Aigai

An Aeolian city away from the coast

Aigai stands near Köseler in Yunus Emre district on Mount Yunt, in a mountainous geography relatively distant from the sea. The Culture Portal stresses this unusual setting; the city asks us to think of the Aegean not only through harbours but through the production and passes of inland mountains.

Goat, leather, textile and bone

The link between Aigai's name and goat, the goat symbol on city coins, inscriptions and pastoral villages on Mount Yunt are presented by the official source as evidence suggesting an economy based on animal husbandry. It reports the sale of leather, textile and bone products in the Hellenistic period. This opens the mountain city to reading through production chains as well as stone structures.

Council, agora and market

The bouleuterion is set on sloping ground along the main route to the agora square; the source describes seating for about 190 people. Nearby, the macellum is thought to have served as a fish or meat market. Public life can therefore be traced through spaces of decision, exchange and gathering rather than an abstract label of 'ancient city'.

Layers of abandonment and research

The Culture Portal reports that Aigai was deliberately abandoned during Gothic raids in the second half of the third century CE, had a smaller Byzantine settlement, and saw no settlement activity after the thirteenth century. This dossier will not present new excavation, conservation or visitor information as settled fact without an up-to-date institutional announcement.

A mountain city in a regional network

Thinking of Aigai with Pergamon, Sardis and Kula lets us read the Aegean through networks of mountain, production, city and road rather than a strict divide between coast and interior. In the inventory, inscription, cistern, council building, market area and pastoral narrative will become separate yet linked records.

Connected stops

• Bergama
• Sardes
• Kula Volkanları

Sources

• Kültür Portalı · Aigai Antik Kenti