Like Ephesus, Priene was once a sophisticated port city. Although its relative lack of spectacular ruins leaves more to the imagination, Priene enjoys a commanding position high on Mt Mykale, giving it a certain natural grandeur missing at Ephesus. The site also offers plenty of shady trees, less crowds and views across the pathwork fields, making a trip here cooler and more relaxing.
While up on these craggy peaks, try to imagine the sea below you, instead of today's fields. Before the Meander River silted over, Priene had two harbours, and was famed for its shipbuilding industry and sailing tradition.
There are toilets in the car park and cafes in the village below, abutting a ruined Byzantine aqueduct.
History
Priene was important by 300 BC (when the League of Ionian Cities held congresses and festivals here), peaking between then and 45 BC. Still, it was smaller than nearby Miletus, and the Romans made fewer modifications of its Hellenistic buildings, which has preserved its uniquely 'Greek' look. By the 2nd century AD, however, the silt had won, and most of the population relocated to Miletus. Amid the rubble, a tiny Greek village, Samson (later populated by Turks also) existed until 1923, when the Greeks were expelled and the remaining Turks moved to the neighbouring village of Güllübahçe.
Digging only started here in the late-19th century, led by British and German archaeologists. Plenty of marble statues and other antiquities ended up in their museums – in some cases, short-sighted sultans actually traded them for 'useful' things such as trains and technology.
Sights
After the ticket booth for the ruins, walk up the steep path. Note that Priene's streets meet at right angles – a system invented by Hippodamus (498–408 BC), an architect from nearby Miletus. Creator of the 'grid system' of urban planning, Hippodamus became influential, and his system was used not only in Miletus and Priene, but also in Rhodes, Piraeus (the port of Athens) and even ancient Greek Thurii, in southern Italy. As at Ephesus, Priene's marble streets also have gouged lines and notches to prevent slipping.
On a high bluff backed by stark mountain and overlooking what was once the sea, stands the ruined Temple of Athena, destroyed by earthquakes. Once Priene's biggest and most important structure, it was designed by Pythius of Priene, who also designed Bodrum's Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. An original inscription, now in the British Museum, states that Alexander the Great funded the temple.
Unlike Hippodamus, whom Aristotle recalled as being rather the free spirit (he never cut his hair and wore the same clothes year-round), Pythius was a stickler for detail. He saw his Classical Ionian temple design as solving the imperfections he perceived in preceding Doric design. Today's five re-erected columns give some sense of the temple's original look, though many others lie in unruly heaps around it.
Priene's theatre (capacity 6500) is among the best-preserved Hellenistic theatres anywhere. Whistle to test the acoustics, and slip your fingers between the lion's-paw indentations on the finely carved VIP seats in the front row.
Nearby lie Byzantine church ruins. Also see the nearby bouleuterion (council chamber), built to hold 250 interlocutors; from here a narrow path leads down to the ruined medical centre, the Asclepion (once thought to be a Temple of Zeus). Remains of a gymnasium, stadium and recently excavated Hellenistic Synagogue are also around.
You can follow the remains of the city wall, once 2.5km long and 6m high with 16 towers, back to the car park.
Getting There & Away
Dolmuşes run from Söke to Güllübahçe village (₺3, 20 minutes) every 20 minutes, stopping 250m from Priene, by the Byzantine aqueduct cafes. Services are less frequent in winter.
