3. Cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

APHRODİSAS REGIONAL SURVEYChristopher RATTÉ*A systematic program of archaeological research at the Graeco-Roman cityof Aphrodisias in southwest Turkey was begun in 1961. This program focused onlarge-scale excavation of the central monuments of Aphrodisias, a prosperoustown of 10-15,000 inhabitants, with spectacular results. Well-preserved marblebuildings including the Temple of Aphrodite and the Theater together with otherpublic monuments such as honorifi c inscriptions and portrait statues combine tobring the civic culture of Aphrodisias and the ancient Mediterranean world vividlyto life.Until recently, however, modern knowledge of ancient Aphrodisias extendedonly as far as the city’s fortifi cation walls. Very little attention had been paid tothe monuments outside the gates –beginning with the suburban roads andcemeteries– or to the study of the relationship between the urban settlement andits rural environs. Although the excavations had revealed one of the world’s bestpreservedancient cities, important questions about the history of the city hadremained unanswered.In the Greek and Roman periods, a city and its territory formed an inseparableunit. Cities were dependent on the natural environment for water and food, as wellas other resources, such as, in the case of Aphrodisias, the marble that made itsarchitects and sculptors famous. Obvious subjects of local interest were the watersupply, the nature of agricultural exploitation of the valley, and the local geology.Where were the springs and the aqueducts? What were the major crops? Howwas land divided up? Where did the marble come from?Throughout most of human history, moreover, the inhabitants of this valley havenot lived in a single city, but rather in villages and isolated farmsteads scatteredthroughout the surrounding valley. To understand how the city came into being–what settlement in the region looked like before the city was founded in the 2ndcentury B.C.E.– it was necessary to look outside the city walls. To understandthe ramifi cation of the city’s abandonment in the 7th century C.E., it was alsonecessary to adopt a larger frame of reference–to determine, for example, whetherthe depopulation of the city was due to an increase in mortality, or simply to achange in settlement pattern.* Christopher RATTÉ, The Universtity of Michigan, Department of Classical Studies, 2160 AngelHall, 435 S. State Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1003 USA.103