• Overview
• Day by Day
• Practicalities

Tour Overview

In the ancient world the peoples of the Aegean shared a common culture and the boundary that is modern Turkey would have meant nothing. The Greeks and later the Romans made this their own sea. This exciting tour explores the Greek and Roman world on the eastern shores of the Aegean Sea, introducing you to some of the most important sites of antiquity.

The Greeks settled the coast as early as the eleventh century BC but it was not until the third century, after Alexander’s conquests, that cities such as Priene and Ephesus became absorbed in the commercial bustle of the eastern Mediterranean. Then in the second and first centuries BC came the Roman conquest. Following the shock of defeat, there was an enormous expansion of city life.  Much of what we see comes from the opulent second century AD when city life was at its height and no self-respecting city would be without its agora, fine temples and theatres.