Assos - Turkey

Today I received a great postcard from Turkey, the one from my wish list and I really have to thank Deniz for that.

The Ruins of the Doric Temple of Athena built by the settlers from Lesbos.

Assos (aka Behramkale) is an ancient town in front of the island of Lesbos founded in the 7th century B.C by Aeolian colonists from Lesbos.

After Plato's death, Aristotle left for Assos to the court of his dear friend Hermias of Atameus.  

Hermias was , a eunuch and former slave who had come to rule the province of Atarneus.  In his youth, Hermias had studied philosophy in Plato's Academy where he first met Aristotle

Aristotle  married  Pythias, Hermias' daughter or niece and spent about three years in Assos before moving to Lesbos. After that he was invited by Philip of Macedonia to tutor his son Alexander in 343 BC.

In 341 BC, shortly after Aristotle accepted the tutoring position, Hermeias was captured by Persians  and tortured to death  in a vain attempt to extract information regarding King Philip’s invasion plans. His death moved Aristotle deeply, and he created a memorial at Delphi commemorating Hermias’ loyalty and writes a hymn to his name