Extensive ruins of the ancient city Notion (Notium), meaning “southern” in ancient Greek, are picturesquely situated on a hilltop overlooking the Aegean Sea coast and Ahmetbeyli village. Notion once thrived as the bustling port for the nearby city of Colophon and the oracular centre of Claros, welcoming merchants, travellers, and countless pilgrims en route to the sacred oracle of Apollo at Claros. Today, the remnants of this ancient city lie quietly to the east of the modern town of Ahmetbeyli, nestled within the Menderes district of Izmir Province, while the echoes of Notion's past still linger in the impressive remains of its defensive walls, sprawling necropolis, ancient temples, spacious agoras, and a timeworn theatre.
Historical overview:
The earliest known mention of Notion comes from the historian Herodotus, who listed it among the cities of Aeolis — marking it as the southernmost of the group: "Kyme, which is called Phriconis, Larisai, Neon-teichos, Temnos, Killa, Notion, Aigiroëssa, Pitane, Aigaiai, Myrina, Grynei". However, Herodotus' near contemporary - Hekataios of Miletus - said that Notion was a city of Ionia.
In the archaic period, the most important town in the area was Colophon, founded as a colony by Ionian Greeks. The inhabitants of Colophon were renowned for their wealth that they owed to fertile lands and their sailing skills. In the 8th and the 7th century BCE, they also became famous as exquisite warriors and horsemen. According to ancient writers, their passion for luxuries became the reason for the gradual decline of the city because strolling in purple robes in the haze of perfume usually does not favour military training.
Notion's proximity to the Ionian city of Colophon raises intriguing questions. One possibility is that the Ionian settlers may have negotiated the rights of passage to reach their inland site. More likely, however, is that they originally arrived by following a different river valley that offered easier access.
Relations between Colophon and Notion were anything but harmonious. Their long-standing rivalry may well lie at the heart of the tale of a fateful quarrel between two prophets at the sanctuary of Claros. The Aeolian Greeks of Notion held a deep reverence for the seer Mopsus, while their Ionian neighbours in Colophon claimed a special bond with the famed Calchas.
It's no surprise, then, that the Aeolian custodians of Claros found it especially satisfying to tell a story in which Mopsus not only bested Calchas in a contest of prophecy but ultimately caused his death — right there on sacred ground. Calchas is said to have died of shame at Colophon shortly after the Trojan War, after the prophet Mopsus beat him in a contest of soothsaying.
By the seventh century BCE, Claros had come under the control of Notion — a modest Aeolian settlement still overshadowed by its more powerful inland neighbour, Colophon. Though small, Notion benefited from Colophon's protection, particularly against the rising threat of Lydia. Lacking the size and strength to found colonies of its own, Notion remained a local power with limited reach. Serving as a harbour town of Colophon became crucial to Notion in that period. The harbour's location must have been at the mouth of the Hales River but the exact location the original Archaic and Classical Notion remains uncertain.
In the mid-sixth century BCE, both Colophon and Notion fell under Persian rule. Yet, their subjugation was not permanent. Freed during the Greco–Persian Wars, the two cities joined the Delian League as independent members — Colophon contributing a substantial three talents annually, while the smaller Notion paid just a third of a talent, a quiet testament to their unequal standing.
In the early years of the Peloponnesian Wars, Notion became a city divided. Internal strife fractured its population into rival factions — one of which went so far as to invite mercenaries under Persian command into the city. This political division was even reflected in the urban plan of Notion where a physical wall allegedly separated the two factions. Soon, the Athenians responded with force. Admiral Paches led a swift and brutal campaign to crush the opposition and restore the pro-Athenian faction to power. As Thucydides records, "settlers were afterwards sent out from Athens, and the place colonized according to Athenian laws". From that point onward, Notion transformed into a strategic outpost for Athens — no longer just a small Aeolian town, but now a fortified stronghold aligned with the growing ambitions of the Athenian empire.
In 406 BCE, Notion appeared on the pages of history as a place where a sea battle between the forces of Athens and Sparta. The battle was one of many that took place between these two rivals during the Second Peloponnesian War, fought for hegemony over the whole of Greece. Before the battle of the Notion, the commander of the Athenian fleet - Alcibiades - left the fleet command to the helmsman Antiochus. This fleet blocked the Spartan ships at Ephesus. Contrary to received orders from Alcibiades, Antiochus drew Spartan ships into the battle, which ended in victory for the Spartans. Strategically, the battle of Notion was not very significant, but it had a great symbolic meaning. The Athenians were famous as exquisite sailors, as opposed to the Spartans, who had an opinion of landlubbers. As the result of the battle, Alcibiades lost the command and the Spartan commander Lysander earned a reputation of a person who can defeat the Athenians at sea. Indeed, his subsequent victories led to the end of the war for the benefit of Sparta.
In Hellenistic times Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, while implementing the expansion plan for his kingdom in Asia Minor, forced the Colophonians to resettle. Most of them moved to Ephesus, and some - to Notion. Since then, Notion significantly gained in importance at the expense of Colophon and was known as New Colophon or Colophon at the Sea. The inland city, at that time known as Old Colophon, lost its importance and prestige. In fact, these two cities, Colophon and Notion, never developed into significant cities of the region. The reason was the proximity of Ephesus, which attracted traders and settlers from the entire region of Western Asia Minor.
In 218 BCE, Notion was absorbed into the expanding Pergamene Kingdom under Attalus I of Pergamon. But its fate would soon shift again. In 196 BCE, the city fell into the hands of Antiochus III the Great, one of the outstanding rulers of the Seleucid Empire, only to be reclaimed by the Pergamenes five years later — this time under King Eumenes II. During the pivotal conflict leading to the Battle of Magnesia, Notion stood with Rome and its allies, a choice that earned it a special status of autonomy in 188 BCE.
Yet peace was short-lived. In 132 BCE, as rebellion flared across the region, ships loyal to Aristonicus — who had declared himself king of Pergamon — entered Notion's harbour. The uprising was eventually crushed, and with it ended any lingering independence. Notion was absorbed into the Roman province of Asia, marking the beginning of a long decline. Over time, the city faded from the records, its name disappearing from the chronicles. In the later Roman period, inscriptions attest the existence of a Christian community at Notion, which was an episcopal see by at least the early 5th century CE.
Archaeological research:
Notion ruins occupy an area measuring approximately 500 to 1,000 meters, situated on two adjacent hills, right on the coast of the Aegean Sea. Archaeological works in Notion were first conducted in 1921 as part of the French research expedition, led by Charles Picard.
After a long silence, the story of Notion began to stir once again. Between 2014 and 2018, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan, in collaboration with Brown University, launched the Notion Archaeological Survey. Their focus centred on one of the most dynamic and uncertain periods in the city's history: the final centuries BCE and the early Roman era — an age when many towns across Ionia and its neighbouring regions were being reimagined, relocated, or merged through a process the ancients called synoikismos.
Sometimes driven by the ambitions of imperial rulers, other times by the choices of local communities, these sweeping transformations reshaped the map of Western Asia Minor. Notion was no exception. What remains today is a meticulously planned city laid out in a grid, perched dramatically atop two rocky promontories overlooking a small bay on the eastern edge of the Hales River. Though literary sources mention Notion as early as the 6th century BCE, the city we see now is clearly the product of a later, radical reconfiguration — virtually a re-founding. Surface pottery scattered across the site tells a compelling story: the promontories were largely uninhabited until the 2nd century BCE. The original town likely lay closer to the harbour and river, now hidden beneath layers of silt deposited over centuries.
One of the survey's most striking findings was what wasn't there — virtually no pottery dating later than the 1st century CE. This surprisingly narrow window of occupation is particularly notable given the scale of effort invested in reshaping the city. Researchers have uncovered evidence of massive infrastructure projects: the construction of city walls, the terracing of residential districts on the rugged slopes, and ingenious systems designed to supply water to a place lacking natural springs. The transformation of the landscape alone would have demanded the coordination of enormous resources and labour.
And yet, despite all this ambition, the city appears to have been largely abandoned after just a few centuries. What was meant to be a bold new chapter in Notion's history may, in the end, have been a short-lived experiment — an urban vision that never fully took root.
Beyond simply charting streets and measuring walls, the Notion Archaeological Survey also undertook a meticulous collection of surface finds — thousands of small clues scattered across the ground that together painted a picture of a city intensely alive for only a brief window in time. The evidence confirmed that Notion saw its most concentrated period of activity between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE.
The city's bold new layout — its fortifications, orderly street grid, and terraced neighbourhoods — emerged as a direct response to the upheaval and opportunity unleashed by the conquests of Alexander the Great. In an era of shifting power and expanding horizons, Notion attempted to redefine itself, seizing the moment to transform from a modest Aeolian town into a city that could compete in the new Hellenistic world.
But this renaissance was short-lived. The rise of nearby Ephesus, heavily favoured and expanded under Roman imperial rule after the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, cast a long shadow. As Ephesus grew into one of the major cities of the Roman East, Notion was increasingly eclipsed — its population dwindling, its ambitions fading.
Even so, the archaeology of Notion has offered something rare: a vivid, ground-level view of how one local community navigated the dramatic changes of Hellenistic and early Roman Ionia. In its carefully laid streets and suddenly quieted homes, we see not just the imprint of imperial ambition, but the resilience — and limits — of civic hope in a rapidly changing world.
Archaeological work at Notion resumed in earnest in 2022, when 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.
Then, in July 2023, a remarkable discovery brought new excitement to the site: a small hoard of 68 gold Persian darics, carefully buried beneath the floor of a house near the city walls. According to Christopher Ratté, one of the expedition's lead archaeologists, the hoard may have belonged to a soldier — hidden away for safekeeping, perhaps during a moment of crisis, and never retrieved. It's a silent, glittering trace of the city's entanglement in the great empires and conflicts of its time.
In 2025, archaeological work at the ancient city of Notion entered an important new phase, building on years of survey and excavation. Supported in part by a $35,000 matching grant from the Merops Foundation, the project led by Professor Christopher Ratté of the University of Michigan focused on deepening our understanding of the city's civic, domestic, and maritime life.
One of the most exciting areas of exploration lies near the ancient shoreline. Test trenches west of the site, close to the stream once known as the Hales River, revealed the foundations of a Late Roman warehouse. Measuring more than twenty-six meters in length and divided into four large rooms with a southern corridor, this building was once a hub of storage and trade. Pottery finds, particularly late Roman amphoras, suggest that it was active in the 5th and 6th centuries CE, highlighting Notion's continued role as a coastal settlement long after its Hellenistic peak.
Work within the city itself has turned toward the residential quarters. A house west of the central agora, first excavated in 2022 and completed in 2024, has offered a vivid glimpse into daily life. Its peristyle courtyard and surrounding rooms contained signs of diverse activities — from cooking and storage to the consumption of imported wine. In 2024, excavation began on a second house in the eastern district, with the aim of comparing domestic life across different neighbourhoods and assessing the city's social stratification.
Parallel to excavation, the team is also investing in the long-term stewardship of the site. Construction is underway on a new archaeological research facility and excavation house near Ahmetbeyli beach. Beyond providing storage, laboratories, and housing for researchers, the building is designed to serve the local community as a small museum and visitor centre, strengthening the link between academic research and public engagement. Conservation assessments are also being carried out on major monuments, including the theatre, the bouleuterion, the heroon, and the Temple of Athena, as part of a comprehensive site management plan.
When the Turkish Archaeological News team visited Notion in July 2025, there was an ongoing archaeological work in various areas of the ancient city, including the Temple of Athena and the bouleuterion.
Sightseeing:
Notion, as it survives today, is a grid-planned city spanning 35 hectares, enclosed by sturdy fortification walls and accessed through two principal gates — the Harbour Gate to the west and the North Gate in the northeast. Within the city walls are several significant structures, including a theatre, a bouleuterion (council house), two agoras (public squares), a heroon (hero shrine), and a small Temple of Athena, all set amid extensive residential quarters.
Thanks to its secluded position on two promontories overlooking the Aegean Sea, the site remains lightly buried and untouched by modern development. As a result, Notion is unusually accessible: the foundations of hundreds of ancient buildings are exposed, allowing scholars to study the city not as a fragmented collection of isolated ruins, as is often the case elsewhere, but as a complete and coherent urban landscape.
Walking through the ruins of Notion, one quickly notices the sheer variety and volume of stone used in its ancient buildings. From sturdy fortification walls to the remains of temples and public spaces, the city's architecture speaks to the richness of its geological surroundings. Perched on two rocky promontories overlooking the Aegean, Notion was built right into the landscape — a place where stone was not just a building material, but a defining feature of the city itself.
The terrain tells part of the story: broad, level plateaus hint at ideal construction sites, while jagged voids and missing chunks in the bedrock suggest where stone may have been quarried long ago. To better understand how the city's builders made use of these natural resources, a program was launched in 2015 to identify and document potential ancient quarry sites. By the end of the season, over half a dozen likely quarries had been recorded, most of them in carbonate limestone. Several other areas were also flagged as possible locations for stone extraction — early clues in what is likely a much larger picture of how the city was literally carved from its own foundations.
Temple of Athena
The foundations of the Temple of Athena, the city's main patroness, stand on the western hill, surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian order, with the remains of an altar on its eastern side. Dedicated to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, this small but significant temple reveals much about the religious practices and architectural style of the city's inhabitants.
The temple's remains suggest a rectangular plan with a carefully constructed foundation, built primarily from locally sourced limestone and marble. During its heyday, this temple, built or reconstructed during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian, stood on a three-step platform with dimensions of 7.5 to 16 meters. The temple and the altar were located in an area of so-called temenos or the part of the city devoted to a religious cult. This district was surrounded by colonnades (i.e. stoas), which housed numerous shops. The layout of this religious complex indicates the preservation of the style known from the Hellenistic period into the Roman times by the residents of Notion.
Temples like this one were central to civic life in ancient Greek cities, serving as places of worship and community gathering. The Temple of Athena at Notion would have been a focal point for festivals, religious ceremonies, and possibly council meetings, linking the spiritual and political spheres.
Thanks to Notion's relatively untouched condition — free from heavy modern development and deep sedimentation — the temple's remains are unusually accessible to archaeologists and visitors alike. Ongoing research aims to uncover more about the temple's construction phases, artistic decoration, and role in the city's religious life.
Beyond the well-known Temple of Athena, the ancient city of Notion has revealed another significant religious structure — a second temple, whose exact dedication remains a subject of scholarly interest. Situated within the city's fortified walls, this temple was identified during archaeological surveys conducted by the Notion Archaeological Project. Its location suggests it was an important religious site, though its precise function and the deity to whom it was dedicated are still under investigation.
Heroon
Among the civic and sacred buildings of ancient Notion, one of the most intriguing monuments is the heroon, a shrine dedicated to the commemoration of a hero or important figure in the city’s past. Situated halfway between the Temple of Athena and the central agora, this structure served as both a religious sanctuary and a place of civic memory, embodying the close connection between politics, identity, and worship in the ancient Greek world.
Archaeological surveys have identified the remains of the heroon within the city's urban core. Its location underscores its importance: placed among the city's public buildings, it would have been visible to all who gathered in the agora for civic business or trade. The monument consisted of a rectangular chamber built on a raised foundation, probably crowned by a roof of stone tiles. Though the superstructure is fragmentary, enough remains to suggest that it was a carefully designed building, possibly adorned with decorative architectural elements befitting its status as a memorial to a semi-divine or heroic figure.
The discovery of the heroon at Notion enriches our understanding of the city's cultural landscape. Alongside its agoras, bouleuterion, and theatre, the heroon demonstrates that Notion was not only a centre of commerce and governance, but also a community deeply invested in honouring its past and weaving memory into its urban fabric. Further archaeological investigation will be needed to clarify the building's full design and the identity of the hero it celebrated, but even in its current state, the heroon of Notion offers a valuable glimpse into the ways ancient cities used architecture to preserve their collective memory.
Agoras and bouleuterion
Notably, within Notion's walls, there are, unusually, not one but two separate agoras. while most Greek cities centred their civic and commercial life around a single agora. Notion, however, possessed two. The central agora lay in the heart of the settlement and seems to have been closely connected with civic institutions such as the bouleuterion. In fact, the bouleuterion of Notion stood immediately adjacent to this agora. It was a council house where the city's governing body met to deliberate and make decisions. This rectangular structure, typical of Ionian civic architecture, would have provided seating for the city's councillors and may also have been used for smaller assemblies or official ceremonies. The close relationship between the central agora and the bouleuterion underlines the political importance of this space, emphasizing that it was not only a marketplace but also the setting for civic life and governance.
The bouleuterion of Notion followed the typical plan of such buildings in Ionia, with the dimensions of 30.5 by 24.3 meters. It was rectangular in shape and contained tiered seating arranged in a horseshoe or U-shaped configuration, allowing council members to face one another during debates. At its centre would have been a designated area for speakers, emphasizing the participatory nature of civic governance. The building's auditorium faced east, and it had a broad corridor around three sides. Its estimated seating capacity was around 500.
The structure was roofed, which provided shelter and acoustics suitable for discussion, as attested by the discovered roof tiles. Its location immediately beside the central agora reinforced the symbolic connection between political decision-making and the daily life of the city. Though only partial remains survive today, comparisons with better-preserved bouleuteria in cities such as Priene or Miletus suggest that Notion's council house was both functional and monumental, underscoring the importance of civic institutions in the city.
A second agora was established on the eastern side of the city and may have functioned as a commercial space or as a gathering point for the surrounding neighbourhoods. Significantly, the not so distant ancient city of Ephesus, also had two agoras - a political one and a commercial one, so some parallels may be drawn from this comparison. However, Ephesus was much larger and renowned in the ancient times than the relatively unsignificant Notion.
Unfortunately, neither agora of Notion has survived in a clearly recognizable form today. Archaeologists have identified large open spaces both in aerial surveys and on the ground, but the exact boundaries, layouts, and architectural features of these public squares remain uncertain. The evidence suggests that both agoras were shaped or remodelled during the Hellenistic period, between the third and first centuries BCE, when Notion's urban plan was significantly reorganized. They may also have continued in use during the Roman era.
Despite these clues, many questions remain. Scholars still debate whether the two agoras were in use simultaneously, or whether one replaced the other at some stage in the city's history. It is not yet clear whether the central agora served mainly political and ceremonial purposes, while the eastern agora was devoted to trade and daily commerce. Equally uncertain is the extent to which these spaces changed over time, particularly under Roman influence.
What is certain is that the presence of two agoras points to a community with considerable social and economic complexity. Notion was not merely a port outpost for Colophon, but a thriving city in its own right, capable of sustaining multiple centres of civic and commercial life. Future archaeological research — especially excavation of architectural remains, stratigraphic analysis, and study of inscriptions or artifacts — will be crucial in clarifying the roles these spaces played. Comparisons with other Ionian and Aeolian cities may eventually explain why Notion's planners chose to create not one but two agoras.
Theatre
Among its most remarkable remains in Notion is the ancient theatre, a key piece of the city's architectural and cultural heritage. Located in the eastern part of the city, not far from the North Gate, the theatre at Notion was first brought to scholarly attention in the early 20th century and has since been the focus of archaeological surveys and excavations, notably by Turkish archaeologist Erol Atalay in the 1980s and more recent investigations conducted between 2014 and 2018. These efforts have gradually uncovered this important public space, offering new insights into the city's history and urban design.
Dating back to the Hellenistic period (roughly the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE), the theatre features approximately 27 rows of seating carved into the natural slope, capable of accommodating an estimated 6,000 spectators. This size reflects Notion's status as a significant regional centre during its heyday. The remains include parts of the cavea — the seating area — and some vaulted substructures beneath the seats. While much of the stage and decorative elements remain buried or damaged due to natural overgrowth and time, the accessible portions offer a valuable glimpse into the design and function of the space.
The theatre not only reflects the architectural ambitions of a modest Ionian city but also serves as a marker of Notion's changing fortunes. Archaeological evidence suggests the city thrived primarily during the Hellenistic period, with activity waning after the 1st century CE. This decline is mirrored in the theatre's likely reduced use and lack of major Roman-era renovations.
Because Notion's location on two promontories has spared the site from heavy burial or modern construction, the theatre remains unusually accessible compared to many other ancient theatres. This makes it a crucial resource for scholars seeking to understand the daily lives, entertainment, and social gatherings of the city's inhabitants during its peak.
While the basic outline and dating of the theatre are established, much remains to be explored. Further excavation and conservation will be needed to clarify the full extent of the structure, including the stage and surrounding areas. Geophysical surveys may also shed light on additional architectural features and usage over time.
Gymnasium
Even further to the east, very close to the eastern fortification wall, the archaeologists uncovered the traces of a large gymnasium. Like many Greek cities, Notion included a gymnasium within its civic landscape, a building that combined athletic training with education and social interaction. The gymnasium is mentioned in early surveys of the site and appears among the identifiable public monuments, though, it has not yet been extensively excavated.
Fortifications
The city was surrounded by a four-km-long wall, built in the Hellenistic period, which was repaired during the reign of Romans. From the ramparts of the city, long stretches of the walls have been preserved.
The fortification walls of Notion are the city's most impressive and best-preserved feature, clearly visible both from land and sea. They are built mostly from white and blue-grey limestone, with occasional use of marble and a distinctive, easily eroded breccia. The stonework is mostly isodomic, where blocks of equal height are laid in regular horizontal courses (with evenly cut rectangular blocks), and sometimes trapezoidal, except where repairs have been made. The walls are 2.5 meters thick and likely stood at least 4 meters tall originally. Archaeologists have identified 16 definite towers and up to 29 possible ones.
On the northern, land-facing side, three gates are clearly visible. There are also signs of three possible gates on the west, one definite and one possible gate to the south, and one definite and one possible to the east. The most unusual part of the wall is a prominent angle at the northwest corner, probably marking a gate that once led to the harbour.
These walls not only reflect concerns about defence but also offer clues about the city's broader social and historical context. In particular, the southern and western stretches show signs of major repair work, giving us insight into Notion's later history. Two different types of repairs can be seen: one using large reused blocks (spolia) set in strong white mortar, and the other using smaller limestone blocks laid dry. Although we don't have clear dating for these repairs, similar work at other sites is often linked to the late Roman period — though it's possible that some of the repairs at Notion are older.
The west side of the wall runs along the steepest and most unstable slope, so it may have started to weaken not long after it was built. In the north — where the wall is best preserved — you can see not only different types of stone, but also varying construction techniques. This could mean the wall was built in stages over a long period, or that different teams were responsible for different sections. Either way, the patchwork nature of the construction suggests it was likely a local project, rather than something funded and organized by a major figure like Lysimachus.
Water supply
Notion's seaside location offered many benefits — stunning views, easy access to trade, and natural defences — but it came with one serious drawback: there was no natural source of fresh water. So far, the archaeologists have uncovered a network of at least a dozen underground cisterns, along with several stone pipe blocks, showing how the people of Notion adapted to their water-scarce environment.
These cisterns were typically shaped like bottles or carafes — narrow at the top (1–2 meters wide), expanding to 3–4 meters at the bottom, and reaching depths of 5–7 meters. Their capacity ranged from about 4.5 to over 50 cubic meters. They were carved directly into the bedrock, either schist or limestone, and most of them were coated with a special waterproof mortar. In several cases, the terracotta pipes that used to channel water into the cisterns are still in place, just below the large stone slabs that once sealed the openings. These storage systems were spread across the city — not only in public spaces like the agora and theatre, but also in residential areas.
Even more telling is what the site doesn't have: there are no bath complexes, and very little evidence of the typical Roman building style using rubble and mortar. These absences, along with the water storage system, suggest that Notion didn't continue as a thriving urban centre beyond the 1st century CE.
Early-Christian churches
In the early 20th century, archaeologist Theodore Macridy conducted one of the first recorded investigations at Notion and reported the existence of a three-aisled basilica located about 500 meters northwest of the city walls. This type of building — a large, rectangular hall divided by columns or piers — was common in early Christian architecture and often used for churches. Macridy believed the basilica had gone through at least two major phases: one from the Early Christian period (4th–7th centuries CE) and another from the Middle Byzantine period (roughly 9th–12th centuries CE). However, the building he described has not yet been rediscovered. Moreover, in 2014, local residents shared information about a structure they remembered as kilise (Turkish word for a church) that once stood on a flat terrace about 500 meters north of the city walls, near the theatre. According to their accounts, the building was destroyed during road construction in 1985.
Also in 2014, the archaeologists identified what appears to be a church at the northern edge of the city's western sector, about 50 meters northwest of the heroon. Three apses — semicircular recesses often found at the end of church buildings — are still visible at the northern end, though the rest of the structure is covered by rubble and overgrowth. While its date and exact layout remain uncertain without further excavation, the building is significant as one of the few places at Notion where mortared rubble masonry — a construction technique common in Late Antique and Byzantine architecture — has been found.
Two additional apsidal buildings have been documented inside the city walls. The first is located about 20 meters southeast of the main agora, Notion's central public square. Only the southern wing of this structure is exposed, including a 5-meter-wide apse on its western side. The second apsidal structure lies in the low area between the main agora and the eastern agora. It has a large south-facing apse measuring 11 meters across, with its east and west walls preserved to a length of about 8 meters. In aerial imagery, this building strongly resembles a three-aisled basilica, and future geophysical survey work may help clarify its full plan.
Although the exact purpose of these apsidal buildings is still uncertain, their design and layout suggest they were likely churches. Interestingly, there is very little Late Antique or Byzantine pottery visible on the surface of Notion — something that often signals continued occupation. Even so, the existence of at least two probable churches points to an ongoing community presence during the early Christian and Byzantine periods, after the city's decline in the early Roman era. The distance between the known churches might indicate they served separate neighbourhoods or even distinct settlements. And if the two other apsidal structures turn out to be churches or other post-Roman buildings, it could mean that post-antique life at Notion was more extensive and enduring than previously assumed.
Visitor tips:
Visiting the ruins of Notion is both free of charge and unrestricted, but the experience comes with a few important caveats. Entering the site in the evening or after dark is strongly discouraged — not only because the terrain is rugged, but also because sheer cliffs drop straight down to the sea, with no protective barriers in place. The ancient city is partly overgrown, and explorers quickly discover that dense bushes and tall grasses make long trousers and sturdy hiking boots a must. The site is alive with nature; startled cicadas can rise suddenly in buzzing clouds, turning a quiet walk into an unexpectedly dramatic encounter with local fauna. For visitors with reduced mobility, access remains especially challenging. The narrow uphill tracks and steep slopes that lead to the heart of the ruins leave little room for safe passage.
As of July 2025, access to Notion has also undergone a practical change. The old entrance through the Northern Gate, just off the road between Ahmetbeyli and Kuşadası, has been fenced off, the ancient gate itself locked without any posted notice about reopening or alternative arrangements. Fortunately, the site has not been closed entirely: the western side remains unfenced, and visitors can still enter near the Ahmetbeyli roundabout, providing a more informal — yet currently the only — way to explore the city's remains.
Getting there:
The ruins of Notion lie just off the coastal road that runs from Seferihisar to Selçuk and Kuşadası. Travellers approaching from Izmir along the E87 highway toward Aydın can leave the main road near Belevi and follow the route westward for about 31 kilometres, arriving in the small town of Ahmetbeyli. A convenient place to leave your car is near the cluster of shops at the Ahmetbeyli roundabout. From there, the journey continues on foot: walk west along the road toward Kuşadası for roughly 250 meters.
The first landmark is a modest bridge spanning a small stream, once known in antiquity as the Hales River. Just beyond, a white signpost marked Notion directs you to turn right, toward the sea. Follow this road for about 200 meters along the eastern bank of the stream, and you will come to the western slopes of the hill that shelters the city's remains. A steep footpath climbs upward here, doubling as a segment of the Ephesus–Mimas Trail (Efes–Mimas Yolu). The ascent demands a bit of care, but the reward comes at the summit, where the outlines of the Temple of Athena and the city beyond begin to reveal themselves against the coastal landscape.
The Ephesus - Mimas Trail begins near Ephesus, directly in front of the Temple of Artemis in Selçuk, and winds its way across the Izmir region before reaching its final destination in Karaburun, the peninsula that ancient mythology called Mimas. The route stretches for about 709 kilometres in total and is carefully divided into 49 walking segments, making it possible for hikers to explore either individual sections or undertake the entire journey.
Along the way, the trail passes through a chain of historically important Ionian cities, including Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Klazomenai, and Erythrae, offering a unique combination of natural landscapes and archaeological heritage. Geographically, the route traverses some of the most culturally and scenically diverse districts of Izmir province — Selçuk, Menderes, Seferihisar, Güzelbahçe, Urla, Çeşme, and finally Karaburun — connecting coastal scenery, ancient ruins, and rural villages into a single long-distance hiking experience.
Notion ruins lie just 1.5 km away from the famous ancient oracle at Claros, and it is a good idea to combine a visit to these two places during one trip.
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