Kadifekale is the name of the hill located within the urban zone of Izmir ,(Smyrna) Turkey, as well as being the name of the ancient castle on top of the same hill. The summit where the castle is found is located at a distance of about 2 km from the shoreline and commands a general view of a large part of the city of İzmir, as well as of the Gulf of İzmir.
Administratively, the hill area covers six quarters constituted by slums in their large part, one named Kadifekale like the hill, and others Alireis, Altay, İmariye, Kosova and Yenimahalle.
The first recorded defensive walls built here was the work of Lysimachos, a “successor” (diadochus) of Alexander the Great, later a king (306 BC) in Thrace and Asia Minor. This construction was associated with Alexander’s re-foundation of Smyrna, moving it from Old Smyrna on a mound in the southeastern corner of the inner gulf where only a few thousand people could be accommodated. This move for the location of a new and larger city gained fame in a legend told by Pausanias, according to which Alexander, during a rest after hunting under a plane tree near the sanctuary on the hill of the two Nemeseis worshipped by the Smyrneans, was approached during his sleep by the goddesses who bade him found a city on that very spot, transferring to it the inhabitants of the earlier site. Upon this, the famous oracle in Klaros was consulted and the answer received was;
Three and four times happy shall those men be hereafter, who shall dwell on Pagus beyond the sacred Meles. While Alexander could only act as inspirator and/or initiator for the move, the recent excavations in Old Smyrna have shown that the settlement there could have ceased even during his lifetime. The legend, in the meantime, was frequently depicted on ancient coins.
Strabo records that only a small part of Smyrna was located on the mound, with the greater part centered around the harbor on the flatlands below. The stadium and the theatre on the other hand, were on the slopes immediately below the summit. The settlements on the hill and those near the coast had a separate history in certain periods, as it was the case during the 14th century, when the hill castle was captured by the Aydinids, and the port city, with another castle, was held by the Genoese until its capture by Tamerlane in 1403. During the 19th century, Kadifekale was part of the chain across several slopes which constituted Izmir’s Turkish core, while the urban center below was the cosmopolitan part.
The present walls are medieval. A number of sources put forth claims on having observed fargments of Hellenic masonry under the existing walls, but these fell short of having acquired general acceptance. The long hollow west of the castle marks the site of the Stadium, scene of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, and it is now completely built over. This is also the case for the ancient theatre of Smyrna, which is located to the east of the castle gates, although there a few traces are still visible to the naked eye. Both works belong to a reconstruction following a calamitous earthquake in 178.
Next to the castle are the ruins of the cisterns built during the Roman period and renovated during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. They formed the centre of the drinking water network of Smyrna. The remains of this network are still preserved in the agora of Smyrna in downtown İzmir.
Kadifekale, Izmir,
We decided to go up here because we'd read a bit about it. Thank goodness we took a bus (from Konak bus station, ask a driver for Kadifekale) as I would have been sorely disappointed if I'd walked all the way up.
After we arrived we struggled to find anything worth looking at. There are a few sad looking ruins…
You may find it very interesting,colored people-generally gypsies- all around,smell of mussel and rice cooking at every house for the street sellers -2 TL or less than 1 Euro for 30 of them in a pack-and try !!!!!!!!,,western half of the surrounding 1-2 flat houses are cleared away for the sake of a forest park which is in the beginning…
I decided to venture out to see this on my first day in Izmir. I went to Konak bus station and then got bus 33 to Kadifekale.
I got off at the end of the line and it was pretty scary. (Granted you could get off earlier by the polis and walk) Anyways, I got off at the end and…
Went to Kadifekale a month or so ago. It's easy to get there on the #30 bus from Konak, which takes you through ancient (pre-1922) slums and winding streets. The fortress has an unbeatable view over the city, and if you go there around the time of the ezzan (the call to prayer) you'll experience the wave of sound passing…
I was in there with my group of friends.. We watched sunset from there and it has the best wiew of Izmir top of it.. Sunset is amazing but be careful when you go dont be there at late of night..
We made beautiful photos under the big flag but… we decided to went down through the slums…
It was such a frightening experience that I thanked god I went from there alive.
Kids in the group can surround you and take everything from you. they want everything – even cheap sunglasses… I was realy scared to go downhill in narrow…
You may find it very interesting,colored people-generally gypsies- all around,smell of mussel and rice cooking at every house for the street sellers -2 TL or less than 1 Euro for 30 of them in a pack-and try !!!!!!!!,,western half of the surrounding 1-2 flat houses are cleared away for the sake of a forest park which is in the beginning…
In late May, 2012, our party of four, including myself, Robert L. Chapman, of La Jolla, California USA, booked a one day private tour off of our Cruise ship, Seabourn, Quest, of Izmir and surrounding areas with Celsus Travel. We were greeted by a private luxury SUV and a absolutely terrific tour guide, the above Mehmet Cibikci.
We can not…
Take a taxi to the top and have the taxi driver wait for you other wise you will have to walk back down the hill in neighborhoods very off the beaten path. You can see the site in about 15 minutes. It has a great view of the entire city but other than that the site is not kept up…
We were there about ten o'clock in the morning and the place was quiet and charming. There is a very nice view and you can buy many sort of souvenirs.