Serious excavation plans in Termessos

Back in 2018, I shared the news about the restoration of Termessos’ city walls and the clearing of the ancient road that connected the city to ancient Attaleia (modern Antalya). 

Presently, more serious excavation works are being planned in Termessos. For a start, a monumental tomb that once held several marble sarcophagi will be pieced together using the scattered and now numbered blocks lying around. Apparently, all the original stones have been listed. Unfortunately, the Hurriyet Daily News does not disclose its location. 

I found the choice the archaeologists made to start with the monumental tomb quite surprising, ignoring the more obvious remains of the Theatre, the Temple of Hadrian, the Temple of Artemis, the Bouleuterion, the Agora, and other recognizable constructions. 

Next excavations will, however, focus on the Gate of Hadrian, hopefully extending to the nearby Temple of Artemis from the 2^nd century BC. Other necropolises, the aqueducts, and cisterns may also be included in this project. 

Until now, only the exceptional remains of the Tomb of Alcetas have been identified. This general, brother of Perdiccas, fought with Alexander in India, and died here in Termessos in 319 BC during the siege of the city in the War of the Diadochi. 

The beauty and challenge of Termessos is that its remains have been left mostly untouched and protected as part of the National Park of Güllük Dagi, with its rich diversity of fauna and flora.

The Attalids, rulers of Pergamon

The Attalid Dynasty of Pergamon started with Philetairos in 282 BC, roughly fifty years after the death of Alexander. 

It remains difficult to imagine the wealth Alexander had accumulated from his conquest of Asia.  The rise of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties can hardly be compared to that of Lysimachos, who did not draw the best cards. The War of the Diadochi was a very intricate and complex bickering and conniving from which all parties did not profit equally. However, Lysimachos put his share of the booty to good use and his trusted treasury keeper, Philetairos, did the same giving Pergamon the jump start it needed.

The starting date of the Pergamon Dynasty is much later than for the empires of  Seleucos in 312 BC, and Ptolemy in 305 BC founded at the end of the War of the Diadochy. 

Philetairos was a eunuch who had served under Antigonus Monophtalmos. In 302 BC he deserted him to join Lysimachos, the king of Northwest Asia Minor. At the death of Antigonus, Lysimachos rewarded Philetairos for his loyalty by putting him in charge of his treasury (inherited from Alexander) in Pergamon. 

But when Lysimachos, upon the instigation of his wife, murdered his only son, Agathocles, Philetairos joined Seleucos I. Soon afterwards, Seleucos’ forces murdered Lysimachos leaving Philetairos to rule Pergamon until 263 BC. Seleucos granted him great autonomy, which enabled him to expand his territory. Unable to have children of his own, Philetairos had adopted his nephew, the future Eumenes I, who would succeed him in 263 BC. 

One year into his kingship, Eumenes defeated the Seleucid King Antiochus near Sardes, which enabled him to create an independent city-state of Pergamon. Eumenes did not have children either and the throne went to his nephew and cousin, Attalus, who went down into history as Attalus I Soter. Attalus ruled from 241 to 197 BC and many historians still consider him as the founder of the Attalid Dynasty, with Pergamon as its capital. 

The reign of Attalus I was all but peaceful. The Seleucids had lost power over Lysimachos' territories of Pergamon, Bithynia, Nicomedia, and Cappadocia, which gained their independence. Attalus expanded his territory but lost much of it to Seleucos II later on. However, he managed to save Pergamon from the attacks of the Galatians on his northern border and to establish friendly relations with the Romans. That’s how he got involved in the Second Macedonian War (200-197 BC), which opposed the weakening kingdom of Macedonia to Rome, as an ally of Pergamon. Attalus suffered a stroke during peace negotiations in Thebes and was brought back to Pergamon, where he died in 197 BC. 

Eumenes II took over where his father left off but mingling in the affairs of the Seleucids in Syria did not sit well with the Senate of Rome. No reason for Eumenes to be distracted from carrying out his own large expansion program in Pergamon, where he built the unique Great Altar and the massive Library, second only to that of Alexandria. The Romans resented the power and independence Eumenes displayed, which in their eyes reduced their own sphere of influence in Asia Minor. Sadly, although still in his early sixties, Eumenes’ health began to deteriorate, and he appointed his brother Attalus II as a co-ruler. One year later, in 159 BC, Eumenes died. His own son was still an infant, and consequently, Attalus II, who conveniently married his widow, became the new king. He also adopted his brother’s young son, who was to become the future Attalus III. 

Attalus II continued Eumenes’ building projects in Pergamon, this time including the Palace. He also funded the construction of a new temple to Hera Basileia between the lower Agora and the Gymnasium. 

He was familiar with the political situation he inherited. He had no real enemies and was careful to recognize the authority of Rome. Instead of going to war, Attalus II expanded his influence by spending lavish amounts of money on prestige projects. For instance, he contributed to the construction of a splendid Stoa in the Agora of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis. This is the Stoa of Attalus II, which was restored/ reconstructed by the American School of Classical Studies in the early 1950s. Another Stoa carrying his name was built in Termessos next to the Corinthian temple.

As always, all kinds of taxes were raised to pay for these grand expenses, but Attalus equally improved trade in his kingdom, building markets and safe harbors. He certainly needed reliable access to a harbor, and Attalus attempted to subdue Side. In the wake of this failed attempt, he added part of Pamphylia to his kingdom, where he founded an entirely new port. He named it Attaleia, after himself, i.e., modern Antalya. Attalus II died at the blessed age of 81 or 82 in 138 BC. 

His successor was his nephew and adopted son, Attalus III. However, the new king was not interested in his kingship or in Pergamon. No wonder that he was rather unpopular among his citizens. When he died five years later of disease, he bequeathed Pergamon to Rome, which made it the capital of their Provincia Asia.

Although there may have been one last pretender to the throne, a supposed illegitimate son of Eumenes II, the Attalid Dynasty came to an abrupt end in 133 BC. 

In hardly 150 years, the Attalids had built one of the greatest Hellenistic centers for culture and art, mainly under the reigns of Eumenes II and Attalus II, which still intrigues us.

The end of Pergamon was all but glorious. After being hit by a severe earthquake in 262 AD, its decline was set in motion. The Muslims sacked what remained standing during their raid of 663 AD. More setbacks followed after the conquests by the Byzantine Empire and around 1300 AD by the Ottoman Empire. Slowly, the majestic site deteriorated to the point it was abandoned and forgotten until the first explorers of the 18^th and 19^th centuries rediscovered Pergamon.

Alexandria on the Oxus is at Kampyr Tepe

As mentioned earlier in my blog About Alexandria on the Oxus, the Russian archaeologist Edvard Rtveladze has been digging at Kampyr-Tepe since 2015, a strategic location even today as it is situated on the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

[Picture from The Telegraph, Credit: Maximum Exposure]

So far, it had been established that Kampyr-Tepe was a Graeco-Macedonian fortress, raising the question of whether it had been founded by Alexander the Great and if this was his Alexandria on the Oxus or Alexandria Oxiana. Until now, that Alexandria was thought to be located at the confluence of the Kokcha River and the Oxus River, i.e., at Ai-Khanoum in Afghanistan. 

Patience and determination certainly paid off for Rtveladze, for after finding a sanctuary, a treasury, and a harbor with distinct Hellenistic characteristics, he finally unearthed the main gate this year. It is said to be identical to that of Sillyum in Pamphylia. If so, we can match it to the gates of Perge and Termessos in Turkey and that of Apamea in Syria as well. They all share this typical semi-oval shape on the inner side of the gate. To find that same pattern this far east can only have happened in the wake of Alexander. What a revelation!

Thanks to the discovery of a new coin depicting Apollo and analysis of other layers of Kampyr-Tepe, the foundation of Alexandria on the Oxus could be dated to the 320s BC, which matches Alexander’s campaign in Central Asia perfectly. This was not the case for Ai-Khanoum.

Later this autumn, Edvard Rtveladze will return to Kampyr-Tepe to further investigate the main gate. Besides the citadel and the upper city that were revealed earlier (see: About Alexandria on the Oxus), the main temple dedicated to Demeter has been located, as well as the river crossing.

Unfortunately, there is no picture available on the gate at Kampyr-Tepe yet.

First restorations of Termessos

When I wrote my blog about Termessos (see: Alexander avoided the siege of Termessos) a few years ago, I repeatedly mentioned how little of the city had been cleared and excavated – be it to my greatest pleasure.

Understandably, there comes a time when some restorations and/or reconstructions are in order, and the first choice fell on Termessos' 2,300-year-old city walls. It is a rather clear-cut project since almost 3,000 stone blocks are readily available. They have all been scanned and numbered in order to reconstruct one-third of the original one-thousand-meter-long wall. Modern cranes are now handling blocks that weigh as much as two and a half tons. It makes you wonder how the ancient Greeks managed to move and put these heavy stones into place. The restoration also includes four towers inside the wall. When this stretch of the wall is completed, it will stand at a height of six meters.

More excavation work has been initiated at Termessos, and part of the ancient road leading from the ancient city to Attaleia (modern Antalya) has been exposed (partially still hidden, however, underneath the modern asphalt road). It is nothing more than a natural route connecting inland Pisidia to the sea that has been used since prehistoric times. The most exciting part of this discovery is the fact that this may well be the road Alexander used when he besieged Termessos in 333 BC.

As mentioned in my earlier blog, there are many skeleton remains of Hellenistic and Roman buildings like the temples of Zeus and Artemis, the so-called Corinthian temple, the Heroon for an unknown hero, the Agora with its underground cisterns, the Roman Bouleuterion, the initially Greek theater that was later remodeled to meet Roman needs, the Roman Baths and Gymnasium, several fountains or Nymphaeums, and most striking of all, the impressive Tomb of Alcetas.

It is clear that Termessos has a lot to tell since it was only abandoned in the 5^th century AD after nearly one thousand years of existence.

[Pictures are from Hurriyet  Daily News, click here and here.]

Ptolemais, heritage of the Ptolemies in the Cyrenaica (eastern Libya)

The origin of Ptolemais (or Barca) of the Libyan Pentapolis (see: Apollonia in Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) after Alexander) goes back to the middle of the 6th century BC. Still, the name Ptolemais was probably given by Ptolemy III Euergetes, the grandson of Ptolemy I, who, in 322 BC, added the city to his realm after becoming the ruler of Egypt as successor to Alexander the Great. When the Romans annexed Egypt in the first century BC, they granted Ptolemais the status of a separate province. Since the city had no local water supply, the Roman architects managed to bring in water from the surrounding hills and store it in seventeen huge cisterns under the Forum. It was a flourishing city until it was struck by the destructive earthquake of 365 AD, which caused the entire North African coast to drop by about 4 meters. The invasion of the Vandals in 428 probably gave the final blow. The Byzantines moved their military governor to Apollonia, and the Arabs ensured the city was abandoned.

It still looks abandoned today, a mere flat site thrown with stones and rocks, with a sporadic tree to bring in some color. The access road to ancient Ptolemais is not inviting either, as it runs through a solid row of abandoned houses that the Italians built last century – a proper ghost town known as Tolmeitha. It is an eerie feeling to drive over this straight road flanked by colorful facades with cast-iron decorations, which, for some reason, made me think of the Via Appia in Rome, where the tombs are replaced by empty houses.

The city of Ptolemais is no more than a field on a gentle slope from the Mediterranean up to the mountains, where even the Hippodamian plan is hard to figure out. I am happy to be pointed to the familiar Decumanus and Cardo once I’ve reached the crossroad where a piece of wall and a lonely column are all that remains of the Arch of Constantine from 312 AD. The Decumanus has been promoted to Monument Street or Via Porticata, with on one side the Roman Baths and on the other side the remains of a private house. It was on this road that the Edict of Diocletian from 301 AD was found, setting the prices for the trade goods now in the local museum.

At the next crossroad, marked with Four Columns, I turn right to visit the imposing remains of the so-called Palazzo delle Colonne, meaning the “Villa with the Columns.” Since this is about the only reconstructed building, it can hardly be missed. The Villa lies here in all its splendor, and it is generally accepted that it was built according to the then-prevailing fashion in Alexandria (Egypt). This theory is hard to verify since old Alexandria is still buried deep under the modern city, and an excellent example of such a villa has never been found, but I like the idea. In any case, the owner was not a poor man.

We owe the qualification of Palazzo to the Italian archaeologists of the last century, who found that it covered an entire street block (600 sqm) and counted two levels. The rear of the building, the living quarters, is resting on a plateau from where the owner had a panoramic view over the city, and I can see all the way to the seafront. This part had an upper level, probably the sleeping quarters. In front of these quarters below me, there is space for eight shops opening into the street, with, in the back, their own storage rooms. This storage lies next to a large patio and a complete bathing complex, including a Caldarium, Tepidarium, and Frigidarium, probably for the master of the house and his family. A separate staircase leads from the house directly to the patio below.

The re-erected columns are not well restored, with big blobs of cement in between, but they give an excellent idea of the past glory. The leaves at the bottom of the columns are quite exceptional, a subtle hint to Egypt – hence the name oecus aegyptius used to name this room. It takes some imagination to crown these columns with the capitals (now at the local museum) of the Corinthian order, with the heads of Jupiter and Mars staring down from between the acanthus leaves.

Behind this room and in the center of this complex lies the Atrium, including the earthen pipes that led the water to the bubbling fountain in the center of the pool. The Atrium was surrounded by a covered gallery resting on Ionic columns and paved with black and white mosaics, now carefully covered with plastic and soil. However, the edges are still exposed here and there. Central in this Atrium is the summer dining room that offers a view over the inside garden, and the water basin, once paved with magnificent mosaics. More protected from the elements lies, on the right-hand side, the winter dining room adjacent to the so-called Medusa room, after the mosaic found here, which has also been moved to the museum.

I am quite impressed by this Palazzo delle Colonne, not only because of its location, which is striking by itself, but also by the entire combination of these unique columns with their decoration and paintings, the many mosaic floors in color as well as black and white, and the many statues that enhanced these rooms because the Venus and Bacchus from the museum certainly were not the only ones found here. This Villa, in my opinion, goes beyond what has been found in Pompeii or Herculaneum, although they have other characteristics.

The next house block is entirely occupied by the Forum, paved with small slabs of marble and surrounded by columns, a few of which have (not too well) been restored. Under this Forum from the second century AD (in Greek times, this was a Gymnasium), the true treasure of Ptolemais lies buried: its water cisterns. Eight such huge galleries run north-south over a total length of 50 meters, and nine run east-west over 20 meters. I have seen such cisterns in cities like Termessos and Sillyum in Turkey, but not of this size. The oldest cisterns are from Hellenistic times, and when I climb down the stairs in the center of the Forum, I can clearly see the marks where supporting beams held the flat wooden roof of that period. The Romans later covered the entire system with vaulted ceilings and, in the process, more than doubled the storage capacity to reach as much as six million liters! It is a unique experience to walk through these vaulted galleries!

Right behind the Forum lies the Odeon – a somewhat controversial building. Originally built as a Bouleuterion, this Odeon dates from the 4th-5th century AD but might as well be a small theatre since the half-circular orchestra could be filled with water. However, the water supply is too far away from the theatre to be used as such, and even if this space could be filled with water, to what purpose was it used? Some archaeologists opt for miniature sea battles, while others think the water would be used to improve the acoustics. For the time being, this remains a mystery.

At the far end to the left, on the west side, one can discern the contours of the Teucheira city gate from the 5th century AD, but the entire extent in between seems still in dire need of excavation. Ptolemais definitely was an important city.

On my way back, walking over the westerly Cardo to the exit, I stopped at the Roman Villa where the mosaic of the Four Seasons was found (now at the local museum). Not much to see except that this building deserves to be called a villa. Noteworthy is that the colonnade around the Atrium ends in a horseshoe shape – an exception to the standard square pattern. Simple, smooth columns surround the central area, neatly restored without the blobs of cement the Italians used elsewhere.

The local museum is nothing more than a large storage room, but it is nice to have it so close to the excavation site (Now, a few years after the fall of Gaddafi, I wonder what has become of this place). I marvel at the fine mosaics apparently imported from Alexandria, framed with rougher mosaics laid by local craftsmen. The Medusa-mosaic from the Palazzo delle Colonne steals the show, next to two fragments with hens and fishes, and another large mosaic carpet showing the Four Seasons with two panthers underneath. True gems!

Next to a beheaded Bacchus and an elegant Venus with the head of Demeter (a strange combination), both from the 2nd century AD and found at the above-mentioned Villa, there are several painted and artistically carved Corinthian capitals revealing the heads of Jupiter and Mars. Interesting also are the aerial views of the villas I just visited. In a corner, I find the remains of a sarcophagus with an image of Achilles and, standing behind him, his mother, Thetis. An intriguing discovery, although I need help understanding what they are doing here.

One of the masterpieces is the slightly damaged panel from the Via Porticata, which shows several goods and their respective prices according to the Edict of Diocletian from 301 AD. That such legislation existed at all is quite impressive! Next to it stands a particularly graceful relief with six dancing Maenads found on the same avenue. The Maenads were a favorite subject in antiquity, and this relief has enhanced the base supporting a statue of the dramatist Euripides. The original statue was sculpted in Athens in 405 BC, but this is the best (Roman) copy. The ecstatic Maenads, followers of Dionysus, are particularly elegant in their floating robes, waving the thyrsus staff and shaking their tambourines. Such a pity that in later years, the piece was used around a well, for otherwise, it is relatively well-preserved.

Once more, this is a city that owes its glory to Alexander and his successors, as it lived on for another 700 years. Ptolemais definitely deserves to be added to the list of Alexander’s achievements.

If we pay more attention than usual, we find much more than the sites and buildings we are pointed towards. It happened to me while driving out of Ptolemais, as I noticed the remains of a Hellenistic tomb, clearly inspired by the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. It is no more than a lonely square in the middle of an abandoned field used as a garbage dump, although fenced off with barbed wire, planks, and corrugated roofing. The original tomb must have been much higher than the remaining 11 meters, but the floor plan of 12 x 12 meters is still intact. This tomb belongs to the 2nd century BC, Ptolemaic times, and still carries the alternating motives of triglyphs and metopes along the top edge, although the friezes have long since disappeared, just like the steps at the base. As elsewhere, it was common practice to dismantle old buildings to reuse the recuperated stone blocks in new constructions (spolia).

Sagalassos in Alexander’s campaign

Amazingly, the story of Sagalassos so far has remained untold on my weblog, despite the details shared in the great exhibition held in Tongeren, Belgium, not so long ago (Sagalassos, City of Dreams). So, it is high time to tell more about this magnificent city since Alexander the Great conquered it in 333 BC. 

Nowadays, a narrow road leads from the village of Ağlasun to the top of the hill where Sagalassos lies hidden from view. This immense city in the otherwise broken landscape amidst snow-capped mountains is revealed only after passing the watchman's gate. An actual eagle's nest!

Since 1990, archaeologists have constantly been working at Sagalassos, year after year, season after season, exposing new buildings each time. It is easy for a layman to see the city rise from its ashes, so to speak. The wonderful thing about Sagalassos is that so many edifices can easily be re-erected, as, in most cases, at least 90% of the original elements are scattered around! This means that the visitor will always find a surprise each time anew. It is estimated that Sagalassos covers some 1,200 square kilometers and could be compared to Pompeii in Italy, which was frozen in time after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Over here, we find a city that was constantly occupied until the 13th century AD.

Overlooking the area from this strategic location, my admiration for Alexander the Great is growing again – as if that were still possible.

Just before the onset of winter in 334 BC, Alexander split his army into three groups. Under the command of his general Parmenion, part of his troops proceeded to Gordion. The newlyweds were allowed to return home to Macedonia to spend the winter with their families. The entire army was meant to regroup the following spring in Gordion. This meant that Alexander moved through Lycia with a smaller detachment of soldiers, approximately 14,000 men, fighting east through Pamphylia, where important cities like Side, Perge, Aspendos, and Termessos had to be taken to safeguard his rear. When he started his march north in the early days of spring, Sagalassos was evidently on his path, and I find it hard to picture his army moving uphill from around where today's Ağlasun was settled by the Seljuks. I have no mental picture of how big an army of  14,000 may look like – not to mention the number of horses –but this must have been impressive enough. I suppose the baggage train, servants, slaves, craftsmen, and merchants would have stayed in the valley below...

In the 14th century BC, the Hittites knew of Sagalassos, which they called Salawassa. Like all other cities around here, Sagalassos was dominated in turn by the Phrygians and the Lydians until the Persians took hold of it to include it in the province of Pisidia. The Sagalassians were bellicose people with no reason to welcome Alexander with open arms. Any rule change is understandably met with resentment, and their opinion about Alexander will be similar to what they thought about previous conquerors. Anyway, the city was taken, although occupying the high ground in front of the town, they also fought fiercely due to Sagalassos' reinforcements from Termessos. In advance of his right wing led by Alexander himself, the archers were the first to get the beating when they reached the steepest part of the climb to the city, but the Agrianes on the left held their ground. The Pisidians, who, according to Arrian, have no defensive armor, were no match for the fully-equipped infantry attackers (horses were useless in this terrain). About 500 citizens were killed, the surviving defenders fled, and Alexander stormed Sagalassos. After Alexander's death, the region was disputed by Antigonus Monophtalmus, Lysimachos, the Seleucids, and finally, the Attalids of Pergamon. Sagalassos shared the fate of its neighbors when it became part of the Roman Provincia Asia after the death of Attalus III in 133 BC. By then, the city was Hellenistic, and the vehicular language was Greek. 

Named the Metropolis of Pisidia, Sagalassos was a reliable supplier of grain and olives. The local clay ensured the prosperous commerce of pottery like amphorae, jars, and cups for export to the entire Mediterranean region. For six hundred years, the production of ceramics was carried out on an industrial scale. Under Emperor Hadrian, the city underwent significant building activities, many of which we still see today. It is estimated that in its heyday, Sagalassos counted some 50,000 inhabitants! The decline started after repeated earthquakes like that of 518 AD, but mainly those of 644 and 661, while the plague and the Arabian invasion gave the "coup de grace." In the 11th century, it fell into the hands of the Turkmen as it was situated on the caravan route between Antalya and Konya. The Seljuks in the 13th century built the nearby town of Ağlasun with a caravansary and a hammam of its own, and Sagalassos slid into oblivion. We had to wait till 1706 when a traveling Frenchman rediscovered the city, but it was not until 1985 that a Belgo-British team put Sagalassos on the map again, and excavations started for good.

My first visit in 2005 was unsuccessful, for I was with a group led by an uncooperative guide. I returned in 2007 under the far more professional guidance of Peter Sommer in the frame of his superb trip "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great." And because of the ongoing excavations, I returned in 2009, far too long ago, when I saw the most recent pictures. My latest update of 2009 may tell of monuments now in improved condition, although they are, as a matter of course, still in the exact location anyway. 

The first building I encountered on my last visit (and I presume that is still the case today) is the vast complex of the Roman Baths built between 168 and 180 AD, which, together with those of Ephesos, belongs to the largest in Turkey. These baths were repaired and adjusted after the earthquake of 518, i.e., in the middle of the Christian period. From what I understood in Tongeren, archaeologists have traced the many additions and transformations, and the Baths may open to the public very soon.

The Lower Agora, meanwhile, has been restored in all its grandeur, with monolithic marble columns of different colors enhancing the façade of the Nymphaeum, where statues once filled the many niches. Some statues can be seen at the Museum of Burdur, but this must have been quite a sight! This was the first monumental Nymphaeum built under the reign of Trajan in the second century AD and was the first of its kind to meet the traveler entering Sagalassos from the south over the Colonnaded Street. About a century later, its façade was partly dismantled to be re-erected some 40 cm forward, creating a narrow service room behind the basin. The entire width of this fountain is 19 meters with a depth of approximately 3 meters, delimited by a meter-high limestone parapet. Among the statues that filled the nine niches, Hera and Tyche have been identified, and also two small statues of Nike.

The slabs of the marble Agora floor are still in place, as well as the staircase leading to the square below, which connected to the Colonnaded Street that linked up with the Via Sebasté down in the valley. What a panorama from here! It is at least as impressive as my first meeting with Delphi in Greece – one of those places that only the gods can choose.

Behind this Agora, half of the Odeon has been exposed. It doesn't look as if it survived the centuries too well, for it has been stripped of its marble coat, and all I see is the rough brick support. The shape and the method of construction are clearly visible, however.

Via a narrow street and a left turn, I reach the Bouleuterion, a square meeting room counting 250 seats. Three bronze statues representing the people, the city, and the senate at the entrance must have welcomed the attendees.

Next to it lies the Heroon from the early days of the first century AD, delicately restored with its magnificent friezes of dancing and music-playing girls. Although these friezes are mere copies (the originals were also moved to the Museum of Burdur), they give an excellent idea of how they once looked. The hero in whose honor this Heroon was erected remains unknown, although some pretend it might be Alexander the Great. This may be wishful thinking, for although the hero's head, now on display at the Burdur Museum, closely resembles Alexander, I am a little skeptical.

At the foot of this Heroon lies the Upper Agora, dating from the Hellenistic period and enlarged in the first century. The great attraction is the ostentatious fountain, the Antonine Nymphaeum from 160-180 AD, that looks like a theater front with six niches that held statues from the late fourth or early fifth century AD representing Asklepios, Koronis, Nemesis, Apollo, possibly Hygeia, and an unidentified male. Each corner hosted a beautiful, larger-than-life Dionysus with Satyr, now also in Burdur (with the other statues). In-depth research has revealed that the fountain was repaired in the 4th century and that the statues came from the Temple of Apollo Klarios in the lower part of the city. Each corner of the Upper Agora is enhanced with a 13-meter-high honorific column for the city's most prominent families, whose children later would become the first Roman citizens of Sagalassos. After the earthquake of 650 AD, the entire Nymphaeum collapsed and was never restored. I hear that today the monumental fountain has been so meticulously repaired that the water is again pouring into the broad water basin. That is a "must-see" for my next visit.

Public buildings surround the Upper Agora, where I find Greek and Latin inscriptions. In the middle of the Agora are the remains of a kiosk, initially a small temple dedicated to Tyche with a pyramidal roof and built in the days of Emperor Augustus. It was later reused by Empress Constantia (4th century AD), followed by Emperors Gratianus and Valentianus, and again by Empress Flavia Eudoxia (5th century AD).

Below and southeast of this Agora lies the food market or Macellum from the end of the 2nd century AD. It is a mere square of 21x21 meters with, in its center, a Tholos with a small fountain or water basin to keep the fish fresh. Shops surrounded the Macellum only on three sides, the fourth side being delimited by a colonnade offering a magnificent view over the lower city. Things were spoiled around the beginning of the sixth century when the shops were entirely rebuilt with rubble and lots of spolia from other monuments.

What a pleasure to walk around, especially since I am about the only visitor – so gratifying!

After a look at the necropolis, which is largely fenced off, I turn to the eastern side of Sagalassos. Here lies the exciting and now roofed Library of Flavius Soverianus Neon from 120 AD with its well-preserved mosaic floor. It was inspired by the Library of Celsus in Ephesos, although I personally fail to see how. For a start, this construction is much smaller, measuring only 11,80 x 9.90 meters, and the impressive façade of Ephesos is entirely absent here.

Right beneath the Library is another fountain, a Nymphaeum with Doric columns supporting the preserved roof above the water basin – a rare example of Hellenistic art from the first century BC. This Nymphaeum was the first to be excavated, and to everybody's surprise, as soon as it was exposed, the water started flowing again! Isn't that amazing? The flow is less than it used to be in antiquity simply because the water comes from one source, whereas there were several in antiquity. The fountain's edge is deeply eroded by the many jars pulled out of the freshwater, and the presence of those women drawing water is almost palpable.

The inevitable Roman Theater, completed between 180 and 210 AD, is cozily nestled in a curve higher up the hill. However, it was built in Hellenistic tradition on a Greek foundation with seating in three-quarters of a circle. No excavations have been carried out yet, and the stage seems ready to collapse any day for the past two thousand years. The fault line of the devastating earthquake of 661 AD actually ran right in front of the podium, clearly separating it from the 9,000 seats. Strangely enough, the stage of this theater was only one story high. The reason seems to be that the Sagalassians wanted to see the flat-topped conical hill in the background, where Alexander defeated them in 333 BC – a later honor to the great conqueror!

On the high plateau behind it, the city's unique potters' quarters have left thousands and thousands of shards, ranging from plain earthenware to exquisitely decorated pieces. This place is so unique because of the five known potters' centers spread around the Mediterranean Sea. Only two have been localized: this one and another one in Pergamon, which is entirely flooded after the construction of a barrage. Unforgivable to flood antiquities like that, but it seems to be Turkey's policy, as we have seen at Zeugma and Allianoi …

At the heart of the exhibition in Tongeren, Belgium, a scale model of Sagalassos was presented. It is incredible to discover how many temples, baths, nymphaeums, and private houses have been mapped out over the past decades.

The latest excavations focused on several Roman villas, which I have yet to see but look very promising. There is this vast mansion just beyond the Roman Baths, which, when it was completed in the fourth century, counted no less than 66 rooms spread over several terraces on the slope. The oldest part dates from the 1st century BC and over the years, the villa has been extended and restored many times. By the 6th century, it was split into at least four smaller apartments in which the luxurious quarters were transformed into storage rooms and even stables! So far, we know that the construction collapsed during the heavy earthquakes of the 7th century and was no longer occupied. There are many more mansions like this one in the area, i.e., east of the Colonnaded Street, but also on the opposite side, which is much more terraced. Yes, high time to pay Sagalassos another visit.

The cherry on the cake is a visit to the nearby Museum of Burdur to treat yourself to the original dancing girls from the Heroon and the grand statues of extreme beauty from the Upper and Lower Agora fountains.