Lake Marmara ( tr, Marmara Gölü) is a lake in Manisa Province, western

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, bordered by the district areas of

Gölmarmara Gölmarmara is a town and district of Manisa Province in Turkey's Aegean at a distance of from the province center of Manisa. The town owes its name to the nearby Lake Marmara, called under various names throughout history. The town of Göl ...

to the northwest, whose name itself is inspired by the lake, and in larger part by

Salihli Salihli is a large town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. Geography The city of Salihli, the seat of the district, is located on İzmir-Ankara (E 96) highway and the parallel railway connections. The urban zone ...

. Lake Marmara is located in the alluvial valley of

Gediz River The Gediz River ( tr, Gediz Nehri, ) is the second-longest river in Anatolia flowing into the Aegean Sea. From its source of Mount Murat in Kütahya Province, it flows generally west for to the Gediz River Delta in the Gulf of İzmir. Name T ...

and at , is slightly lower than the surrounding plains of the river ( for the nearby Gölmarmara town center). Aside from being a recreational center for the province as a whole, Lake Marmara is also an important source for fishing and agricultural irrigation and an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

. In the early stages of Anatolian history, the lake was famous as a resort center for the

Lydians The Lydians (known as ''Sparda'' to the Achaemenids, Old Persian cuneiform 𐎿𐎱𐎼𐎭) were Anatolian people living in Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of th ...

, at a short distance from their capital, and was called under various names throughout history, the most notable being "Lake

Gyges Gyges can refer to: * One of the Hecatoncheires from Greek mythology * King Gyges of Lydia * Ogyges * Ring of Gyges The Ring of Gyges ( grc, Γύγου Δακτύλιος, ''Gúgou Daktúlios'', ) is a hypothetical magic ring mentioned by the ...

" or "Gygaean Lake" and "Lake Coloe" or "Lake Koloe”.

Footnotes

Landforms of Manisa Province Marmara Geography of ancient Lydia Important Bird Areas of Turkey {{AncientLydia-geo-stub