Aspendos: visit the Roman theatre near Antalya

The site of Aspendos is particularly famous for its Roman theatre, the best preserved in Asia Minor.

Behind the theatre, the ancient Graeco-Roman city has left a set of interesting ruins to be discovered on a walk along the hillside.

Practical information:

The site of Aspendos lies 47 km from Antalya on the D400 road that links Antalya to Alanya. From Antalya, leave the D400 after the town of Serik, at the Belkis / Aspendos exit. After about 4 km, a minor road will take you to the car park in front of the ancient theatre.

Address: Aspendos Yolu at Serik. GPS coordinates of the car park: N36.939021, E31.173445
Large car park in front of the theatre.

Admission to the site is charged. Open every day. From 1 April to 30 September, 8.00 am to 7.00 pm. From 1 October to 31 March, 8.00 am to 6.00 pm.

The visit to the theatre alone is easy and presents no difficulty of access.
For the visit to the ancient town and the acropolis, we recommend that you wear trainers and take a sufficient quantity of water with you, especially in strong heat. The visit does not present any great difficulty, but the site is on a slope and the heat can be hard to bear.

Allow 2 hours for the visit to the site.

Refreshment stall on the site, opposite the theatre.

History of Aspendos:

The site seems to have had a very ancient occupation, probably from the 12th century BC, and the town is said to have been founded by Greek colonists. In the 5th century BC the town was already known by the name Estvediys; it was then occupied by Anatolian peoples under Persian rule, before joining the Greek alliance of the Delian League. The town occupies a site favourable to its development, beside a river navigable as far as the sea and on a small promontory overlooking the plain.

The city then passed under the rule of Alexander the Great, then of the kingdom of Pergamon, before becoming part of the Roman Empire, a period in which the town prospered. The monuments of the town that one discovers today date from this Roman period. Its wealth came from the salt trade and from the breeding of horses, renowned throughout the empire. Wine, olive oil and the growing of cereals were also among its assets.

With the silting of the River Eurymedon, which no longer made it navigable, the town began its decline, even though it remained important during the Byzantine and Seljuk periods that followed the Roman period.

The town seems to have been abandoned around the 15th century, before being rediscovered in the 19th.

Worth a visit: the theatre

The theatre has come down to us in a remarkable state of preservation; it is considered the best preserved in Asia Minor, in particular thanks to a restoration carried out in the 13th century by the Seljuks, who turned part of it into a palace.

An inscription in Greek and Latin on the façade of the stage states that the construction of the theatre dates from the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–180), that it was financed by the brothers Curtius Crespinus and Curtius Auspicatus, and that it was carried out by the architect Zeno, a native of Aspendos. The theatre is dedicated to the gods of the country and to the imperial family.

The building is a superb example of a Roman theatre, even if some aspects take up elements of Hellenistic architecture, as is often the case in these regions of Greek history.

From the outside, the building presents an imposing stone façade, 100 metres wide, pierced by doors that give access to the orchestra.

The interior of the theatre is impressive. The tall stage wall, on 2 levels, was adorned with columns and with niches housing statues, and was covered with marble. At the top of the pediment, a bas-relief depicts Dionysus, the god of theatre and of tragedy, surrounded by a decoration of leaves and flowers. Five doors, the central one being the largest, open in the façade and allowed the actors to circulate.

The cavea (the seating) comprises 41 rows of seats, separated at mid-height by a walkway. The lower zone is divided into 10 sections, while the upper one is divided into 21, the whole being served by stairways. The theatre of Aspendos thus offered a capacity of 15,000 seats. The first rows were reserved for the most important people of the town. All the seating, the floor of the orchestra and the doors are made of limestone.

Overlooking the seating, a colonnaded gallery gives access to a vaulted passage running all round the cavea, thus making it easier for the spectators to circulate.

The acoustics of the theatre are remarkable: you can, for example, drop a coin onto a stone at the centre of the orchestra, and you will hear the ringing right to the top of the theatre!

Worth a visit: the rest of the town:

The remains to be discovered also date from the Roman period. To discover them, we recommend that you wear proper shoes, at least trainers.

Following the path that climbs on the right-hand side of the theatre, you will first see, below, the remains of the ancient stadium, whose vestiges can be made out, and above all its characteristic shape.

Continuing, you reach a small square that corresponds to the site of the former East Gate of the ramparts, of which only a few stones remain on the ground. Turning left towards the theatre, you can reach a superb viewpoint over the theatre, which you overlook.

Retrace your steps to the East Gate and continue along the main path as far as a monumental arch that gives access to the heart of the upper town, the acropolis.

Before you climb up to the acropolis, you make out on the right the remains of a temple.
The street, still paved with broad slabs, will also let you make out the system for draining the waste water coming from the acropolis, at the sides, under the slabs.

Going up this street, you will reach the acropolis proper, with, immediately on the left, the remains of the bouleuterion, the assembly that governed the town.

On this vast level area you can also see, on the east side of the agora, the imposing remains of the civil basilica, more than 100 metres long, which had a commercial and judicial role. The north side of the agora was closed by a nymphaeum, a monumental fountain 15 metres high and 32 metres wide, of which elements of decoration remain, as well as the niches that housed statues. Opposite the basilica you can make out the remains of the shops of the agora.

From the acropolis, on the north-east side, you will notice the remains of an aqueduct that supplied the town with water from the mountains 17 km away. The final section, clearly visible, is impressive, since one sees there the tall towers of 30 metres that served as a water tower to supply the town by the double-siphon system.

Access to the aqueduct from the archaeological site is not possible, but if you are travelling by car you can reach the site by continuing along the road that brought you to Aspendos.

Worth a visit: the bridge over the River Eurymedon:

On leaving Aspendos and heading for the D400 road, stop for a few minutes at the bridge that crosses the River Eurymedon. You reach it by turning left about 800 metres before the D400.

This very fine bridge, of Roman origin, was rebuilt by the Seljuks in the 12th century. It has the particularity of being built in a zigzag. Indeed, the previous bridge having been destroyed by an earthquake, some of the piers of the bridge were shifted by the current of the river. The architects nevertheless chose to follow the line of these piers, thus giving it its characteristic shape.