Ancient Cities in Turkey
Stratonikeia Ancient City, known as the city of eternal loves and gladiators, is one of the cities of Ancient Caria Region. With an area of 7 km, it is one of the largest marble-built cities in the world. Stratonikeia is included in the World Heritage Temporary List. It is the only city-state with two major sanctuaries dedicated to Hekate and Zeus. The Temple of Zeus Khrysaereon, which is the property of all Karians, is the religious center where important religious ceremonies and meetings were held in ancient times. This is the political center to which the Lagina Hecate Sanctuary belongs.
Today it is located in Eskihisar village of Yatagan district of Mugla Province. It is said that the gladiators lived here after retirement.
According to the ancient writers Herodotus, Strabo, Pausanias and Stephanos of Byzantium, there was a settlement called Khrysaoris / Idrias. Archaeological finds suggest that the city had been inhabited since the middle of two thousand BC.
The city was renamed by Seleucid king Antiochus I as “Stratonike”, the name of his wife.
Stratonikeia and its region were dominated by Seleucus, Ptolemy, Macedonians, Rhodes and Rome by turns.
Stratonikeia; The ancient city of Stratonikeia, situated near the town of Yatağan in Aydin province, was a member state of the Khrysaor Union and founded in the 3rd century BC.
