İzmir Klaros Archaeological Site

CLAROS

A place which has guided history with its prophecies

Claros sanctuary is located on the bottom plain of Ahmetbeyli Valley (Ales), which connects the plain Gulf of Kuşadası to the south, at the south of Cumaovası (Menderes). The temple of Apollo in the Claros sanctuary, which served as a ‘Prophecy Centre’ from its foundation at the end of the 13th century BC until its abandonment in the 4th century AD, was the only Doric temple built in Ionia. The temple began to be built at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. It is known that the crepis, pronaos, naos and monumental cult statues (Leto, Apollo and Artemis) of the temple were completed at the end of the 2nd century BC. The Hellenistic Apollo altar is located to the east of the Temple of Apollo. According to the finds found at the altar, one of the two sacrifice tables on the altar has been dedicated to Apollo and the other to Dionysus.

Archeopark

In the Archaeological Park, which has been created by taking the exact molds of many statues, all of which were found in Claros Sanctuary, a realistic and scaled model of Hellenistic Apollo Claros Temple and its altar are exhibited.

Apollo Claros Sanctuary

As in ancient times, today Apollo Claros Sanctuary has an important place in archeology of Anatolia and the world. First of all, Hekatomb (a block for tethering one hundred animals), which is often mentioned by ancient authors, is the only work in the world found in a sanctuary. Moreover, Claros Sanctuary is one of the rare sanctuaries with monumental-scale (8 m high) cult statues (Apollo, Artemis and Leto) found in situ. Another characteristic of the sanctuary is that it is the only sanctuary with inscriptions all over, even on the crepis (stairs) of the Apollo Claros Temple.