Alinda

Alinda was an ancient city in Caria in Asia Minor, about 25 km southwest of Çine in the province of Aydın, Turkey.

Description

Alinda lies on two ridges above the present village Karpuzlu. In the lower town the most striking is a former three-story building, from the lower two floors, the perimeter wall is still intact. It is 90 meters long and is interpreted as a warehouse and shop line of the 30 meter wide Agora. The divided basement rooms are at ground level from the side of the valley, from the ground floor of the Agora. Supports in the outer wall and a series of pillars occupy the former upstairs. The structure of the building, thus is also reminiscent of large caravanserais with storage cellar, walk-in stables and living quarters upstairs.

Further up the slope lies the well-preserved theater. It is oriented to the southwest. The retaining wall of the auditorium ( cavea ) and the Analemmata are executed in the Hellenistic ashlar masonry. On the upper plateau of the city can be found the foundations of a small ante temple.

In the north of the upper town, a necropolis draws extensively on the flat mountain saddle. Numerous Carian tombs are in the landscape; many grave sites are also beaten directly into the bedrock.

The upper town is in the West, a massive fortified Upper Castle and the subsequent on the hillside to the east lower castle. On the south side is both a bastion in front, which is joined to the castle through a gate system. The boundary wall of the upper castle, as the attachment of the lower city, dates from the late classical period. And fixtures are from the Byzantine period.

To the west of the Upper Town is an approximately 45 meter section of an aqueduct. Four arcs are intact, next to a section wall with a gate. The top of running water channel is still covered by some stones.

Aqueduct

Covered market

Necropolis

History

A large part of the ancient ruins dating back to the 4th century BC, especially from the reign of Mausolus and Ada. The sister and successor of Mausolus lived from 340 BC in Alinda, after she had been evicted from their younger brother Pixodaros from Halicarnassus. When Alexander the Great BC came on his campaign after 334 Caria, she handed him Alinda and offered him the adoption. He stepped to the succession of the Carian ruler and sat Ada after the conquest of Halicarnassus as the Queen of Caria, a.

Alinda was still inhabited during the Byzantine period and episcopal see, the lives on as titular Alinda of the Roman Catholic Church.

A suspected identity with the Hittite Ijalanda is not occupied.

History of Research

In modern times, reported first Briton Richard Pococke about Alinda from his trip to the Middle East during the years 1737-42. In the 19th century William Henry Waddington, Philippe Le Bas and others with travelogues and drawings followed. Middle of the 20th century were studied individual questions on settlement development and architectural history as well as a focus on the necropolis. Excavations have so far not taken place in Alinda. Since 2007, an applied 3-year survey project run by the Institute for Studies of Ancient Culture of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in the ancient settlement of Alinda.