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Aegean Turkey
This detailed travel companion to the Aegean area of Turkey focuses on the history and archaeological sites of the region. The author examines the many west and south-west sites of the country, including Pergamum, Horacleia, Sardis, Ephesus, Priene, Miletus and Didyma.
- GenresNonfiction
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
George Ewart Bean
12 booksGeorge Ewart Bean (1903 – 7 December 1977) was an English archaeologist and writer who specialized in classical Turkey. His father William Jackson Bean was a botanist, author, and curator of Kew Gardens. Bean was educated at St Paul's School, London from 1916-1921. He attended Pembroke College, Cambridge and won the Schoolbred Scholarship and the John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship for Classics.
Bean returned to St Paul's School to teach ancient Greek in 1926. He took his M.A. from Cambridge in 1930.
In the 1930s, he organized summer school trips to the Aegean coast of Turkey. In 1943, in the middle of World War II, he was recruited by the British Council to teach English in Izmir. Several years later, he helped to set up the archaeology department at the University of Istanbul. He stayed on in Istanbul, teaching classics at the university for 24 years.
Between 1943 and 1971, Bean travelled extensively in rural Turkey in order to discover and record its classical remains. Over the years, he became a well-known and respected figure in the countryside. The publisher Ernest Benn commissioned him to write a series of archaeological guidebooks on the region. The result was a series of four books describing the classical archaeology of Turkey. These are:
Aegean Turkey
Turkey beyond the Maeander
Turkey's Southern Shore
Lycian Turkey
He was a friend of the Oxford-educated classicist Terence Mitford, and together they undertook numerous journeys into the Turkish interior. They also wrote two books together, titled Journeys in Rough Cilicia.
Bean was a physically imposing man, six foot six in height. He was an avid player of badminton and tennis, and once reached the third round at Wimbledon. His first marriage in 1946 to Nancy Ethel Rees, a fellow Cambridge graduate, lasted six years. He met his second wife Cynthia Jane Carter in Istanbul, where the latter was a schoolteacher.
George Bean died in 1977, just as the last volume in his guidebook series was going to press. He was survived by his wife, Jane and daughter, Oeonone.
Legacy
Bean's documents and photographs are now being digitised at the University of Cambridge through the Department of Classics
Bean returned to St Paul's School to teach ancient Greek in 1926. He took his M.A. from Cambridge in 1930.
In the 1930s, he organized summer school trips to the Aegean coast of Turkey. In 1943, in the middle of World War II, he was recruited by the British Council to teach English in Izmir. Several years later, he helped to set up the archaeology department at the University of Istanbul. He stayed on in Istanbul, teaching classics at the university for 24 years.
Between 1943 and 1971, Bean travelled extensively in rural Turkey in order to discover and record its classical remains. Over the years, he became a well-known and respected figure in the countryside. The publisher Ernest Benn commissioned him to write a series of archaeological guidebooks on the region. The result was a series of four books describing the classical archaeology of Turkey. These are:
Aegean Turkey
Turkey beyond the Maeander
Turkey's Southern Shore
Lycian Turkey
He was a friend of the Oxford-educated classicist Terence Mitford, and together they undertook numerous journeys into the Turkish interior. They also wrote two books together, titled Journeys in Rough Cilicia.
Bean was a physically imposing man, six foot six in height. He was an avid player of badminton and tennis, and once reached the third round at Wimbledon. His first marriage in 1946 to Nancy Ethel Rees, a fellow Cambridge graduate, lasted six years. He met his second wife Cynthia Jane Carter in Istanbul, where the latter was a schoolteacher.
George Bean died in 1977, just as the last volume in his guidebook series was going to press. He was survived by his wife, Jane and daughter, Oeonone.
Legacy
Bean's documents and photographs are now being digitised at the University of Cambridge through the Department of Classics
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
December 22, 2025
A long time ago I was aware that there was a series of books on Turkey that covered various cities and regions in antiquity, I had put them on a wish list, and they sat there for years. This year, with reading primary sources as my main goal and then supplementing it with modern work, I looked into that old series. The series I speak of is called ‘The Classic Guides to Turkey’ by George Ewart (G.E.) Bean. These four books were written in the 1960s-70s and re-published in the early 90s. I hunted down the more recent publications as they had updates and a memoir for Bean as he passed away before the last book was published.
The first book, Aegean Turkey focuses on Ancient Ionia with forays into the Aeolis, and Lydia. Bean starts the reader off in Smyrna, works north through Aeolis to Pergamon, stopping at all the sites worth noting. Back to the Smyrna starting point, he then goes west and south, covering the entirety of Ionia. To finish off, Bean goes east and covers Sardis. He ends the book with a few appendices covering miscellaneous but interesting topics pertaining to the overall theme of the book.
What I particularly enjoyed was the order of how he described each site. He gives a quick mythological (if it had one) and historical background of each site, and then he goes into the ruins of what was there in his time in the field (1940s-70s), each city had a deity or multiple deities, and he describes these as well. He does a very good job of putting the reader at the site by describing visual details of the terrain, weather and even the overall feel or vibe that the site gives off. Some ruins seem pleasant to enjoy an afternoon at, others are off the beaten path, may have mosquitos and aren’t much to look at!
I also enjoyed the visuals Bean provides, both hand drawn and photos. It helps you see what he saw, and I particularly loved the city layout sketches, which really helped me understand the importance of lack of, each site.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the theme of how the rivers in this area of the world have caused so much change over the course of time. Particularly the Maeander River, with the heavy silting it causes, how it has transformed the once booming ports into inland ruins, and islands into hills.
One can only imagine now what these places may have looked like in their heyday, and Bean does an amazing job of casting that vision. An easy and quick read, but casual, fun and educational. Looking forward to the second book. Recommended for the travel enthusiast, history buff and even the scholarly!
The first book, Aegean Turkey focuses on Ancient Ionia with forays into the Aeolis, and Lydia. Bean starts the reader off in Smyrna, works north through Aeolis to Pergamon, stopping at all the sites worth noting. Back to the Smyrna starting point, he then goes west and south, covering the entirety of Ionia. To finish off, Bean goes east and covers Sardis. He ends the book with a few appendices covering miscellaneous but interesting topics pertaining to the overall theme of the book.
What I particularly enjoyed was the order of how he described each site. He gives a quick mythological (if it had one) and historical background of each site, and then he goes into the ruins of what was there in his time in the field (1940s-70s), each city had a deity or multiple deities, and he describes these as well. He does a very good job of putting the reader at the site by describing visual details of the terrain, weather and even the overall feel or vibe that the site gives off. Some ruins seem pleasant to enjoy an afternoon at, others are off the beaten path, may have mosquitos and aren’t much to look at!
I also enjoyed the visuals Bean provides, both hand drawn and photos. It helps you see what he saw, and I particularly loved the city layout sketches, which really helped me understand the importance of lack of, each site.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the theme of how the rivers in this area of the world have caused so much change over the course of time. Particularly the Maeander River, with the heavy silting it causes, how it has transformed the once booming ports into inland ruins, and islands into hills.
One can only imagine now what these places may have looked like in their heyday, and Bean does an amazing job of casting that vision. An easy and quick read, but casual, fun and educational. Looking forward to the second book. Recommended for the travel enthusiast, history buff and even the scholarly!
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review