Finds shed light on İzmir’s Smryna Agora

Amid the ongoing archaeological excavations to uncover Smyrna Agora and Smyrna Theater on an area between İzmir's Kadifekale and Kemeraltı districts, the traces from Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, as well as various principalities and the Ottoman era, have come to light so far.

Associate Professor Akın Ersoy, a lecturer at İzmir Katip Çelebi University's Department of Turkish-Islamic Archeology and the head of the Smyrna ancient city and Agora Theater excavation committee, stated that during the last two years, they found remains of a gymnasium in the Smryna Agora, while excavations still continue to uncover them.

Stating that a Satyros relief and a body part of the Herakles statue came to light during the excavations, Ersoy said that they also found findings related to the culinary culture of İzmir.

Archaeological excavations carried out on an area of 193 hectares have revealed thousands of objects from various periods. The artifacts provide information about the social and commercial life of the period.
Ersoy stated that İzmir changed places three times in a span of 8,500 years and said, "The third displacement is represented by the archaeological finds in Konak in the last 2,500 years. There are Byzantine, Beylics, Ottoman and Republican eras."

Ersoy stated that they have been working for six years to reveal the 20,000-people capacity Smyrna Theater on the outskirts of Kadifekale. "We have so far uncovered the 5,000-people capacity section. Due to the fact that the theater is in the city, it has some disadvantages. It was used as a quarry in the late Byzantine and Ottoman eras, and we see that a significant amount of seating arrangements have been dismantled. We are not surprised when we see the stone of the theater...