly Hermogenes school — Vitruvius attributes Myus Dionysus to Hermogenes) with Bacchic frieze on Acropolis peninsula overlooking silting gulf, theatre 4000, agora. Excavated Kritzinger and Weber 1960s, German. Myus was so silt-prone that even antiquity Myusian mosquitos famous (Strabo). Unlike Priene Athena mountaintop, Myus is peninsula Dionysus showing Vitruvian Ionian proportions at smallest League polis.
300 inhabitants in Hellenistic period, Delian League 1 talent. Bafa national park boat access.
Why it mattersVitruvius' Hermogenean Ionian textbook example at smallest League city, showing Maeander siltation impact on urbanism.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Hermogenes attribution certainty
- 02Myusian wine vs import
Theories
- 01Dionysus at silting harbour as compensatory fertility
- 02Smallest polis temple as League proportionality rule
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.200 BCE Dionysus temple; city Archaic 700 BCE
- Period
- Archaic to Roman
- Culture
- Ionian, Hellenistic, Carian
- Builders
- Myusian demos and Hermogenean architect
- Purpose
- Peninsula Dionysus controlling Maeander mouth gulf before siltation and wine import
- Abandoned
- c.500 CE with Bafa Lake formation
- Rediscovered
- 18th c. Chandler; 1960s German surveys
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
700 BCE
Ionian foundation
200 BCE
Hermogenean Dionysus
1960
Weber excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
37.5930° N · 27.4250° E · 20 m · 2 mapped features
Myus — Dionysus Temple White Marble
temple ionian6×10 Ionian white marble Dionysus temple by Hermogenes? 2nd BCE with Bacchic frieze
37.5940° N · 27.4260° EMyus — Theatre Hillside 4000 seats
theatreHellenistic theatre hillside facing Maeander siltation harbour now Lake Bafa
37.5920° N · 27.4240° E