Mastaura
Near Nazilli: an ancient city within the valley and passage networks of the Büyük Menderes basin.
Aydın · Valley and passage city
North of Nazilli, beside a watercourse
Aydın's Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism locates Mastaura about three kilometres north of Nazilli, in a narrow valley between Bozyurt and Eycelli. The Mastavra Stream, a northern branch of the Büyük Menderes known in antiquity as Khrysaoris, runs through the city. This page treats water not as backdrop but as an element explaining settlement topography and nearby passages.
A node of passage in historical geography
The official Mastaura page presents the city as an important stop in the Caput Via context running from Miletus and Ephesus via Tralleis and Nysa to Hierapolis and Laodicea, then eastward. The same source notes natural passages arriving from the directions of Caria and Lydia. This does not mean every connection worked at the same time or in one administrative network; it is a historical-geographical frame for reading Mastaura at the scale of the valley.
A university record dated 2022
A 27 September 2022 report by Aydın Adnan Menderes University says the first excavations began that July and records exposed exterior support walls, galleries, vaulted corridors and seating. This is a dated excavation observation. The page does not use that report as proof of current visiting conditions, completed restoration or the present state of the site.
Alongside Nysa and Tralleis
Nysa's gorge-and-bridge arrangement, Mastaura's valley-crossroads setting and Tralleis's public structures on a plateau are different settlement scales. Placing them side by side is not to reduce three cities to one monument list or a continuous modern route; it is to compare forms of water, slope and passage across the Büyük Menderes basin.
Keeping the research record open
The Mastaura page awaits an institution- and date-bearing update for new excavation, conservation or access information. In the inventory layer, stream, valley, city area and excavation notes will be treated as connected but distinct records.
Four sourced layers from the research library
How is the place situated?
Mastaura lies about three kilometres north of Nazilli in the valley between Bozyurt and Eycelli. Mastavra Stream, also named Khrysaoris in the official record, passes through the city area and makes water and terrain the main line through which to read the settlement.
How do the layers change?
The official historical-geography record places Mastaura alongside directions involving Miletos/Ephesos, Tralleis, Nysa, Hierapolis and Laodikeia. A university report dated 27 September 2022 records that excavations begun that July exposed outer support walls, galleries, vaulted corridors and seating; the two records operate at different timescales.
How was the place inhabited?
Natural passages from the directions of Caria and Lydia meet in the Büyük Menderes valley, placing Mastaura within a geography of movement and connection. This context does not prove that every road functioned simultaneously or that a continuous visitor route exists today.
What can be said today?
The university source provides a dated view of excavation and conservation work observed in 2022, including restorers working on cracks and deterioration. It is not current evidence for access, opening hours, tickets or completed restoration, so present visiting conditions require separate verification.
Connected stops
Stories that include this stop
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Where is Mastaura?
Mastaura is presented in this guide as a valley and passage city in Aydın.
How can I find sources for Mastaura?
The Sources section on this page links to the institutions and research records supporting this dossier.