Claros

Claros (/ˈklɛərəs/; Greek: Κλάρος, Klaros; Latin: Clarus) was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located in the territory of Colophon, which lay twelve kilometers to the north, one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The coastal city Notion lay two kilometers to the south. The ruins of the sanctuary are now found north of the modern town Ahmetbeyli in the Menderes district of İzmir Province, Turkey.

The Temple of Apollo at Claros was a very important center of prophecy, as in Delphi and Didyma. The oldest literary information about this sacred site goes back to the sixth and seventh centuries BC, through the Homeric Hymns, though Proto-Geometric pottery at the site betokens 9th century occupation. A sacred cave near the Temple of Apollo, which was an important place both in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, points to the existence of a Cybele cult in early periods here. Games called the Claria were held at Claros every fifth year in honor of Apollo.^{[citation needed]}

It is unknown when the sanctuary was founded exactly and its origins are shrouded in mythology. Archaeological excavations revealed structures dating back to the 10th century BC. The high point for the fame of the sanctuary seems to have been the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and it had many visitors until the 4th century AD.

In the late Hellenistic period, a cargo ship carrying marble sank on its way to Claros off the southwest coast of modern-day Turkey near Kizilburun. The ship was discovered in 1993, and has been under excavation since 2005. On this ship, an estimated fifty tons of marble columns were recovered that matched the description of the columns found at Claros, the temple of Apollo. Isotopic and meteorological data indicate Proconnesos in the Sea of Marmara as the source of the marble. The marble being imported from the island to be used at the site was a special type with distinctive blue and white bands known as Proconnesian marble. The marble did not complete its 350 kilometer journey.

The founding myth of Claros connects the city with the myth of the Epigoni who conquered Thebes. The two seers Teiresias and his daughter Manto became their captives along with other Thebans. The Epigoni sent them to Delphi to honor Apollo, but Teiresias died on the journey. At Delphi, Manto was commanded by Apollo to sail to Ionia with the remaining Thebans to found a colony there. When they arrived at the site where Claros would be founded later, they were seized by armed Cretans under Rhacius, the Cretan settler of Caria. After learning from Manto who they were and why they had come, Rhacius married her and allowed the Thebans to found Claros. Their heir was the seer Mopsus.

Thus the origin of the oracle at Clarus was remembered by Greeks of the Classical period as Minoan-Mycenean in origin. Archaeological investigations lend support to the myth. Intensely settled Mycenaean sites have been identified at Ephesus to the south and numerous other nearby sites. Miletus had a historical Minoan settlement, discovered in 1995/96 by the German school. In Claros itself, deep exploratory trenches dug between the altar and the temple façade, revealed Protogeometric pottery of the 10th century BC, attesting to the presence hinted at in myth.^{[citation needed]}

At Colophon, a Mycenaean-era tomb has been found, but the presence of Mycenaean pottery is uncertain.

According to mythology the Greek seer Calchas, a participant in the Trojan War, died at Claros. He challenged Mopsus to see who had the greatest skill in divination, but lost and died of grief.