Alabanda

Alabanda (Aydın)

The site of Alabanda is located at Araphisar, in the village of Doğanyurt, 4 km west of Çine Çay and 7 km west of Çine. It was occupied from at least the 3rd century BC and the city flourished throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The walls enclose a roughly square area measuring 4.5 x 5.0 km, and the buildings include an agora, bouleuterion, theatre, baths and sanctuaries of Artemis and Apollo. There are also necropoleis to the north and east of the city.

Alabanda has been known since the 18th century and excavations by Halil Ethem Bey took place in 1905-06. In 2008 a study of the Late Hellenistic bouleuterion was begun by Arzu Öztürk of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul, with a program of recording and 3D reconstruction. The bouleuterion is a rectangular structure measuring 26 x 36 m and is located in the south part of the city, between the agora and the main city gate. The seats formed a semicircle within the rectangular structure.