Wednesday 19 December 2012

Syangela - Alazeytin Castle.


At the weekend the rain clouds retreated and the sun came out again.  After a week of urban walking it was a chance to get back to the countryside and resume Jake the dog's archaeological education. 
We headed out towards Çiftlik with the aim of visiting Syangela.  As usual we got lost, argued about whose fault it was that we'd got lost, back-tracked to the Town Council building in Yalı where a very helpful Osman showed me the route on Google earth, printed out a map and smilingly sent me on my way.  


Syangela is one of eight Lelegian towns around Bodrum. Not much is known about the history of these sites, but they pre-date the Carian cities and were probably at their most populous from the 7th to 4th centuries BC.  We know from Strabo that Mausolus, the Carian ruler, forced the citizens of all the Lelegian towns except Myndos and Syangela to move to Halikarnasus (Bodrum) in the 4th century BC.  It is also on record that Syangela  had a governor called Pigres, paid a tribute of a talent as a member of the Delian League and minted silver coins with griffin heads in 500BC.   All the Lelegian sites are found on hills with panoramic views and sturdy defensive walls with frequent look-out towers surrounding their houses. This didn't however prevent the city being sacked by the Persians.  The wall that Jake is standing beside below is  a typical Lelegian wall:  built using roughly dressed smallish stones. 




This is a good site to compare the Lelegian and Carian building styles. In the centre of Syangela there is a single tower (below) obviously Carian in style with its much larger well dressed stones.


Having said all this, there is also the possibility that this isn't the site of Syangela at all. In recent years, a new discovery has cast doubt on the identification of the remains. Either way it's a pleasant walk to a Lelegian fortress.

Update - 20/2/15  - I've just been to wonderful lecture on  The Lelegians by Dr. Adnan Diler and was able to ask my question about Syangela directly.  It seems that Syangela was originally founded on Kaplan Dağ, close to but not at Alazeytin and was moved by Mausolus to the site now called Theangela.   


The route:  From Bodrum follow the signs to Yalı-Çiftlik.  After Kızılağac village look out for a left turning sign-posted to Alazeytin. Follow this road up through the trees and the first houses of Alazeytin and you come to a junction - the road divides into three. You can't miss it as there is a stone quarry and a flag pole in front of you.  Take the right hand road. It's quite rough so you may want to leave your car just after this turning. Follow this  track passing a house on the left, then a white building on the right and you will come to a track leading to a few houses on the right. You can park here if your car has made it this far.  Walk towards these houses and at the large covered well on the right, turn left and follow the garden wall. By the time you get to the end of the wall and turn right you will see a tractor track leading up the hill to the site. 

15 comments:

  1. Your posts make me wish we'd visited Turkey more often and more thoroughly...still, I can always read about it...

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    1. Hope you come and visit. Ayak and I can show you around

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  2. Tis indeed a fascinating mystery!

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  3. Lovely walk - all the more interesting for its mystery. It's nice to see those blue skies too - today it's overcast here but the forecast is not bad for Christmas. Axxx

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    1. We're under partial cloud today but due for a clear blue sky tomorrow.

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  4. Fascinating, and Jake clearly enjoyed it all too.Have a good Christmas B to B. J.x

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  5. B to B, Seeing your lovely pictures made me think we were on another planet! We are in the middle of a howling storm up here in Istanbul. Oh well, you had the rain last week. Thanks for showing us that somewhere in Turkey, there is blue sky.

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    1. We're feeling the cold air blowing down from you in the North.

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  6. . . archeologists are very handy to have on a walk in this country. There are the remains of a very old settlement about 500mts from my house - the walls are obvious, but it took the eyes of one of you guys to point out the foundations of houses, terrace walls, eroded graves and the like before I could make them out. After that the whole place took on a very different 'feel'. Enjoyed wandering with you :-)

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  7. This looks like a fascinating mystery.....I'm going to try and pay a visit out to Bodrum this time when I visit Turkey.
    Clearly looks like Jake is doing his own investigating. :-)
    Gorgeous weather you have.....take care.

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  8. Wow! More to see if we make it out in that direction again... It feels too cold to take the bike out at the moment though we did have a wonderful stroll round Ephesus today.

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  9. A fascinating post and the landscape and history that surrounds you is breathtaking. I await further elucidation of the mystery.....

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  10. Syangela in Bodrum-Alazeytin. Excavations by W. Radt.

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  11. Thank you for visiting Anıl. I will try and ind this excavation report.

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