Apollon Smıntheus Temple - Gülpınar / Çanakkale

The Apollon Smintheus Temple is on the Southwestern tip of the Biga Peninsula within the province of Çanakkale and located in the town of Gülpınar, previously known as Külahlı. In geological terms the region is a volcanic plateau. It is at a site called Bahçeleriçi at the foot of the valley starting Northeast; northwest of the town. As it is fed with an underground water source, this locality is rich in water and it is probable that by means of underground channels formed in ancient times water was transported to the temple site. The plentiful ness of water here is a symbol of Apollo culture because in the Hellenistic age when the temple was built, the god Apollo in oracles always felt a need for water. This must therefore be the reason for the temple being founded on this site. While on his way from Cape Lecton (Babakale) to Alexandria-Troas in 1785, Jean Baptiste Lechevalier saw the remains of the temple and made the Apollon Smintheus Temple known to the world of archaeology for the first time. In 1853 the British Admiral R N Spratt, who was making a map of the area, while going from Tuzla to Gülpınar reached the ruins of the temple based on information from local people and came across it in the location of Öküzbaşı. Spratt saw that the building belonging to Apollo was an important sacred place constructed in lonic style. By means of an inscription on the temple precincts, he informed the scientific world that the temple belonged to the Smintheus Mouse Culture. Following Spratt, R P Pullan came to the area in 1861 and decided to excavate. Excavations started in 1866 and he worked at the temple through October and November, carrying out this work in the name of the Society of Dilettantes. We have little information about who came to the area after Pullan. Schliemann, when mentioning Külahlı-Gülpınar village, calls it Post-Homeric Chrysa. Later on, at the beginning of the 1900s the visits of Leaf-Hasluck in the Troas- Çanakkale region supply us with reliable information about the history and geography of the Troad. After the first excavations done in 1866, the temple was forgotten for a hundred years. The temple was again rediscovered with the research of H. Weber in 1966. Between 1971 and 1973 Çanakkale Archaeological Museum made soundings in the area. From 1980 up to the present day, the excavations, soundings and restoration work at the Gülpınar;Apollon Smintheus Temple and surroundings have been continuing under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Çoşkun Özgünel in the name of the Ministry of Culture working with lecturers and students from the Classical Archaeology Dept. of Ankara University, Restoration Dept. of the Fine Arts Faculty of Mimar Sinan University, together with the people of the village.

http://www.burasicanakkale.com/burasicanakkale/extra_pages/cnk_reh/ilceler/ayvacik.htm

Sender: M. Fatih Demirhan