Aydin
General Information
Other Name: Güzelhisar, District: Aydin, State: Aegean Region, Turkey
Area: 1582 km²
Languages Spoken: Turkish
Long Distance Code: (+90) 0256
Best Time to Visit: May to August
International Access: Izmir Adnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)Description
Aydin (formerly named Güzelhisar and Tralles) is a city in and the seat of Aydin Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River (ancient Meander River) at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast. Its population was 188337 in 2010. Aydin city is located along a region which was famous for its fertility and productivity since ancient times. Figs remain the province's best-known crop, although other agricultural products are also grown intensively and the city has some light industry. At the crossroads of a busy transport network of several types, a six-lane motorway connects Aydin to Izmir, Turkey's second port in less than an hour, and in less still to the international Adnan Menderes Airport located along the road between the two cities. The region of Aydin also pioneered the introduction of railways into Turkey in the 19th century and still has the densest railroad network. The province of Aydin is also where a number of internationally known historic sites and centers of tourism are concentrated. The weather is hot in summer, and warm all year round. Aydin also has the distinction of being the largest urban center in Turkey administered by a female mayor, Mrs. Özlem Cercioglu elected in 2009. Etymology In ancient Greek sources, the name of the city is given as "Anthea" and "Euanthia". During the Seleucid period, it received the name "Antiochia" (Greek: Αντιόχεια). At other times it was also called "Seleucia ad Maeandrum" and "Erynina". In Roman and Byzantine times, it was known as Trelles (in Latin) or Tralleis (Τραλλεῖς in Ancient Greek), and was one of the largest Aegean cities in antiquity. After the first capture of the city by the Turks under the emirate (Beylik) of Mentese, whose lands extended towards the south, who named it for a first period as Güzelhisar, literally "the beautiful castle" (sometimes rendered as Guzel Hissar). The city was later taken over by Turks of the Aydinids, whose lands extended towards the north, who named it after Aydinid dynasty. "Aydin" meant "lucid, enlightened" in Turkish and in a distinct evolution of the term, came to mean "lettered, educated, intellectual" in modern Turkish. It is still a popular male name. Nevertheless, the name Güzelhisar was used throughout the early centuries of the Ottoman administration as well, often recorded in adjectival form, as "Güzelhisar of Aydin (lands)", but the name Aydin was increasingly preferred. This previous Turkish name also found its way into the international trade vocabulary until at least the end of the 18th century and its modified forms Joselassar and even Joseph Lasat were used to describe a fine type of cotton produced in this same region and much sought after. History Antiquity According to Strabo Tralles was founded by the Argives and Trallians, a Thracian tribe. Along with the rest of Lydia, the city fell to the Persian Empire. After its success against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta unsuccessfully sought to take the city from the Persians, but in 334 BC, Tralles surrendered to Alexander the Great without resistance and therefore was not sacked. Alexander's general Antigonus held the city from 313 to 301 BC and later the Seleucids held the city until 190 BC when it fell to Pergamon. From 133 to 129 BC, the city supported Aristonicus of Pergamon, a pretender to the Pergamene throne, against the Romans. After the Romans defeated him, they revoked the city's right to mint coins. Tralles was a conventus for a time under the Roman Republic, but Ephesus later took over that position. The city was taken by rebels during the Mithridatic War during which many Roman inhabitants were killed. Tralles suffered greatly from an earthquake in 26 BC. Augustus provided funds for its reconstruction after which the city thanked him by renaming itself Caesarea. Strabo describes the city as a prosperous trading center, listing famous residents of the city, including Pythodorus (native of Nysa), and orators Damasus Scombrus and Dionysocles. Several centuries later, Anthemius of Tralles, architect of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, was born in Tralles. Christianity and Byzantine era An early bishop Polybius (fl. ca. 105) is attested by a letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the church at Tralles. The city was officially Christianized, along with the rest of Caria, early after the conversion of Constantine, at which time the see was confirmed. Among the recorded bishops are: Heracleon (431), Maximus (451), Uranius (553), Myron (692), Theophylactus (787), Theophanes and Theopistus both ninth century, and John (1230). Tralles remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church (Tralles in Asia or Trallianus in Asia); the seat is vacant following the death of the last bishop in 1974. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, with the Byzantine Empire was in civil chaos, the Seljuks took Tralles for the first time but Alexios I Komnenos re-captured the city for Byzantium in the later half of the eleventh century. By the 13th century, the city lay in ruins. In 1278, Andronikos II Palaiologos decided to rebuild and repopulate it, now to be renamed Andronikopolis or Palaiologopolis, with the aim of forming a bulwark against Turkish encroachment in the area. The megas domestikos Michael Tarchaneiotes was given the task: he rebuilt the walls and settled 36,000 people from the surrounding regions. Nevertheless, Turkish attacks resumed soon after. The city was besieged and, lacking sufficient supplies and access to water, captured by the beylik of Menteshe in 1284, with over 20,000 inhabitants being sold off as slaves. 13th century Byzantine settlement policy along the Meander Valley notably involved the Turkic Cumans. Turkish era Under the rule of Menteshe, whose lands extended towards the south, the city was renamed as Güzelhisar ("beautiful castle"). The city was later taken over by the Aydinids, and made it one of their principal settlements, but not the capital. The Beylik of Aydin was founded in the region in 1307 and they ruled the lands north of Büyük Menderes River up to and including Izmir. During the first half of the 14th century, Aydinids were as active as the Ottomans, if not more, in pressuring the islands and the lands west of Anatolia, and they caused much hardship for the Byzantine and Latin dependencies of the Aegean Sea and mainland Greece. The principality was taken over by the rising Ottoman Empire, for the first time shortly before the Battle of Ankara between the Ottomans and Tamerlane in 1402, and then finally in 1425, Tamerlane having given back the province to the sons of Aydin in the interval. Aydin became part of Anatolia Province of the Ottoman Empire and this until 1827, when it became the seat of its own eyalet under its own name, constituted among other reasons to respond to the prevalent unrest in the region, as exemplified by Atcali Kel Mehmet Rebellion (1829–1830). The seat was moved to Izmir in the 1840s and with the abolition of eyalets under the administrative reforms of 1864, Aydin became a sanjak (subprovince) of the vilayet of the same name, with its seat still in Izmir, which had outgrown Aydin city in size as it became a booming port of international trade. In the 19th century Aydin continued to benefit from its location at the center of the fertile Menderes valley, and its population grew.At that time, besides figs and olive oil, which were the traditional crops of the region, cotton also grew in importance, with many European investors seeking alternative sources of cotton at the time of the American Civil War. Construction of Izmir-Aydin Railway The first railroad commenced in the Ottoman Empire and the first finished within the present-day territory of Turkey was built by the British Levant Company connecting Aydin to Smyrna (now Izmir). The 130 km (81 mi) line was started in 1856 and finished in ten years.The line fundamentally changed Aydin region's economy. The railway station built at the time remains an impressive structure in the city of Aydin. The Greek Occupation of Aydin During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), violent fighting took place in and around Aydin [Αϊδίνιο], especially in the beginning phase of the war, during the Battle of Aydin between 27 June and 4 July 1919. The civilian population of the city, principally Turkish as well as Greek, suffered heavy casualties. Neither could the city's Jewish population, 3,500-strong in 1917 go unscathed. The "efe" resistance Aydin remained in ruins until it was re-captured by the Turkish army on 7 September 1922. Resistance warriors such as the efe Yörük Ali, who were based in the surrounding mountains and conducted a guerrilla warfare against the Greek army, became heroes in Turkey. Following the war and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey the Greeks of Aydin were exchanged with Muslims living in Greece under the 1923 agreement for the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey.Location
Aydin is a city in and the seat of Aydin Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River (ancient Meander River) at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast. Its population was 188337 in 2010.Climate
The weather is hot in summer, and warm all year round.