Two tributaries of the Bakır Çayı river (the ancient River Kaikos) pass on either side of the Pergamon acropolis: to the west the Bergama Çayı (the ancient Selinus) which flows through Bergama (see photos 8 and 9); and to the east the Kestel Çayı (the ancient Ketios) which was damned in 1992 below the acropolis to form an artificial U-shaped lake (see photos 3 and 4).
Little mention is made of this dam in travel guides, which is strange when one thinks of it as an engineering achievement. But dam-building has recently become a touchy and controversial subject all over the world, from China to Spain and Turkey. The growth of cities, tourism and intensive farming has increased the demand for water and hydroelectric energy. For politicians and business people dams are also prestige projects.
However, many people are becoming increasingly concerned about their effect on the natural and cultural environments. Recent political protests about the Yortanlı Dam project, which threatened to flood the important archaeological site of Allionoi, 18 km northeast of Bergama, caused an international outcry, especially among intellectuals. The dam has now been completed, but due to the political storm and continuing debate it has not yet been activated. Time will tell whether the remains of this ancient spa and health centre can be saved from a man-made deluge.
This whole business makes us wonder what archaeological secrets lay beneath this dam reservoir in Bergama. It has to be admitted though, that it it is a pretty stretch of water and appears to add something to an impressive landscape which has anyway been reshaped by humans over thousands of years. |
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