THE GRAECO-ROMAN EPOCH During the last centuries of this millennium and the first centuries of the Christian era, Greek and Roman influence became predominant in the country. There are, therefore, changes in the character of the monuments. The art, which at first was purely oriental, then hellenized, gives place to Graeco-Roman art, and can be distinguished from that of the continent only by its oriental exuberance of detail, this being the case also at this time in Syria.
Assus.—Among the principal ruins of the Aegean coast and its neighbourhood, we must cite in going from north to south : Assus, facing the north-eastern point of the island of Mitylene, built on terraces cut into the side of a hill, where an agora, a theatre, a gymnasium and a street of tombs have been unearthed. The sculptures of Assus use the Dorian order, but in a hybrid form, a feature not found in Asia Minor except at Pergamus. The temple, of which nothing remains but the bare surface of the stylobate, dates probably from the middle of the 5th century.
Pergamus.—At the junction of the Selinus and the Caicus, is the ancient capital of a State, which became independent of the Macedonian empire of Alexander's successors, and which main tained its independence from 220 to 133 B.C. The German excava tions at Pergamus have revealed baths, amphitheatre, theatre, an asklepieion, and on the Acropolis, the agora and gymnasia, remains of the sanctuary of Athene Polias and of the temple of Trajan and Hadrian: Ephesus.—The Austrian and the British excavations have laid- bare the great monuments of the city, the agora, baths, library, theatre, gymnasium and p 3rticos. At the Odeon a long portico of 23 columns, the bases of the columns still occupying their original positions, and several of their capitals, decorated with bulls' heads have been found. The most celebrated monu ment of Ephesus is the Artemision, the temple of Artemis. The old temple was built in the 6th century B.C., on the site of three previous sanctuaries; it was burnt in 356, rebuilt and finished at the end of the 4th century.
Priene.—In the deep valley of the Maeander German excava tions have revealed a hellenistic city with streets cut at right angles; the theatre, the sanctuary of Demeter and the temple of Athene Polias, built in 334 B.C., are still to be seen. These ruins show us what was the type of hellenistic city in Asia Minor.
Didyma is situated near Miletus; the French, and then the Germans, have made excavations there, which have brought to light the remains of the oracular shrine of Apollo ; begun at the end of the 4th century B.e., it was not finished at the beginning of the Christian era. It was a long building surrounded by columns (12 2 in all) which were more than 20 metres high, only three of which remain standing. The sculptures on the door leading from the naos to the cellar are an indication of the richness of the ornamentation of this temple. "The way of the Branchides," ornamented with the statues of priests of that name, leads from the temple to the sea.
Halicarnassus, to the south of Miletus, was the capital of a small State, which became independent under Mausolus, a Per sian satrap. The British Museum possesses important fragments of the famous tomb (from which the word mausoleum is de rived) which was raised by his widow.