Yamanlar

The mountain is an extinct volcano. Although it is geologically separate from the neighboring mass of Mount Sipylus (Spil Dağı), their flora, fauna and history have very much in common, and the two mountains have sometimes been viewed as extensions of each other.

Karagöl (Lake Tantalus) near the summit of Mount Yamanlar

The name "Yamanlar" literally translates to "the capable ones", although the adjective "yaman" also has a number of negative connotations. The name is likely derived from the name of a monastery built in the beginning of the 13th century by John III Doukas Vatatzes. The monastery must have been named "Amanariotissa" or "Mary of Amanara", and was founded on the western slopes or foothills facing Smyrna of the Mount Nif, which itself was one of the mountains called Olympus in ancient times, hence the name of the principal monastery, Lembos.[1][2] An impression about the status of the village in Mount Yamanlar, then called "Genikon" or "Jenikou" is created by a document of the 13th century written by the inhabitants by which they donated to the monastery of Lembos another monastery, that of Amanariotissa, which was located within their territory.[3]

Wild horses roaming in Mount Yamanlar

On the other hand, Amanara, the root name referred to in the word Amanariotissa, being non-Greek, conjectural attempts have been made to explain the structure of the word through syncope, with the end corresponding to the Luwian language adjective "ura" (big),[4] and the first part attachable to the deity name Amun or to proper nouns such as Amana and Amanus Mountains inter alia, transmitted here either through a Luwian connection once again or through the cult of Ammon well known to have been introduced into Greece at an early period or by the same token that led to the appellation of the ancient city of Larissa, within eyesight from the northern flank of the mountain, as "Egyptian Larissa", or to an interaction of these possibilities.[5]

Summits of Mount Yamanlar

Mount Yamanlar was the location of the first recorded settlement which controlled the Gulf of İzmir circa 1440 BC, founded by Tantalus and possibly named "Naulochon", deriving its wealth from the mines of the region.

On the steep southeastern slopes of the mountain, there is a "Tomb of Tantalus" dating from this very early period in Anatolian history. This tomb was explored by Charles Texier in 1835, while other schools place Tantalus's tomb, as well as the lake associated with his story, to other localities found on Mount Sipylus. The first location of Smyrna (Old Smyrna) was also at the foot of Mount Yamanlar on what was at the time a small peninsula.

The same Bayraklı slopes was also where landslides caused by flash floods that had occurred on 3–4 November 1995 had claimed at least 61 lives in the slum-type residences that had mushroomed at the time in the area, and had caused material damage exceeding 50 million US Dollars.[6] Incidents of a similar nature occurred also in autumn 2001 adding five more casualties to İzmir's toll of disaster victims. A better planned and managed urbanization along the silted slopes of the mountain, by preserving its historic heritage at the same time, is an ongoing concern for the city as a whole.