Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The ancient world certainly knew just where to build. Imagine a prime hilltop spot facing the northern peaks of Lesbos island just across the Mytilini Strait, its slopes plunging 700 feet down to clear Aegean waters. Fishing and sailing boats are sheltered in a marina fronted by restaurants, while the ruins of a nearby ancient breakwater are still visible underwater.
If this stunning scene were California, there would be condos all over. The Athena temple glows over the Aegean at Assos in western Türkiye's Çanakkale province. But this is Assos , the perfect place to build an acropolis and temple to Athena, which is just what the Greeks did in 540 BC.
With a new bridge over the Dardanelles strait, Türkiye has cut the drive from Istanbul to just a few hours to this westernmost Anatolian province of Çanakkale, known to the ancient world as Troa. Assos lies just another hour south from Troy. It’s all part of Türkiye’s promotion of its Aeneas Route of ancient sites.
Colonizers from Lesbos first sailed over in the 7th century BC to found Assos. The city eventually hosted a Who’s Who of ancient celebrities who passed through. Aristotle founded an academy, married the ruler’s niece, and stayed for three years until the Persians retook control; Caligula was brought as a six year old; Saint Paul stopped here as he walked the Roman Road; Byzantines and Ottomans all left their marks as well.
Starting in the 1880s, a b.
