Karagöl Doğal Krater Gölü

Karagöl Recreation Area is a natural wonder formed around a 35-hectare crater lake at an altitude of 810 metres on Yamanlar Dağı in Karşıyaka District, famous for the Tantalos legend. With the ducks swimming in it and the willow trees bending their leaves toward the water, it resembles a photograph. The picnic area is covered with Turkish red pine, black pine and willow trees. Besides being a small and charming lake among lush green forests, Karagöl also has a place in mythology.

Before the people of İzmir settled in Bayraklı, they used to live in the area where Karagöl is located. According to the legend; Tantalos, the Phrygian King from İzmir, lived together with the Phrygian people on Spilios Dağı, stretching from Smyrna (İzmir) to Magnesia (Manisa), and ruled his state spread across Western Anatolia. Spilios Dağı was a place with very fertile soil and rich mineral deposits. Tantalos, the only human who could sit at the table of the gods, one day incurred the wrath of the gods of Mount Olympus. Because he believed in the Anatolian goddess Cybele, Tantalos, who looked down on the Hellenic gods and attempted to test their powers, was subjected to a great punishment. Thrown from a cleft in Spilios Dağı and sent to Hades, the god of death, Tantalos was condemned by Zeus to eternal hunger and thirst, and this punishment became known in every corner of the world as the Torment of Tantalos. The historian from İzmir, Homeros, even described the suffering of his fellow countryman Tantalos impressively in the Odyssey. The cleft into which Tantalos was thrown later became a lake, and this lake was named Tantalos Lake. The present name of this lake on Yamanlar Dağı is Karagöl.

Places to Visit in İzmir Address: Karşıyaka / İzmir