A SACRED CITY HIDDEN IN TMOLOS “DIOSHIERON”: GREEK RELIGION BELIEFS IN ROMAN PERIOD IN THE REFLECTION OF A GROUP OF COINS

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A SACRED CITY HIDDEN IN TMOLOS “DIOSHIERON”: GREEK RELIGION BELIEFS IN ROMAN PERIOD IN THE REFLECTION OF A GROUP OF COINS

Journal Title: The Journal of International Social Research - Year 2016, Vol 9, Issue 44

Abstract

Ancient site of Dioshieron is a city which is located 9 km northeast of the modern county of Ödemiş and in a distance of 110 km to İzmir. It was conceived as a visiting place around a temple dedicated to Zeus in ancient Asia Minor. The city was situated in ancient Lydia, Kaystros (Küçük Menderes) walley and backed by the southern slopes of mount Tmolos (Bozdağlar). It was always presented in literature with its mystical side. Through the ages the city was denominated as “Dioshieron” (Διοσιερόν) i.e. “Sacred Place of Zeus” in antiquity and “Christoupolis” (Χριστούπολις) i.e. “City of Jesus Christ” during the Medieval Era. Dioshieron maintained its religious prominence as a Muslim city after the beginning of Turkish dominance and always conceived as a sacred land. Except for the coins that were issued during the Roman period there are unfortunately little information about the city of Dioshieron in literature. In other words almost nothing is known about the founders and founding time of the city. However it is known that Dioshieron was an important Greek settlement which issued coins in Roman Imperial Period probably in the 1st century AD. To sum up, in this study, a general information about the religious beliefs and traditions of the people of the city will be given in the light of a group of coins which was published in the Lydia volume of the British Museum Catalogue of Greek Coins that include examples of coins issued by the city of Dioshieron.

Authors and Affiliations

Hüseyin ÜRETEN

Keywords

EP ID EP251200
DOI 10.17719/jisr.20164420132
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