Teos is located in Sığacık Neighborhood, Seferihisar District, İzmir Province of Turkey. It is one of the twelve Ionian Cities on the Aegean Coast and approximately 50 km away from the city center of Izmir. It can be reached by public transport. The entry to this ancient city is a fee and archaeological excavations continue in the ancient city. Dionysus temple, bouleuterion(council house), theater, cistern(fountain), acropolis, ancient port and ancient olive trees which are thousands years old must be seen. It is thought that this olive tree which I shot above and share with you is 1800 years old.
More than 200 old olive trees aged over 500-years-old are thought to be in the ancient city of Teos. The olive oil is obtained from these old trees by traditional methods in the lead of Seferihisar municipality. These oils are sold at auction held later. On October 16, 2017, auction was held for the second time under this 1800-year-old tree. Half a liter of olive oil, which can be obtained from this 1800 year old tree, was sold to 22 thousand Turkish liras (Approximately 6,000 American Dollars). This tree is located in the eastern of the Dionysus Temple in Teos Ancient City, a few hundred metres away from temple. In This auction, the oils were priced according to the age of the trees from which they were obtained. In total 137 liters of oil were sold to 49,200 Turkish Liras.
These olive trees are real monuments made by nature. These have bloomed for thousands of years and they continue to feed people. They saw Romans, Byzantines, Selchuks and Ottomans. Despite the fact that a lot of human beings generations have passed away from this world, they are still in the same place and alive like it was thousands of years ago. They are living witnesses in many historical events. I wish they could tell us what they saw.
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| 1800 years old olive tree |