Underwater

Turkey is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and from the earliest times important trade routes have skirted its shores, with many of its coastal cities serving as ports of call.

The Phoenicians penetrated to every corner of the Mediterranean, while in Roman times ships laden with Egyptian wheat and Anatolian wine followed the coasts of Asia Minor on their way to Rome. This was the time when Asia Minor was being plundered of its artistic treasures, and some of the ships carrying these sank off these shores together with their priceless cargo.

Turkish waters conceal wrecks dating from every period from ancient Syrian times up to the 19th century, but most of those that lie at a depth of less than 40 metres have already been looted and form the source of the amphorae that decorate various hotels and restaurants, while those that lie a little deeper are in immediate danger. It is for that reason that we have not divulged the exact position of the wrecks that still await investigation.