
The guest of the City Talks organized at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Ahmet Piriştina City Archive and Museum (APİKAM) will be Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Özlem Aytaçlar, translator of the book “Life in Ancient Villages – Rural Society in Roman Anatolia.” The talk, which will be held on January 16, will examine the texts and figures on nearly 200 relief steles unearthed in the rural area between the ancient city of Sardis in Manisa and the district of Kula.
APIKAM continues its City Talks with an event titled “Life in Ancient Villages, Society and Religion in Rural Lydia.” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Özlem Aytaçlar, the translator of the book “Life in Ancient Villages – Rural Society in Roman Anatolia” published by İzmir City Library, will be a guest at APIKAM as part of the talk to be held on Thursday, January 16 at 18.30:2. The talk will cover social life in villages in the region approximately XNUMX years ago in light of archaeological findings unearthed in the rural area located between the ancient city of Sardis in Manisa and the district of Kula. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aytaçlar, a faculty member in the Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures at the Faculty of Letters at Ege University, will provide detailed information about the book and share ongoing studies in this field with the participants.
“Amazing and exciting”
The book titled “The Lives of Ancient Villages – Rural Society in Roman Anatolia” by Prof. Peter Thonemann, an ancient historian who has publications on ancient settlements in Turkey and the social life in these settlements, was published in 2022 and was presented to the readers in October 2024 by İzmir City Library under the title “Life in Ancient Villages – Rural Society in Roman Anatolia” with the translation of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Özlem Aytaçlar.
In the “Translator’s Preface” section, the following statements draw attention: “Manisa villagers from 200 years ago speak to us directly, and on top of that, they tell us their most intimate family secrets,” referring to the texts and figures on nearly 2 relief steles dedicated to gods unearthed during archaeological excavations in the region.