Notion Archaeological Project

Notion Archaeological Project

Notion was an Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Türkiye, 50 km south of modern Izmir. It was well known in antiquity for its important military harbor, and for its close associations with the nearby city of Colophon and the oracular sanctuary of Apollo at Claros. Textual sources for the history of Notion include citations in ancient authors such as Hecataeus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle, Polybius, Livy, and Pausanias, and a remarkable dossier of inscriptions from Claros. But the archaeology of Notion has remained largely unexamined until now.

As preserved, Notion is a grid-planned city, 35 hectares (80 acres) in area, surrounded by stout fortification walls. Important buildings within the walls include a Theater, a Bouleuterion (Council House), an Agora (public square), a Heroon (hero shrine), and a small Temple of Athena, all surrounded by extensive residential housing districts. Thanks to its isolated location on two promontories overlooking the Aegean Sea, the site is very lightly buried; it is also unencumbered by modern buildings. Notion is thus unusually accessible – the foundations of hundreds of ancient walls are exposed – making it possible to study the city not as a patchwork of isolated structures, like many other archaeological sites, but as an urban whole.

A comprehensive archaeological survey of ancient Notion was carried out by the University of Michigan and Brown University between 2014 and 2018. In addition to mapping the city and documenting its architectural remains, this survey included extensive collection of surface finds, which showed that Notion was most intensively occupied for a relatively short period, extending from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD (the “long Hellenistic” period). The initial development of the existing town – the construction of new walls and the new city plan – embodied the community’s response to the opportunities and the dangers occasioned by the conquests of Alexander the Great. The subsequent abandonment of the city was closely connected with the explosive growth of nearby Ephesus, promoted by the Roman imperial administration after the battle of Actium. The archaeology of Notion contributes vivid and valuable new evidence for the turbulent history of Ionia in Hellenistic times, and for the different ways in which local communities responded to Roman rule.

In 2022, the University of Michigan received a permit from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Türkiye to begin excavations at the site in collaboration with archaeologists from Sinop and Adnan Menderes Universities in Türkiye. So far, the excavations have focused on a large courtyard house on the west side of the Agora, and on the Bouleuterion on the east side of the Agora. The results have provided valuable new information about the site throughout its history.

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