Chapter Two: Diary of a werewolf in Turkey (Herakleia and Miletos)

Herakleia was built by Mausolus and contained by a wall about 6.5km long. Much of it still stands today.


If you think about the fact that the walls were meters thick and many meters tall, and all made without modern technology, it's pretty impressive. You can see parts of the city towers, still. But if you think about the idea that this kind of fortification was only useful for a few years, until catapults were widely used, it's kinda depressing.

The site is on Lake Bafa, which is was once part of the sea, until it silted up.



Several walls of the Temple to Athena are still standing. Just add an altar (out front), a roof, rows of columns, and a sacred statue in the sanctuary, and voila! Temple.
The cows from the present-day village on the site left me with a mixed impression. Full points for looking sharp in beads; points off for nose-mining (but add several points for being able to reach with her tongue).

Miletos was a terribly important Greek city. Hence, they had a theater suitable for its large population. You can see someone standing down the bottom of the seats: he was audible from way down there. Religious festivals featured plays, and playwrights were always in competition.


And if you think the area of the theater is large, remember that they had passage ways up and around the seats. These were called "vomitoria," not because people puked in them, but because of the way people would pour out of them at the end of the play. Kinda like leaving Fenway Park after a game.


I can see everything, from up here, and get the breeze (which is really nice, when all this stone heats up).

There are also remains of the agora, or shopping district. The stoa was a row of columns with a wooden roof and a wall that provided cover for the shops, stalls, and carts. Hey, that Greek's almost like how we talk in Massachusetts! "I'm goin' down the stoa to buy a tonic."*

And the remains of some pretty impressive baths. Heated by wood, fed by rivers or springs or aqueducts (which brought in water from great distances), and decorated with statues, baths were open to everyone, often free of charge. Pretty impressive plumbing, even if I'm not a fan of public, recreational bathing.

And the walls of the baths and other public buildings were covered with marble, which falls off. You can see some of the marble that was recovered by archaeologists.

Priene, another important Ionic city, was visible on the jutting plateau across from Miletos. All that green is fertile farmland now, but it is all a result of the silt that cut off Lake Bafa from the sea. So Priene, Miletos, and Herakleia all would have been seaside cities back in the day.

And if all those neat ruins weren't enough, you can't beat a full moon over the Aegean.

*Please remember: Gerry is a very young werewolf with an active imagination and isn't really capable of making accurate linguistic comparisons. Actually, he tries really hard to get things right, but...basically, he's an eager tourist and not an archaeologist.

Chapter One: Diary of a werewolf in Turkey

We set sail for two weeks to explore the Hellenistic and Classical sites on the southwest coast Turkey.

Werewolves love to sail. It's almost as good as hanging your head out of a pickup truck.

Most of the sites had been by the water originally (before the bay or river silted up), or were still on them (hence the sailing). Most of them had great views--being high up helped with communication and protection. It also helped develop our leg muscles.

Some of the sites, like Bargylia (above), were pretty remote, and in addition to the ruins, we found various species of thorns, nettles, and stickers, as well as beaucoup goat poop. And it was hard to imagine there were once bustling towns here.

While some sites and monuments, like this Roman imitation of the Mausoleum of Helicarnassus, were right in the middle of a modern town, like Milas. (We eventually saw the ruins of the original Mausoleum, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but that comes later!)

When something was still standing, it was always a good idea to remember to look up...

...and look underneath, when it was allowed. Claustrophobia, anyone? Temple of Doom, anyone? But there was always something new and nifty to see.

And it was good to remember that people still live on the sites of these towns, 2400 years later. This is the market at Milas.


The market seemed to get bigger, the more we explored it. Visiting the modern cities helped us imagine what an ancient Greek agora might have been like.

Even speaking a little bit of Turkish, we were able to buy loads of pistachios and roasted pumpkin seeds. "Loads" = 1 kilogram = too much!

Food is a great way to explore a culture, and these fresh dates and grapes were exquisite. But always remember to wash them first!

A PW starred review for BOSTON NOIR

Check it out: Boston Noir (Akashic, November 2009) earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly!

My story, "Femme Sole," appears in the volume, with stories by editor Dennis Lehane, Stewart O'Nan, Patricia Powell, John Dufresne, Lynne Heitman, Don Lee, Russ Aborn, Itabari Njeri, Jim Fusilli, and Brendan DuBois.

If you like your mysteries short, noir, or Bostonian, dig in.