Aphrodisias, Turkey: A Guide to the City of Aphrodite

Where is Aphrodisias?

Aphrodisias is an ancient city in the hills of southwestern Turkey, next to the village of Geyre in the Karacasu district of Aydın province. It lies inland in the upper valley of the Morsynus river, below the marble slopes of Babadağ, in what was once the region of Caria.

That inland position is the reason it feels so different from Ephesus. It is not on the coast or on the way to anywhere, so even on a summer day you share it with relatively few people.

What made Aphrodisias famous

Three things: a goddess, a quarry and a school of sculptors. The city was the sanctuary of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, and took its name from her. Rome paid special attention to it, because Julius Caesar's family claimed descent from Aphrodite (the Roman Venus), and Augustus called Aphrodisias his favourite city in Asia.

Just outside the city were quarries of fine white and blue-grey marble. With the stone on its doorstep, Aphrodisias became one of the great sculpture workshops of the Roman world, and its sculptors worked across the empire. That is why the site and its museum are so rich in statues, portraits and carved reliefs.

In 2017 UNESCO added Aphrodisias to the World Heritage List, together with the ancient marble quarries northeast of the city.

A short history of Aphrodisias

People lived on this spot long before the Greeks. The oldest finds go back to the Neolithic, and a sanctuary of a local goddess existed here by the 6th century BC. In the Hellenistic period she merged with the Greek Aphrodite, and by the 2nd century BC the settlement had grown into a city laid out on a grid.

The golden age came under Rome. A remarkable local man, Gaius Julius Zoilos, was taken by pirates, sold as a slave and ended up as a freedman of Octavian, the future Augustus. He came home rich and paid for the first phase of the Temple of Aphrodite, the theatre's stage building and a colonnade in the agora. The city's most famous thinker came later: Alexander of Aphrodisias, a philosopher who lived around AD 200, known above all for his commentaries on Aristotle.

Christianity and earthquakes ended that world. The temple became a church around AD 500, the city was renamed Stauropolis, "City of the Cross", and after a severe earthquake in the 7th century it shrank to a small fortified town. By the 12th century it was abandoned, and the Turkish village of Geyre (a corruption of the later Byzantine name, Caria) grew up among the ruins.

Its modern story starts with a lost photographer. In 1958 the photojournalist Ara Güler took a wrong turn on the way back from a job, spent the night in Geyre and found villagers playing cards on an ancient column capital. His photographs caused a sensation, and from the early 1960s the archaeologist Kenan Erim of New York University excavated here for the rest of his life. He is buried beside the Tetrapylon. After an earthquake damaged Geyre, the village was rebuilt about a kilometre to the west, leaving the ruins free for excavation, and digging goes on every summer.

What to see at Aphrodisias

The site is large, but paths link the main monuments. Here they are in the order most visitors walk them.

The Tetrapylon

The monumental gateway that led to the sanctuary of Aphrodite, built around AD 200: four rows of four columns under carved pediments. It was reassembled in 1991 using about 85 per cent of its original marble, and it is the picture everyone takes home. Kenan Erim's grave is beside it.

The Temple of Aphrodite

The heart of the city. What you see is a temple turned into a church: around AD 500 the Christians moved some of its columns to form the nave of a basilica. Fourteen columns still stand. The cult statue of the goddess once stood here; a copy of it is in the museum.

The stadium

The reason many people come. About 270 metres long, with seats for some 30,000 spectators, it is one of the best-preserved stadiums of the ancient world. Its slightly bowed sides gave everyone a view of the track. Inscriptions on the seats reserved places for guilds, families and visitors from other towns, and the eastern end was later closed off as an arena for gladiators. It is the farthest monument from the entrance, so many visitors miss it. Don't.

The Sebasteion

A temple complex for the worship of the Roman emperors as gods, dedicated "to Aphrodite, the Divine Augusti and the People" in the 1st century AD. Two three-storey porticoes faced each other across a long processional way, and the spaces between the upper columns held about 190 carved marble panels of emperors, gods and myths. Over 70 were found in the late 1970s; part of the facade has been rebuilt on site, and the originals are in the museum.

The theatre

A white marble theatre on the slope of the old settlement mound, with room for about 7,000 people. It was used both for plays and for public meetings. The stage building carries Zoilos's name, and many of the statues in the museum, from Apollo and the Muses to boxers, were found here.

The Bouleuterion (council house)

A small, beautifully preserved semicircular hall where the city council met; it probably also served as an odeon for music. It held about 1,750 people and survived because it lay under a thick layer of mud for a thousand years.

The South Agora, its pool and the Hadrianic Baths

A huge public square, framed by porticoes, with a long ornamental pool down the middle. One portico was dedicated to the emperor Tiberius, and its frieze of garlands and theatre masks is displayed near the museum. At its western end stand the walls of the Baths of Hadrian, the largest baths in the city.

The Aphrodisias Museum

Leave it for the end, and don't skip it. The museum at the site entrance opened in 1979 and is entered with the same ticket. Its main hall displays the original Sebasteion reliefs, among them the emperor Claudius overpowering Britannia and Nero with his mother Agrippina, at eye level where you can study the carving.

Look for the statue of Aphrodite of the city, found in the Bouleuterion: the best-preserved copy of the goddess's cult statue. She stands stiff and upright like an old Anatolian goddess, quite unlike the familiar nude Aphrodite, in a heavy carved casing showing the Three Graces, the Sun and Moon, Aphrodite riding a sea-goat and little Erotes. Other highlights are the frieze from the monument to Zoilos, portrait statues of the city's leading citizens and a galloping horse in dark blue-grey marble.

Visiting Aphrodisias: hours, tickets and time needed

• Opening hours: the site and museum open every day at 08:30. The current official closing time is 17:30, with the ticket office closing at 17:00; summer hours usually run later.
• Tickets: €12 for foreign visitors, covering the site and the museum. The Müzekart museum card for Turkish citizens is valid. Entrance fees are included on our tour.
• Time needed: allow at least two hours for the main monuments and three to four hours if you want the museum and the stadium at an easy pace.
• Facilities: around the entrance are the museum, a restaurant, shops and toilets.
• Best time of year: spring and autumn. In summer the site gets very hot and there is little shade, so start early and carry water and a hat.

How to get to Aphrodisias

From Kuşadası and the cruise port

Aphrodisias is about two and a half hours inland from Kuşadası, so it is a full-day trip. There is no direct public transport, which makes a private car or tour by far the easiest way. Our Aphrodisias tour picks you up at 07:00, reaches the site around 09:30, leaves at 15:00 and has you back by about 17:30. Cruise passengers should tell us their all-aboard time when booking.

From Selçuk and Izmir

By car the route runs east along the main Aydın–Denizli road. About 15 km past Nazilli you turn south and drive the last 36 km through Karacasu to Geyre. We pick up from hotels in Selçuk and Izmir as well as Kuşadası; message us on WhatsApp and we'll set the pickup time.

By public transport

It is possible but slow: a coach to Nazilli, another to Karacasu and then a local minibus to Geyre. Allow most of a day just for the journey, and check return times before you set out.

From Pamukkale

Pamukkale and Denizli are the closest bases, about an hour and a half by car. Many travellers on a longer trip visit Aphrodisias on the way to or from Pamukkale.

Is Aphrodisias worth visiting? Aphrodisias vs Ephesus

Yes, especially if you have already seen Ephesus or want an ancient city without the crowds. Ephesus is bigger and more famous, with the Library of Celsus and the Terrace Houses, and it is only half an hour from the Kuşadası port. Aphrodisias is quieter and greener, its stadium is better preserved than anything at Ephesus, and its museum is one of the finest collections of Roman sculpture anywhere.

If this is your first and only day in the region, start with Ephesus; our guide to whether Ephesus is worth visiting covers it. If you have a second day, Aphrodisias is the one to add.

Aphrodisias and Pamukkale in one day?

It can be done, but it is a very long day from the coast: about two and a half hours to Aphrodisias, another hour and a half to Pamukkale, and around three hours back to Kuşadası. We can arrange it as a custom private day if that is what you want; the price is different from our standard tours, so message us on WhatsApp with your date and group size.

Most guests are happier doing them on separate days, with our Pamukkale and Hierapolis tour as its own trip. Our Pamukkale day trip from Kuşadası guide explains how that day works, and Laodicea, one of the Seven Churches of Revelation, is another full-day option in the same direction.

Private Aphrodisias tour from Kuşadası

Our Aphrodisias Ancient City tour is a full private day with a professional guide: about five and a half hours at Aphrodisias, including the museum and the stadium, with entrance fees, tolls and parking included. We stop for lunch during the day; lunch is not included, so you pay for what you order.

• Length: about 10 hours, 07:00 to around 17:30
• Price: €85 per person for a group of 15; the price changes with group size
• Pickup: Kuşadası cruise port, or hotels in Kuşadası, Selçuk and Izmir, arranged on WhatsApp
• Included: private professional guide, air-conditioned vehicle, tolls and parking, entrance fees
• Not included: lunch and personal expenses

Tips for visiting Aphrodisias

• Walk the full loop. Most people crowd into the theatre and the museum; the stadium, at the far end, is often almost empty.
• Bring water, a hat and sunscreen. The site is open and exposed, and summer afternoons are hot.
• Wear proper shoes. Paths are gravel and old paving, with steps up into the theatre and stadium.
• Save the museum for last. The reliefs make far more sense once you have stood in the Sebasteion they came from.
• Watch for working archaeologists. Excavations run every summer, and some areas may be fenced off while they work.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Feridun F. Alkaya (CC0), Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 3.0), Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 3.0), Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 3.0), Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 3.0), Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 3.0), Dosseman (CC BY-SA 4.0), Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany (CC BY-SA 2.0), Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany (CC BY-SA 2.0).