Classical Turkey: The Aegean Coast

Greek and Roman cities of Turkey’s Aegean coast were once some of the most powerful in the ancient world, from, if Homer is to be believed, the site of the legendary conflict between Greeks and Trojans, to the World Heritage Site of Hierapolis. The remains of these splendid cities are set in a breathtaking landscape of rugged limestone peaks, plunging valleys, olive groves, pine forests and flower-dotted meadows, with the glittering blue waters of the Aegean Sea highlighting the distance. This journey takes us deep into the material world of Classical antiquity through the cities, sanctuaries and landscapes that defined Greek and Roman civilisation. From the imperial layers of Istanbul to the Ionian shoreline, we trace the evolution of cities, religion and political power across more than a millennium of classical history and culminates at Ephesus, one of the most complete Greco-Roman cities in the eastern Mediterranean.