This gallery has existed for a while with two sets of pictures. After I took many new picturs in March 2007 I separated it in two. I keep this page because people may have linked to it. But click on either of the pictures below and get one of the two fresh galleries.
Miletus has a very good theatre, is quite large but complicated to understand, Priene sits on the flank of a hill overlooking the Menderes Plain (Menderes = Meander, the river that gave its name to the verb "to meander").
MİLET ve PRİENE
Yaşadığım şehir olan Amsterdamı yakın olduğu için Haarlemle aynı gruba koysalardı rahatsız olurdum. Ama, aralarında 22 km olduğu için (Amsterdam-Haarlem gibi), ben bu galeride bunu yaptım. Bunu yapabilirim, çünkü artık orada kimse yaşamıyor. Milette oldukça büyük ama anlaşılması zor çok güzel bir tiyatro var. Priene, Menderes Ovasına (menderes sözcüğüne adını veren nehir) bakan bir tepenin yamacında kurulu.
Türkçe çeviri: Melek Emir. Katkılarından dolayı teşekkür ederim.
By serious archaeological and historical evidence, the name must have been given by Minoan conquerors from Crete who seized the city from its former Caro-Lelegian masters. That was a couple of centuries before the oldest Hittite archives mentioned Milawanda. Certainly Minoans at that time did not speak Greek yet; their language was probably closely related to Luwian. But from Linear A and Egyptian texts, it is clear that the Minoan ending would have been -o, so it would be Mileto or Milato. Milawanda then would be a hittitization of the name of the city; if it were the original, the Greeks would have called it Milanda or Milandos, not Miletos.
Demetrios E. Lekkas PhD
Bob Ancell
01-Dec-2008 07:48
We were in Priene, Miletus and Didyma last year and toured by car. Easy to get around. Priene was the most interesting in that it was necessary to climb quite a number of steep steps to reach the heart of the city. Don't overlook paying attention to the townhouse-like dwellings on the left as you ascend. Imagine living in these tiny structures. Yet the city boasted a splendid temple and a modern gymnasium and theater. One wonders about the quality of life with regards to quantities of food and necessities. Be sure to journey to Heliopolis and the springs of Pamukkale. Several hotels and resorts have exceptional springs in which to enjoy the heated aters.
Jon Ortac
04-Feb-2008 15:36
I was in Miletus in November and managed to capture several similar shots (Mr. Osseman's are much more professional-looking, granted). The name is not important, Anatolia has seen many civilizations come and go, each naming and renaming in their own fashion. The important thing is to appreciate the historical value and common heritages that we all have.
The pictures, even good pictures really couldn't capture the feeling I got looking out on to the great amphitheatre or standing on the windy hills looking out on to the Anatolian heartland. For one moment, if you close your eyes you can travel back in time and imagine what it must have been like to live there during Roman times.
I for one shall continue to encourage and follow Mr. Osseman's travels in Turkey, thank you and kudos!
John Costello
11-Feb-2007 10:25
And one could be totally pedantic and insist on using the city of Milet's _orginal_ name, the Hittite Milawanda.
Cihangir
01-Jan-2007 22:20
Cheers for the great work Mr. Osseman. From what I see, you have travelled long enough to know better not to listen to the whining crowd. I, for one, welcome and congratulate you for your efforts. All your journeys aside, only the fact that you have scanned thousands of photos and uploaded them (something many Turks would be too lazy to do) is reason enough to bow before you. But let alone getting outside their home town and learn the beauties of their country, they just sit in their home and become "online patriots". A kind of patriotism which consists of removing -us -os suffixes from original Greek place names and TA-DA!.. They are Turkified.
If you may, I have a small tip for you: Next time someone comes up to you whining about "Turkish names" and the preservation of the language, just remind them the very name of the country "Türkiye" is a Persian word; -iye is a Persian suffix meaning "that of, belonging to". i.e. Selimiye means "belonging to Selim". If this doesn't silence them, I don't know what will :)
I use international English, as I have indicated before then some place names will be different. "The Hague" is Den Haag in Dutch. If I use Turkish names I cannot make titles, because the Pbase title facility does not use the Turkish signs. Als, if I change names around, people who link to my pages will get lost. So for a mixture of practical reasons and to serve an international public I do as I do.
As for being offended: That was a bit of a joke. In essence, I don't care a bit. As a matter of fact the whole bunch of places like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and many in between is often called "the Randstad". So a Randstad gallery might well treat all of them.
As for being sensitive and sensible: I may well explode one day if too many people think they can criticize me for whatever I do. I am getting pretty fed up with all the nit-picking that goes on in the comments. I want to show pictures, not write a travelguide.
You also seem to have overlooked that "my" esteemed translator used the Turkish spelling in the translation.
Guest
19-Jul-2006 08:58
I agree strongly with your being offended by putting 'Amsterdam' and 'Haarlem' together. You are sensitive and sensible. I am sure you will not call 'New York' in the USA 'New Amsterdam'. Then, why is it that you call places with a Turkish name for many many years by another name? The name of the locality in Turkey and in Turkish is 'Milet' not 'Miletus'.
Cevval Ulman
08-Mar-2006 18:23
Priene is the first city with square planning, all the streets are parallel and crossroads with 90 degrees. The wind from the sea in Priene on a hot summer day is so refreshing.
PBase Server Error
ERROR: 500
NOTES: [hset] LOADING Redis is loading the dataset in memory, at /usr/local/share/perl5/Redis.pm line 268.
,
ERROR: 500
NOTES: [hset] LOADING Redis is loading the dataset in memory, at /usr/local/share/perl5/Redis.pm line 268. ,
PBASE_ENV: production
Try Again:Go Home