Mount Sipylus
Encyclopedia
Mount Spil the ancient Mount Sipylus (elevation 1513 m (4,964 ft)), is a mountain rich in legends and history in Manisa Province
, Turkey
, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians
and what is now Turkey's Aegean Region.
Its summit towers over the modern city of Manisa
as well as over the road between İzmir
and Manisa. The contiguous mass of Mount Yamanlar
, also overlooking the Gulf of İzmir
, has often been considered as an extension of Mount Sipylus massif with which it shares much history, although it is actually an extinct volcano
and a distinct geographical formation.
carved in rock, dated to the late-Hittite
or Luwian period in late second millennium BCE, is found near Mount Sipylus, several kilometers east of Manisa. The sculpture is known as Taş Suret in Turkish (meaning "Stone Figure") and sometimes referred to as such also in international literature.
The mountain was considered a favorite haunt of the mother goddess. According to an old myth the sculpture was carved by Broteas
, Tantalus' ugly son.
According to the Byzantine commentator John the Lydian, the unknown author of the 7th century BCE epic poem, the Titanomachy
, placed the birth of Zeus
, not in Crete
, but in Lydia
, which should signify Mount Sipylus.
The names "Sipylus" or "Sipylum" are mentioned by Pliny the Elder
, supported by other sources, as the site of a very celebrated city called "Tantalis" or "the city of Tantalus
", by the name of its cited founder. Presumably located on or very near the mountain, the city's ruins were reportedly still visible around in the beginning of the Common Era
.
The same Tantalus is famed through Greek mythology
by the accounts relating that he had cut up his son Pelops
and served him up as food for the gods. His son Pelops is said to have migrated later to the Peloponnese
, named after him, and to have founded a kingdom. Tantalus' daughter was the tragic Niobe
, who is associated with the "Weeping Rock" (Ağlayan Kaya in Turkish), a natural formation facing the city of Manisa.
Later in ancient times, Mount Sipylus, located in Lydia
, , rose above the site of Magnesia ad Sipylum
(the southern portion of modern Manisa
), whose existence is traced back as far as the 5th century BCE. Magnesia was located along the Hermus River (Gediz River
) on the plain below and was the scene of the defeat of Antiochus III "the Great" by the Romans, at the Battle of Magnesia
in 190 BCE. Smyrna
lay nearby.
The mountain as a whole presents an area of dense forests and beautiful scenery, known especially for its wild tulips. The mountain is also a favorite spot for camping, parachuting
, hiking and other mountain sports.
The motorway connecting the two busy metropolitan centers that are İzmir
and Manisa crosses between the two neighboring masses of Mount Sipylus and Mount Yamanlar, through "Sabuncubeli Pass", much described by ancient travellers and writers and which descends from an altitude of 600 m to sea-level over a rather short distance in kilometers. The highest point of the pass corresponds to a point very near the boundary between İzmir Province
and Manisa Province
.
Manisa Province
Manisa Province is a province in western Turkey. Its neighboring provinces are İzmir to the west, Aydın to the south, Denizli to the south east, Uşak to the east, Kütahya to the north east, and Balıkesir to the north...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians
Lydians
The Lydians were the inhabitants of Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian group....
and what is now Turkey's Aegean Region.
Its summit towers over the modern city of Manisa
Manisa
Manisa is a large city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of İzmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in...
as well as over the road between İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
and Manisa. The contiguous mass of Mount Yamanlar
Yamanlar
Mount Yamanlar is a mountain in İzmir, Turkey, located within the boundaries of the Greater Metropolitan Area of the city.Easily accessible from Izmir, Yamanlar is a popular excursion spot for the inhabitants of the city. It is served by a steep, well maintained road. A village of the same name as...
, also overlooking the Gulf of İzmir
Gulf of Izmir
The Gulf of İzmir , formerly known as the Gulf of Smyrna, is a gulf on the Aegean Sea, with its inlet between the peninsula of Karaburun and the mainland area of Foça...
, has often been considered as an extension of Mount Sipylus massif with which it shares much history, although it is actually an extinct volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
and a distinct geographical formation.
History
A full faced statue of CybeleCybele
Cybele , was a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth...
carved in rock, dated to the late-Hittite
History of the Hittites
Hittites were an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa in northern Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, south-western Syria as far as Ugarit, and...
or Luwian period in late second millennium BCE, is found near Mount Sipylus, several kilometers east of Manisa. The sculpture is known as Taş Suret in Turkish (meaning "Stone Figure") and sometimes referred to as such also in international literature.
The mountain was considered a favorite haunt of the mother goddess. According to an old myth the sculpture was carved by Broteas
Broteas
In Greek mythology, Broteas, a hunter, was the ugly son of Tantalus , whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. He was said to have carved the most ancient image of the Great Mother of the Gods , an image that in Pausanias' day was still held sacred by the Magnesians...
, Tantalus' ugly son.
According to the Byzantine commentator John the Lydian, the unknown author of the 7th century BCE epic poem, the Titanomachy
Titanomachy (epic poem)
The Titanomachy is a lost epic poem, which is a part of Greek mythology. It deals with the struggle that Zeus and his siblings, the Olympian Gods, had in overthrowing their father Cronus and his divine generation, the Titans....
, placed the birth of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
, not in Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, but in Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
, which should signify Mount Sipylus.
The names "Sipylus" or "Sipylum" are mentioned by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, supported by other sources, as the site of a very celebrated city called "Tantalis" or "the city of Tantalus
Tantalus
Tantalus was the ruler of an ancient western Anatolian city called either after his name, as "Tantalís", "the city of Tantalus", or as "Sipylus", in reference to Mount Sipylus, at the foot of which his city was located and whose ruins were reported to be still visible in the beginning of the...
", by the name of its cited founder. Presumably located on or very near the mountain, the city's ruins were reportedly still visible around in the beginning of the Common Era
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
.
The same Tantalus is famed through Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
by the accounts relating that he had cut up his son Pelops
Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops , was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. He was the founder of the House of Atreus through his son of that name....
and served him up as food for the gods. His son Pelops is said to have migrated later to the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
, named after him, and to have founded a kingdom. Tantalus' daughter was the tragic Niobe
Niobe
Niobe was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione, the most frequently cited, or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa, and she was the sister of Pelops and Broteas, all of whom figure in Greek mythology....
, who is associated with the "Weeping Rock" (Ağlayan Kaya in Turkish), a natural formation facing the city of Manisa.
Later in ancient times, Mount Sipylus, located in Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
, , rose above the site of Magnesia ad Sipylum
Magnesia ad Sipylum
Magnesia ad Sipylum , was a city of Lydia, situated about 65 km northeast of Smyrna on the river Hermus at the foot of Mount Sipylus...
(the southern portion of modern Manisa
Manisa
Manisa is a large city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of İzmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in...
), whose existence is traced back as far as the 5th century BCE. Magnesia was located along the Hermus River (Gediz River
Gediz River
-Name:The ancient name of the river was Hermos or Hermus.The name of the river Gediz may be related to the Lydian proper name Cadys; Gediz is also the name of a town near the river's sources. The name "Gediz" may also be encountered as a male name in Turkey.-Ancient geography:The Hermos separated...
) on the plain below and was the scene of the defeat of Antiochus III "the Great" by the Romans, at the Battle of Magnesia
Battle of Magnesia
The Battle of Magnesia was fought in 190 BC near Magnesia ad Sipylum, on the plains of Lydia , between the Romans, led by the consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio and his brother, the famed general Scipio Africanus, with their ally Eumenes II of Pergamum against the army of Antiochus III the Great of the...
in 190 BCE. Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
lay nearby.
Spil today
Especially since the 1960s when an importation reforestation effort was made covering thousands of hectares on and around the mountain, Spil Dağı National Park attracts today both tourists and locals. The famous "Weeping Rock" is still widely visited.The mountain as a whole presents an area of dense forests and beautiful scenery, known especially for its wild tulips. The mountain is also a favorite spot for camping, parachuting
Parachuting
Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...
, hiking and other mountain sports.
The motorway connecting the two busy metropolitan centers that are İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
and Manisa crosses between the two neighboring masses of Mount Sipylus and Mount Yamanlar, through "Sabuncubeli Pass", much described by ancient travellers and writers and which descends from an altitude of 600 m to sea-level over a rather short distance in kilometers. The highest point of the pass corresponds to a point very near the boundary between İzmir Province
Izmir Province
İzmir Province is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of İzmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.2, population 3.948.848 . The population was 3,370,866 in 2000...
and Manisa Province
Manisa Province
Manisa Province is a province in western Turkey. Its neighboring provinces are İzmir to the west, Aydın to the south, Denizli to the south east, Uşak to the east, Kütahya to the north east, and Balıkesir to the north...
.