Magnesia ad Sipylum

Magnesia ad Sipylum was a city of Lydia, situated about 65 km northeast of Smyrna (now İzmir) on the river Hermus (now Gediz) at the foot of Spil Mount. Nowadays this is the location of Manisa in Turkey.

No mention of the town is found till 190 BC, when Antiochus the Great was defeated in the battle of Magnesia by the Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. It became a city of importance under the Roman dominion and, though nearly destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius, was restored by that emperor and flourished through the Roman empire. It was one of the few towns in this part of Anatolia which remained prosperous under the Turkish rule. There are two famous relics of antiquity. The first is the Niobe of Sipylus (Aglayan Kaya), a natural rock formation, on the lowest slopes of the mountains in the middle of town. The second is a carving, allegedly of Cybele (Suratlu Tash) about 100 meters up the mountain about 6 km east of the town. This is a colossal seated image cut in a niche of the rock, of Hittite origin, and perhaps that called by Pausanias the very ancient statue of the Mother of the Gods, carved by Broteas, son of Tantalus, and sung by Homer. It can be seen by driving into a parking lot at a children's playground. Near it lie many remains of a primitive city, and about a kilometer east is the rock-seat conjecturally identified with Pausanias' Throne of Pelops. There are also hot springs and a sacred grotto of Apollo.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Coordinates: 38°36′47″N 27°25′33″E / 38.61306°N 27.42583°E / 38.61306; 27.42583

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