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Arriving at Antioch from the west, visitors can see the
fortifications and structures of various periods. Architectural
fragments of the City Gate by the main street are awaiting re-erection.
The road through the gate passes the ruins of the Waterfall and turns
to the right at the beginning of the Decumanus Maximus, which has been
excavated recently.
In this street, one can see the damaged drainage system and wear from
the wheels of vehicles, and after passing the Theatre, one turns left
into the second important street, the Cardo Maximus.
The Cardo leads the visitor to the Tiberia Platea and Central Church
with buildings from later periods on either Side. The remains of the 12
steps up to the monumental Propylon take one to the most impressive
architectural structure which has survived from the earlier periods of
Antioch: the Imperial Sanctuary-Augusteum.
Going back to the Tiberia Platea and following the Cardo to the right
will take one to the source of life of the city: the Nympheum. The
aqueducts which can be seen behind the Nympheum brought fresh water
from springs in the Sultan Mountains 11 km from the city over the
centuries. The bath which is some distance from the water source, is to
the west of the Nympheum and is in good condition. On the way to the
Great Basilica, which can be seen from any high point of the city, one
can see the small valley created by the horseshoe shaped Stadion. The
tour ends back at the Western Gate.
City gate
Facing the valley in the west, the Western Gate is most probably the
main entrance to the city as a number of ancient roads meet here. It is
supported by the city walls on both sides. Like 40% of the monumental
gates in Anatolia it is a three-vaulted victory arch. In architectural
structure and in ornament, the gate was influenced by the pre-existing
Propylon (the entrance to the Imperial Sanctuary).
It was excavated in 1924 by the University of Michigan team. The gate
had inscriptions on both sides. These were mounted on architraves and
were formed from individually cast bronze letters which had mounting
lugs on their reverses. These lugs were fixed with lead into holes cut
in the stone.
These letters are now missing, but in 1924 one stone was found which
still had letters in position. It read: C.IVL.ASP. Robinson jumped to
the conclusion that this referred to Caius Julius Asper who was
proconsul of the Province of Asia in AD 212 and for many years this was
taken as the date of construction of the gate.
Over the last ten years Dr Maurice Byrne has been working on the gate
and the archives of the 1924 expedition. He has found that Robinson's
own records show that lying on the ground next to the stone with the
letters was another which had broken off it. This stone continued the
name and showed that it was not that of the proconsul, but of a member
of a distinguished Antioch family, the Pansiniani, who are known of
over a number of generations. Many of the stones from the inscriptions
on both sides of the gate are missing (in 1924 one of these was found
in the local graveyard acting as a tombstone). Dr Byrne's present
reading of the inscriptions (or rather of the holes into which they
were mounted) is:
Inner side:
C. IVL. ASP[ER] PANSINI[AN]VS II VIR V TRIB[UNUS MILITUM] LEG I PRAEF AL[AE] D[E] S[UA] P[ECUNIA] F[ECIT] ET ORNAVIT
“Caius Julius Asper Pansinianus, mayor for the fifth time (or for five
years), military tribune of the first legion, prefect of the foreign
cavalry composed of soldiers from ... (here a stone is missing)
constructed and ornamented (this gate) from his own money.”
Outer side:
IMP. CAESARI [DIVI NERVAE NEP.] DIVI [TRAIANI FIL. TRAIANO H]ADRIANO
AU[G. PONT.] MAX. TRIB. POT. XIII. COS III P.P. ET SABINAE AU[G...]
COL[ONIA].
“For the Emperor Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, grandson of the
deified Nerva, son of the deified Traianus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunus
for the 13th time, Consul for the 3rd time, Pater Patriae (Father of
the land) and for Sabina Augusta....the colony.”
This outer inscription makes it possible to date the gate to the year
AD 129 AD when Hadrian visited Asia Minor. The gates at Antalya and
Phaselis were also built during this period. It is a possibility that
further work was done on the gate at a later date which was recorded by
the internal inscription.
Monumental gates in Roman cities, especially in colonies were built as
victory arches to symbolize the military power of Roman authority. The
main gate in Antioch decorated with nikes, weapons, armour, bucrania
and garlands is a perfect example of this tradition.
The waterfall
On the main axis of the street through the gate, about 7 m into the
city, the remains of a semi-circular ended pool can be seen. This
stands at the bottom of a waterfall which consisted of a series of
tanks 2 meters wide and 0.80 m high. These rose up the hill to the
Decumanus Maximus and water flowed down the hill from tank to tank.
This must have been a most welcome sight to thirsty travellers on a hot
summer's day. A similar waterfall is known at Perge. The water system
feeding the waterfall is not yet clear and awaits investigation at the
start of the Decumanus Maximus.
The theatre
Beyond the City Gate the Decumanus Maximus begins. Fifty meters up
this street there is the entrance to the theatre. Unfortunately little
more than the semi-circular seating survives. It is rather difficult to
get an idea of a typical Graeco-Roman building from its present
condition. The blocks of the cavea (auditorium), diazoma (dividing
corridor of the auditorium), kerkidai (climbing steps), entrances and
the orchestra have been carried away for later period constructions in
Antioch and in Yalvaç. Arundell observed that many blocks had been
removed when he identified the theatre in 1833.
During the recent clearing by Dr.Taşlıalan it is understood that the
width of the scene building at the back of the theatre is c.100 meters.
So we can compare the building to the theatre of Aspendos in Pamphylia
with its capacity of 12,000 people. It is rather bigger and larger than
the other important Pisidian city theatres at Sagalassos, Termessos and
Selge.
The theatre was enlarged in the period AD 311-13. This involved
building above the Decumanus Maximus which was taken through a tunnel 5
m wide and 55 m long. An inscription which was at the entrance to the
tunnel dates this enlargement. The original architecture can be dated
back to the founding of the colony or may go back to the Hellenistic
age. Further excavation is needed.
Central church
At the end of the Decumanus Maximus a left turn takes one into the Cardo Maximus, leading after 75 meters to the Central Church.
The church is on the axis of the Platea, Propylon, and Augusteum
and was so named by researchers because of its topographical position.
One apse which was then visible had been identified as part of a church
by Arundell, but none of the further researchers were interested in the
building until 1924, when it was excavated and the architect Woodbridge
drew a rough plan. It was thought that the church had a small
Latin-cross plan, but continuing excavations in 1927 by Ramsay and in
the present by Taşlıalan have shown that the central church has a
larger and a more orthodox plan.
Ramsay carried out unrecorded excavations in 1927 and found an iron
seal with the names of three martyrs from the period of Diocletian:
Neon, Nikon and Heliodorus. Taşlıalan adds the name of St. Bassus of
Antioch to this finding and the church is known as St.Bassus Church
today.
Ramsay went deeper to earlier phases of the church and found another
apse in the south of the church. He thought that this earlier apse had
been built on the synagogue in which St.Paul preached to the first
Christians of Antioch. The details of the plan and connections between
the two apses and the construction phases are not clear because of
unsystemathic digging. So the 4th century date given by Ramsay can be
taken forward about a century because new results from Mitchell's
survey and Taşlıalan's excavations.
Tiberia platea
Opposite the central church, at the end of an 11 m wide and 85 m
long street can be seen the stairs of the Propylon. This large street
was decorated with colonnades and statues on both sides. There is still
an argument whether the name Tiberia Platea (Tiberius square) should be
given to the whole street complex or only to the 30 m wide square in
front of the Propylon. The architectural plan of the shops behind the
porticos on both sides of the large street-square and the connection
between square and street are evidence that the whole complex up to the
Propylon can be named as the Tiberia Platea.
The 1924 finds: inscriptions, altars, drinking cups, eating or
preserving pottery, several kitchen tools and hundreds of coins show
that the shops were like little restaurants and bars. Because of the
central situation of the Platea and its close proximity to the Imperial
Sanctuary we can say that this place was at the heart of urban life in
its time.
The name of the Platea is known from the famous inscription recording
the edict governing the hoarding of grain made by L. Antistius
Rusticus, Governor of Galatia-Cappadocia. The inscription is in Afyon
Museum today. Robinson and Ramsay published it in the same year in
different articles, each claiming the right of publication. This was
the opening round in a series of increasingly rancorous publications by
these two scholars. As a consequence of this quarrel the Americans did
not return after 1924 and the well-shaped paving blocks of this
ownerless area were pulled up and used for road building or for modern
buildings in Yalvaç as late as the 1970s.
A short wander amongst the older houses of Yalvaç will reveal many
ornamental pieces from the Augusteum, Tiberia Platea, Propylon and
other important buildings of Antioch. It is certain that many pieces
lie beneath the foundations of mud-brick walls which are now covered by
the risen level of the streets.
Over two hundred further pieces of the Monumentum Ancyranum (Res Gestae
Divi Augusti) whose first fragments were found in 1914, were also found
during the 1924 excavations of the Platea. The restored remains of
nearly 60 pieces are on display in Yalvaç Museum.
In 1924, 20 meters from the Propylon and at the south corner of the
Platea architectural blocks from an eight columned circular building
were unearthed. This little tholos (rotunda) was built on a square base
of side 5.20 m. It is appears that the Ionic and Composite columns were
standing directly on the stylobate without column bases. The building
was covered with a conical stone roof decorated in imitation of tiling
and looking like fish scales. From the remains of an inscription
reading …I ANTONINI AUG. on a cornice block which can still be seen at
the site, we learn that the tholos belongs to the period of Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla) who became Augustus in 198 and died in
217.
As a characteristic of the period we see concentrated drillwork and
light contrast in the stonemasonship of the building. There are several
similar examples of a tholos in other metropolitan cities of
antiquitiy, for example at Pergamon and Ephesus. Meanwhile, the small
inscription on the cornice shows us the importance of epigraphy for
dating archaeological remains.
During the Michigan excavations in 1924 an interesting square block of
side 1.7 m was found set into the pavement on the main axis of the
Propylon, Platea and Augusteum.
It bore an inscription on a domed circular panel. This was originally
formed from bronze letters recessed into the stone. Although the bronze
letters were missing it was possible to read the whole inscription.
Because it was too heavy to carry away or because there were many
well-shaped blocks nearby the block was not removed although it has
been damaged. It can be seen at the site today. The inscription, which
dates to the first building phase of the Platea in 25–50 A.D., records
the gift of our citizen Baebius Asiaticus who paid for the paving of
the street:
T.BAEBIUS T.F.SER[GIA] ASIATICUS AED[ILIS] III[MIL] PEDUM D[E] S[UA] P[ECUNIA] STRAVIT
“Titus Baebius Asiaticus, son of Titus, of the tribe Sergia, Aedile (Mayor) paved 3000 feet from his own money.”
It is clear, as Mitchell has pointed out, exactly where these 3000
feet paved by Baebius were. This is because 3000 Roman feet, each of
0.296 m, fit the total lengths of the Decumanus and Cardo (810 m) plus
that of the Platea (70 m) = 880 m or 2973 Roman feet.
Another interesting find in the Platea is a fountain block. The remains
of a water system made out of earthenware tubes can be seen in the
Platea today. This system distributed water which came from the
nympheum to the shops from a fountain under the second column of the
Propylon to the north.
Propylon
The 12 steps at the end of the Tiberia Platea are all that remain of
the Propylon, a monumental passage gateway leading up to the Imperial
Sanctuary. Woodbridge, the architect of the 1924 excavations proposed a
reconstruction of the Propylon which is still accepted today.
It was triple-arched and highly ornamented with its massive entablature
carried by four columns in front and four at the rear. The building was
an exemplar not only for the later Western City Gate but also for many
other victory arches in Anatolia. The Propylon was built to honour
Augustus who, as Octavian, had won the sea-battle of Actium against
Marcus Antonius in 35 BC and thus became the single power of the Roman
world. The aim of the decoration of the building is to commemorate the
naval and other victories of Augustus.
The Sanctuary beyond the gate provides the function for the building.
The discovery of many fragments of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti in front
of the Propylon is further confirmation. Although there is not
agreement on the exact position where the stone panels bearing the
inscription were mounted on the Propylon, it is clear that the letters
of the inscription (the remains of which are in Yalvaç Museum) were
intended to be read at eye level.
The most recent work on the bronze letter inscriptions which were
mounted on the architraves of both sides of the central entrance has
been done by Dr. Maurice Byrne. He located in the 1924 photographic
archive evidence of three stones which have been lost subsequently.
These show that the same inscription was mounted on both sides of the
building, but that the vertical alignment of the letters in the two
lines of the inscription differed by the width of one letter between
the two sides. The inscription reads:
IMP. CAES[ARI. DI]VI. [F. A]VGVSTO. PONTI[F]ICI. M[AXIM]O COS. X[III.TRIB]UN[ICIAE.]POTESTATIS. XXII.[IM]P.XIIII. P.[P.]
“For the emperor Caesar Augustus, son of a god, pontifex maximus,
consul for the 13th time, with tribunician power for the 22nd time,
imperator for the 14th time, father of the country.” The inscription is
a dedication to Augustus who became Pater Patriae on 5 February, 2 BC.
A similar briefer inscription exists on an Imperial Temple at Pola:
ROMAE ET AVGVSTO CAESARI DIVI F. PATRI PATRIAE.
The width of the central entrance is 4.5 metres and of the side
entrances 3.5 m. Both upper sides of the central arch were decorated
with two face-to-face Pisidian captives, one of them naked, whose hands
are tied at the back. The side entrances are decorated with Eros and
Nike face-to-face and carrying garlands. There was a frieze on the
architrave ornamented with symbols of victory, several weapons, armour
and tritons.
Without Woodbridge's reconstruction it is impossible to recreate the
shape of the Propylon from what can be seen today. The structure has
been totally destroyed and blocks may have been used in later defences,
or in buildings in Yalvaç.
Augusteum/Sebasteion (sanctuary of the imperial cult)
The most effective, most monumental complex at Antioch is reached
after climbing the twelve steps of the Propylon. The temple that was
constructed at the highest point of the city by cutting away the rock
has on first sight a stunning effect on the visitor with its ornamental
and architectural richness. The Augusteum was one of the first places
to be dug by Ramsay's team in 1913. Callander, a member of the team,
wrote with emotion on their work at the Augusteum. Current thinking is
that construction of the temple started when Augustus was alive and
that it was dedicated to him after his death. The complex seen now is
contemporary with the Propylon and Platea but there are some traces on
the rock that the area could have been used for another cult in earlier
times.
When a large section of the mound was cut away to form the semicircle
and smooth the area, a huge block, 14x28 m and 2.5 m high, was left in
the centre as a podium for the temple. The interior of this podium was
carved out to form a cult room (Naos).
There were twelve steps up to the temple, like at the Propylon, and the
order was a four columned prostylos. The 8.72 m high fluted
drum-columns, which stood on Anatolian type bases, carried with their
Corinthian capitals a three-fascia architrave. On the architrave there
was a frieze of garlands and bukrania. The entablature was surmounted
with a tympanon which had an epiphania window (at which god showed
himself to the people) in the middle, surrounded with lotus and palmet
leaves.
The ornamental richness of the building is completed with a floral
frieze on the walls of the cella. Important parts of the friezes are
well-preserved and can be seen at the site and in Yalvaç Museum but
unfortunately the same cannot be said about the columns and other
architectural blocks In the surrounding sanctuary which measures c.
100x85 m, the perimeter of the semi-circular area was covered with a
portico. At each end of this portico, on the south and north sides
there were stoas. The stoas and portico are connected to each other
organically and in the area carved from the rock, the broken surfaces
were renovated with local limestones. The stoas at the sides were one
floored with Doric columns. The semi-circular portico had two floors,
the lower with Doric columns without bases and the upper with fine
Ionic columns. In reconstruction tests it is believed that about 150
columns were used in the monumental construction.
The excavators reported that the rock was covered with a hard
stucco-like mortar. The regular rectangular holes were for beams
carrying the second floor of the portico and the occasional rectangular
holes of different size were possibly for the scaffolding put up during
the construction and then filled with mortar.
Nympheum and water supply system
After returning to the Cardo Maximus from the Augusteum and
continuing to the north of the city, the Nympheum waits at the
beginning of Cardo. The building is a large U-shape and was built to
collect water brought by the aqueduct and distribute it throughout the
city.
The Nympheum complex included a reservoir 27x3 m to collect incoming
water, an ornamented facade building 9 m high and a pool 27 by 7 m and
1.5 m deep. Just behind the complex, the remains of the aqueduct which
brought water to the city from the “Suçıkan” source in Sultan Mountains
c. 11 km away, can be seen. The modern town of Yalvaç uses the same
water from the same source today.
The excavations in the nympheum only reveal the foundations and it is
difficult to interpret the ornaments of the facade from only a few fine
marble remains, but no doubt these were similar to those in other Roman
cities. No inscription has been found associated with the building.
In Imperial Rome, aqueducts appeared with the development of urbanism
and a well-preserved example of such a structure can be seen at
Antioch. Especially as a result of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace), the
problem of supplying the needs of fast growing populations was solved
by these structures. The aqueduct arches were constructed robustly to
bear the weight of the water and they are still standing despite many
earthquakes.
In Antioch the water, which comes from an altitude of 1465 m in the
mountains, is conveyed the 11 km to the city sometimes in channels,
sometimes in tunnels and sometimes on arches of one or two stories,
according to the terrain, in stone and earthenware tubes to the
nympheum which is at 1178 m.
This gives an average slope of 2.6% along the 287 m difference of
altitude between the source and nympheum. The water pressure along such
a slope is high and the pressure of flow was lowered by phases and when
the water arrived at the syphon aqueducts at the end of the system, the
flow was controlled with a slope of only 0.02%. As a result of this
feat of experimental engineering 3000 cubic meters of water was
distributed to the city daily without any problems for centuries. The
height of nympheum should therefore be at least 9 m to give water to
the higher points of city like the Platea, and Owens has suggested that
part of the supply was a sealed pressurised tube.
Around 200 meters of the aqueduct can be seen on the hills and the
ruined parts can be followed along a line right up to the nympheum.
The height of the arches which are still standing varies between 5 and
7 m and the massive blocked pylons are on average 4 m high and have a
floor area of 4 m². The blocks are bossaged with a deep anathrosys and
this gives an effect of solidity to the whole structure. The lines
beneath the arch feet hide the heaviness of the structure and give a
lightness of appearance. There are no ornaments on the keystones
showing us that the building was primarily functional. The distance
between two pylons varies between 3.8 and 4.7 m.
The key-stones are sometimes single, sometimes double, and the
masonship of the round arches is different but the aqueduct appears as
a unity. The cause of this strength or solidity depends on the
perfectionism of the arch architecture.
The entablature is completely ruined, but many of the stone tubes for
the water supply (Specus Canalis) with c. 25 cm holes can be seen in
the area.
The Bath
The bath lies at the northwest corner of the city and the building
did not receive much interest from researchers over the last 150 years.
Most of them identified the building as an arched, colossal complex but
none of them had anything to say about the function of the building.
Seven section of the building have been unearthed by the excavations
directed by Taşlıalan in recent years, but an important part of the
complex, which is 70x55 m, is still buried and the plan is not yet
clear. There is still some uncertainty whether the building is in fact
a bath or not.
For example, because of sun and wind factors, the entrances to
bath-houses in Anatolia were made on the south or east sides, but here
the situation is different, the entrances are on the west and
north-west sides. Also there are not clear traces of a water supply and
heating system and in this situation the building rather looks like the
lower part of a huge building that bore a massive structure above on
its strong arches. Also because of the slope of the area on which it is
constructed, the arches provide a solution so that the complex looks
like the foundations for a building on a slope. For instance at
Pergamon the same remedy was used for the Trajaneum.
But until further excavations prove the contrary the building can be accepted as a bath house which it resembles.
Treating it as a bath, the building is a reasonable distance from the
nympheum. The exterior of the walls of the building on the north side
are similar to the semi-circular fortifications of the western city
walls. So it is possible that the massive external walls of the
structure were also used for fortification in an as yet unrecognized
plan and the small entrance in the north wall was used for the supply
of wood needed for heating. The stonemasonship of the building is the
strongest work visible at Antioch and it looks as if it will keep the
building standing for many thousand years yet to come.
In the rooms cleared during the excavations it is understood that some
places were filled deliberately. The style of the blocked and
mortar-filled walls show the techniques of different centuries and show
that the building was used over an extended period and possibly for
different purposes also.
The court which is 38 by 29 m, identified as a palaestra, at the
east side of the complex is connected to the building in an organic
way. The court is surrounded with a colonaded-portico but the plan is
not yet clear.
In one room, the remains of a floor heating system (Hypocaust) is
visible as baked-clay tubes and rectangular brick-columns, but this
would not reach the central heating oven of the building which should
be at east or south side, if the building is a bath. It will be
possible to understand the functions and phases of the building by
continuing the excavations and in this situation the building may be
comparable with the bath-house of Sagalassos in Pisidia which is 80x55
m. The beginning of the building phases can be dated to the first half
of the first century A.D. like the aqueduct and nympheum.
Stadium
Outside the late period defence walls and opposite the Great
Basilica, a small valley can be discerned. It has been recognized as a
stadium only recently. The building blocks have all gone but traces of
a U-shaped stadium c.190x30 m for athletic games and competitions can
be seen.
The great basilica
One of the most important building complexes of Antioch is the Great
Basilica in the northwest of the city, close to the outer walls.
Arundell first identified the building as a basilica and the plan
published by him became a guide for subsequent researchers. The
Basilica was excavated first in 1924 by the Michigan team and it was
then buried again for 80 years until the outside of the building was
cleared by Taşlıalan who has most recently made a sondage in the apse.
The building lies in the east-west direction and is 70 by 27 m The
narthex which is 27 by 13 m bears against the defence walls. The format
reflects all the specifications of a basilica with an apse, a large
nave in the middle and two narrow ones at the sides. The outer wall of
the apse is of hectagonal plan.
The basilica shows changes to its plan over time. Possibly at the
end of the 4th century the apse and naves were filled up to the level
of the floor visible today and the filled area was pressed and covered
with mosaics. Three new entrances were added to the building on the
north side in this phase and the courtyard on the north side also dated
to this period. The central axis of the basilica is different to the
central axis of the mosaic floor, showing changes of structure. The
mosaic which was unearthed by Robinson's team is covered with c. 30 cm
of earth today, and 1924 photographs show that it was of geometrical
floral motives in rectangular frames.
In the central nave at the beginning of the apse where there should be
an altar a mosaic inscription was found giving the name of Bishop
Optimus who represented Antioch at the Council of Constantinople in
381. This date is at the beginning of the building of basilical
churches in Asia Minor. It also consolidates the dating of the Great
Basilica. So, the Great Basilica of Antioch is known as one of the two
earliest examples of Early Christian churches in Anatolia. The other
example is in another Antioch on the Orontes (Hatay) dedicated to St.
Babylas in Daphne.
The apse is 10.8 m in diameter and the central nave is separated by two
rows of 13 columns standing on hectagonal bases. Beneath the filling,
there are earlier construction phases of the naves. The recent sondage
shows traces of an arched foundation on both sides. Possibly the second
floor was carried on this. These vaults were subsequently filled and
the columns of the Optimus phase erected on this filled surface. Three
gates were added to the north wall of which the central one is 4 m wide
and two were added to the south wall. The northern entrances open onto
the central ceremonial court which is surrounded with an L–shaped
portico. All the material of this court is reused from earlier
buildings. In the north of the court a baptistery pool was added to the
basilical complex and the foundations of a mosaic paved building beside
the pool may possibly be a bishops residence.
There is no church comparable to the basilica in Pisidia and it is
earlier than the churches of Sagalassos, Thekla, Anabarzus and Korykos.
Evidence from the late fourth century like the enlarged theatre, a new
agora, enlarged fortifications show that the city had one of its most
brilliant eras at the beginning of the 5th century.
Dr.Taşlıalan identified the Great Basilica as the “Church of St.Paul”
by means of an altar which was found in Yalvaç market place and he
claims that the wall foundations at the south side of the basilica
belong to the synagogue where St.Paul first preached to the Gentiles.
The altar is dated to the 6th century and the rough inscription is
easily readable as “AGIOS PAULOS”. W.M. Calder is the first who
mentions this altar, found in the Yalvaç Baths, in his reports of 1911
and he said it could be belong to an unknown Church of St.Paul.
Podromos, the Greek guide of Calder, was the first man who translated
the inscription on the altar.
It is not clear if the basilica was used for another purpose in its
earlier levels. Conservation and lifting of the mosaics will give
opportunities to go deeper into the naves of Optimus and this will shed
further light on this important Antioch building.
The sanctuary of Men Askaenos
A sanctuary exists on the neighbouring hill east of Antioch, which
is about 1600 m high, that 6 km away from Antioch(3.5 km as the crow
flies) dedicated to the one of the mystic gods of Anatolia: Men
Askaenos. The hill is known as Gemen Korusu (grove of Gemen) or
Karakuyu (blackwell, because of a dried spring beside a Byzantine
church). Even today the hill is rendered attractive by means of the
sacred trees of the Father God(Patrios Theos)of Antioch, pine trees.
The sanctuary was founded on a high hill to see the Beyşehir Lake in
southeast, Eğirdir Lake in southwest and the territory of Antioch 400
meters below.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the discoverer of Antioch
wondered about the sanctuary that Strabo mentions in his Geography, and
Ramsay's team found a sacred prosessional road with votive steles on
either side leading up to the sanctuary. And the researchers met there
with a temple in a temenos, another smaller one, a stadion, andron,
ceremonial hall, Byzantine church and house-shaped unidentified
buildings. Inscriptions indicate that a strong cult of a local belief
reigned in sanctuary in a long period between 4th century BC and 4th
century A.D.
Ramsay and Hardie identified the Temple of Men as a “Great Altar” maybe
from its similarity to Pergamon Altar. The next year they recognized
the building and identified as “an unusual shaped small temple”.
On temenos walls especially on the south –southwest side that looks to
Antioch they discovered many inscriptions on votive stels dedicated to
Men begging help,health,protection; telling sins,dreams,wishing
forgiving and giving thanks, shortly shared lifes with the Patrios
Theos.
The temple is a peripteral Ionic ordered temple with 11x6 columns. The
measures are 31x17.4 in podium base and 25x12.5 on the podium. There
are 10 steps in southwest-northwest sides and 6 steps in
southeast-northeast sides of the podium.
The site and other buildings are in a bad condition. Although it has
been surveyed, the site is not been excavated yet. With the growth of
Christianity, sites of local polytheistic religions of Anatolia and
imported cults like emperors were systematically damaged in the 4th
century. This is why even plan specifications of the buildings cannot
be clearly seen in the present day.
Yalvaç museum
Continuing research in the area makes Yalvaç a centre for interest
in the Pisidian Region. Even from the early years of the last century
research and excavations led to the need for a museum. Some early finds
went to the Museum at Konya. The artifacts that were found in the
American excavations were at first kept in the High School, but as the
natives started to bring many different objects there, it became
necessary to built a museum in Yalvaç. In 1947 even the excavations
stopped for this coming inflating objects a storage room built.
For some time objects were displayed in Yalvaç Public Library but the
need continues and the present building was started in 1963 and
finished in 1966. The museum consisting of a Prehistoric hall, a
classical hall, an etnographic hall, with the garden in the centre, and
is open every day, except Monday, between 08.30 and 17.30.
The Pre-History Hall
Just at the left side of the entrance, fossil finds are on display,
which were found at Tokmacık (a small town 17 km from Yalvaç). They are
the remains of several mammals belonging to the Late Miocene Era, 7
million to 8 million years old.
In continuous windows, early Bronze Age finds by villagers and
surveyors who explored around the 17 prehistoric-settled mounds of the
Yalvaç region are on display. These objects, baked clay cups and jars,
several stone objects, axes, weights, seals, and figurines reflect the
characteristic style of the Lake District.
The Classical Hall
This hall is in the central part of the museum and mostly contains
finds from the excavations at Antioch. On display are statues, statue
fragments, portraits and reliefs, all reflecting the culture of a Roman
colony that melded in Anatolian pot.
Objects of daily use, such as jars, jewellery, perfume bottles,
terracotta and bronze figurines together with marble statuettes, votive
steles from the Men Sanctuary, and early examples of Christian crosses
are on display forming a rich, concentrated collection.
Ethnographic Hall
Some beautiful examples of Turkish culture, which had settled in Yalvaç
from the 12th century, are exhibited in this gallery. Particularly
impressive are the carved wooden chimneys, ceilings, doors and
wardrobes. In other cabinets, objects of daily use, such as dresses,
jewellery, weapons, and medals are on display.
The Garden
This contains some representative examples of architecture from the
site of Antioch together with many stones found in Yalvaç and its
surroundings.
The development of the museum is continued by research. There is now a
need for a larger museum for the display of objects in storage. The
coins, manuscripts, weapons, reliefs and statue fragments are still
waiting to be exhibited in new galleries.
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