Metropolis Archaeological Site

Metropolis lies in Torbalı district of Izmir, between the villages of Yeniköy and Özbey, with Mount Gallesion at its back. The city took its name from the mother goddess Meter Gallesia, and traces of the first settlements around it, at Tepeköy, Dedecik and Kuşçuburun, go back to the Neolithic.

In late antiquity Metropolis became a bishop's seat, but wars and economic troubles made it shrink, and a defensive fortress was built. From the 14th century it came under the Aydınoğulları principality, but it could not survive on its old site and the population moved to Torbalı.

The theatre, built in the Hellenistic period, was later given a marble floor and a bigger stage building in Roman times. Restored in 2000 and 2001, it seats about 4,000 people. On the southern slope of the theatre, excavations to trace the link with the city centre uncovered a Peristyle House. Its central courtyard was paved with marble slabs and framed by four rows of columns, and the many rooms around it, with painted plaster and rich finds, belonged to a wealthy Roman resident.

Above rises the acropolis, the fortified upper town.