Iasos

[
thumb|150px|Location_of_Iasos_in_the_Gulf of Güllük in southwestern Turkey. Source: ( [http://www.tayproject.org/TAYages.fm$Retrieve?CagNo=1853&html=ages_maps_t.html&layout=web] )] :"There is also a New Age musician named Iasos."

Iasos or Iassos was a city in Caria located on the Gulf of Iasos (now called the Gulf of Güllük), opposite the modern town of Güllük. It was originally on an island, but is now connected to the mainland. It is located in the Milas district of Muğla Province, Turkey, near the Alevi village of Kıyıkışlacık or Kıyı Kışlacık, about 31 km from the center of Milas.

History

Ancient historians consider Iasos a colonial foundation of Argos, [Thucydides VIII:28, Polybius XVI:12, XVII:2, Livy XXIII:30] but archaeology shows a much longer history. Iasos was a member of the Delian League and was involved in the Peloponnesian War. It became part of the Hecatomnid satrapy in the 4th century and was conquered by Alexander. With the rest of Caria, it became Roman in 125 BC. It seems to have been abandoned in about the 15th-16th century AD.

In the Ottoman period, a small town was founded nearby named Asin Kale or Asin Kurin, in the sanjak of Menteşe within the vilayet of İzmir.

Archaeology

After some preliminary research done by Charles Texier starting in 1835, the site of the settlements in Iasos and the necropolis has been under regular and fully scientific excavations on behalf of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens by Doro Levi (1960-1972), Clelia Laviosa (1972-1984) and Fede Berti (1984- ).

The site of Iasos has been settled continuously since the Early Bronze Age, covering Geometric, Hellenistic and Roman periods, through the Byzantine period. In early times, Iasos was influenced by the culture of the Cyclades islands. Outstanding remains in Iasos include an Artemis stoa and Roman villas.

Church history

Four of its bishops are known: Themistius in 421, Flacillus in 451, David in 787, and Gregory in 878 (Michel Le Quien, "Oriens Christianus" I:913). The see is mentioned in the "Nova Tactica", tenth century (Heinrich Gelzer, "Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis romani", nos. 340, 1464), and more recently in the "Notitiae Episcopatuum". Under the name Jassus, Iasos is a Roman Catholic titular see of Caria and suffragan of Aphrodisias.

References

*
* Grande Encyclopédie, "s.v." Iasos 20:505.

External references

* [http://www.misart.it/hpmisart/scheda.cfm?idmissione=7 Italian Archaeological Mission]
* [http://www.guidebodrum.com/iassos.htm Guide Bodrum]
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin///ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0042&query=head%3D%2336 Iasos article at the Perseus Project]