ASPENDOS ANCIENT CITY

Located 2 kilometers north of the 44th kilometer of the Antalya Alanya highway, Aspendos is famous for having the best preserved Roman era theater not only in Anatolia but in the entire Mediterranean world. The city was founded on a hilltop plateau near the Köprüçay (ancient Eurymedon), one of the largest rivers in the region. Aspendos owed its access to the Mediterranean and its development to the nearby river and, consequently, the fertile lands surrounding it. Today, the theater and aqueducts are the main attractions. The remains of other structures belonging to the city are located on the plateau of the hill against which the theater rests. Historians mention that the Battle of Eurymedon, fought between the Greeks and Persians in 467 BC on the banks of the river flowing near the city, was won by the Greeks. Although Aspendos tried to resist Alexander the Great through deceitful means, it eventually surrendered and accepted its tax debt in exchange for the city's famous horses and gold. After Alexander's death, the city came under Ptolemaic rule, but its most glorious period was undoubtedly the Roman Imperial era, when its famous theater and aqueducts were built.