Nysa Archaeological Site

Nysa is one of the Carian cities of Aydın province, near Sultanhisar. Much of what we know about it comes from the geographer Strabo, who spent a large part of his life here. He describes a city split into two parts by a ravine, and that layout is still readable on the ground.

West of the ravine stand the gymnasium, built in the mid-2nd century AD for athletics and education, and the library, dated to around AD 130. The library served as a reading room, meeting hall and court, was repaired around the turn of the 5th century, and went out of public use in the 6th. North of it is the theatre, one of the best-preserved buildings on the site. The reliefs on its stage building depicted scenes from the life of Dionysus, the city's patron god; these friezes are now shown in the Aydın Archaeological Museum.

East of the ravine lie the odeon and the council house, and the large agora, surrounded by columned porticoes of Ionic and Doric design. The stadium, a tunnel and three bridges complete the picture: Nysa's builders worked with the slope rather than against it, which makes the city a fine example of Roman engineering.