Larisa (Buruncuk) Antik Kenti

Larisa is an ancient city spread over two hills on the ridge above the village of Buruncuk in Menemen, overlooking the Gediz plain. It lies about 30 kilometres north of İzmir and commands the fertile plain built up by the alluvium of the Gediz River, known in antiquity as the Hermos. It is counted among the twelve cities of the Aeolis region; to distinguish it from places of the same name in Greece and on the Küçük Menderes road, it is called Larisa Phrikonis or Larisa on the Hermos. The name is thought to belong to a family of old place names in the languages of Anatolia that end in "-assa" and carry the meaning of "fortress, walled place". The sources show that settlement here goes back a very long way. According to a doctoral thesis completed at Istanbul Technical University in 2021, traces of settlement reach back to the Neolithic, while the earliest architectural remains date to the Early Bronze Age. The geographer Strabo reports that the first inhabitants of the city were Pelasgians and that Aeolian settlers arrived later. Strabo held that the Larisa mentioned by Homer in the Iliad was this city. According to Xenophon, the Persian king Cyrus the Great settled a colony of Egyptian soldiers here, which is why the city was for a time also known as "Egyptian Larisa". Xenophon also writes that the Spartan commander Thibron besieged the city but failed to take it. Most of the architectural remains visible on the site today date from between the 7th and 4th centuries BC. The city was badly damaged during the Peloponnesian War in 405 BC, and after being repaired it was plundered by the Galatians in 279 BC. Because no later traces of settlement have been found, the city is thought to have been abandoned in the 3rd century BC. This is what makes Larisa interesting, since no buildings of later ages were added on top of it and it has remained a site that shows the city of the Archaic and Classical periods as it was. The settlement is divided between the two hills at either end of the Buruncuk ridge. The acropolis stands on the lower western hill; here there are palaces, a temple and representative buildings such as a megaron, urban quarters on the southern and northern slopes, and a large cemetery stretching to the north and east. The higher eastern hill was reserved for a strong fortress and a small settlement on its south-eastern foot. In the area between the two hills, close to the level of the plain, regularly planned agricultural buildings and terraces have been identified. The rocky summits of the hills served as foundations for monumental walls, and rocky outcrops were used as quarries. The Late Classical palace on the acropolis stands above the steep north-western slope at the edge of the plateau. According to the research page of the Brandenburg University of Technology, this palace once covered almost one fifth of the Late Archaic acropolis. The building is placed to overlook both the Gediz plain and the old main road that linked central Anatolia with the Aegean world. As one of the few surviving examples of a palace in the region, it attracts the attention of researchers working on Classical palace architecture. The first excavations on the site were begun in 1902 by Swedish and German archaeologists, and work continued in 1932, 1933 and 1934. The results were published in 1940. Part of the terracotta finds went to Stockholm and part to the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, while finds of the Archaic period are kept in the İzmir Archaeological Museum. Because the excavations concentrated mainly on the acropolis, the fortress to the east and the settlement on its slopes had only been marked on the general plan. According to the records of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, an architectural survey led by Prof. Dr. Turgut Saner, begun in 2010, covers the whole ridge. This research has shown that the city saw intense building activity under Persian rule, especially in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Larisa is not a landscaped archaeological park; the ground on the paths up the hills is stony and steep in places, so lace-up walking shoes are essential. There is almost no shade, so choosing the early morning in summer or the spring weeks when the plain turns green makes the visit far more enjoyable. Once you reach the level top of the acropolis you see the meanders of the Gediz across the plain and the mountains to the north at a single glance. While walking among the rows of walls and fortification remains, take care not to step on the stones and not to move any piece. For transport, the northern line of İZBAN runs as far as Menemen; from there you need to continue to Buruncuk and the hill by car. We recommend checking the current access situation with the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.