Alexandria's founded by Alexander

Alexandria's founded by Alexander the Great (by year BC): 334 Alexandria in Troia (Turkey) - 333 Alexandria at Issus/Alexandrette (Iskenderun, Turkey) - 332 Alexandria of Caria/by the Latmos (Alinda, Turkey) - 331 Alexandria Mygdoniae - 331 Alexandria (Egypt) - 330 Alexandria Ariana (Herat, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria of the Prophthasia/in Dragiana/Phrada (Farah, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in Arachosia (Kandahar, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in the Caucasus (Begram, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria of the Paropanisades (Ghazni, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria Eschate or Ultima (Khodjend, Tajikistan) - 329 Alexandria on the Oxus (Termez, Afghanistan) - 328 Alexandria in Margiana (Merv, Turkmenistan) - 326 Alexandria Nicaea (on the Hydaspes, India) - 326 Alexandria Bucephala (on the Hydaspes, India) - 325 Alexandria Sogdia - 325 Alexandria Oreitide - 325 Alexandria in Opiene / Alexandria on the Indus (confluence of Indus & Acesines, India) - 325 Alexandria Rambacia (Bela, Pakistan) - 325 Alexandria Xylinepolis (Patala, India) - 325 Alexandria in Carminia (Gulashkird, Iran) - 324 Alexandria-on-the-Tigris/Antiochia-in-Susiana/Charax (Spasinou Charax on the Tigris, Iraq) - ?Alexandria of Carmahle? (Kahnu)

Monday, April 29, 2013

Andriake, port of Myra

The site of Andriake lies just across the road from Myra. Driving up, I can’t miss noticing the huge Granary that Hadrian built: 65 meters long by 32 meters wide, a real eye-catcher! It is now marshy land, and it seems nothing much has been done to revive the ruins when I stopped here in the Spring of 2008, but there is enough to entice me.


The road ends at the harbor from where the day tourists are taken by glass-bottom boats to visit the sunken remains on the north side of Kekova Island, which I saw when I sailed the Lycian Coast with Peter Sommer Travels. There is plenty of activity in the local dry docks where seasoned craftsmen are hammering and soldering to get their vessels in shape for the upcoming season. I walk through the sand that the Lycian winds have blown into Andriake harbor over the past centuries, turning it into a swampy area with plenty of waterfowl.

It is easy finding the Granary that Hadrian built here when he visited Myra in 131 AD, although there is no actual path leading to it. After passing the remains of uninspiring walls amidst the bushes, I come to an open space revealing the building on the higher side of the slope. This Granary or Horrea is composed of nine successive rooms that could hold 6,000 cubic meters of grain. Each chamber inside the building is connected to the next, while each has its own wide entrance door to the outside also. There must have been massive locks on these doors, considering the empty space in the side wall where the bolt fitted in. The façade and the partition walls are built with rectangular blocks, but the more sturdy polygonal technique was used for the back wall. Looking closely, I discover the bust of Hadrian and his wife Sabina still in place above the central room. Between the square guardhouses that frame the façade at each end, I also find the reliefs depicting the dreams of the warehouse keeper who served here in the 5th century AD. One of the door lintels shows a relief of shields and spears. Protruding blocks may have held decorative statues between the windows above (that must have provided the necessary ventilation).

Andriake does not look much today, but in antiquity, it was a chief port for Egyptian vessels on their way to Rome. Egypt was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire, so Andriake was a major transshipment port for grain from Alexandria. Like the bay of Iasos in Western Turkey, Andriake harbor could be closed off by a strong chain.

As I walked on, I reached the Agora or Plakoma, surrounded by shops on three sides. What strikes me here is the vast underground cistern half hidden under the large white slabs of the Agora floor where the city stored its fresh water. I see nothing more than a partial pavement half hidden under the low bushes, with gaping openings to the entrails of the cistern. I move around with caution, carefully avoiding these pitfalls.

Some more walls and buildings look like Basilicas and baths, but I need help to figure them out correctly in this overgrown terrain. From my readings, I remember that there must have been statues here to honor Germanicus and his wife Agrippina, who visited Myra in 18 AD, but I’m not sure where.

I leave the rest of the city with its hexagonal tower, its mixture of polygonal and rectangular walls, and the necropolis with Lycian sarcophagi higher up the hillside for what it is. I have seen enough for now.

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