Adamkayalar
Coordinates: 36 ° 28 ′ 57 ″ N , 34 ° 7 ′ 13 ″ E
The Adamkayalar (Turkish for human rock ) are Roman grave reliefs in Cilicia . They are located near the ancient Korykos near today's place Kızkalesi in the southern Turkish province of Mersin .
About eight kilometers north of Kızkalesi in the steep, almost vertical walls of the Şeytan Deresi ( Devil's Valley ) are several Roman family graves carved into the rock with thirteen corresponding reliefs. They are dated to the 2nd to 1st centuries BC. The depictions show the deceased with their families, for example at a feast. A male figure lies on a kline , another has grapes in hand. Other people are armed with a lance or battle ax. Among those depicted are women in long robes and headscarves. Inscriptions can be seen under two of the reliefs. The style of the works of art is similar in the nearby necropolises of Kanytelleis and Olba . No archaeological excavations have yet been carried out.
At the top of the gorge, the ruins of several buildings, sarcophagi, and a cistern can be seen. The populated dome with a diameter of about 100 meters is surrounded by a polygonal defensive wall up to the edge of the gorge. Crosses can be seen on some buildings. Due to the wall technology, the settlement can be dated from the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine period. At a distance of 1.5 kilometers on the other side of the road coming from Kızkalesi are the Roman tower of Gömeç and the ruins of Demirciören and Hıdırlı .
literature
- Friedrich Hild , Hansgerd Hellenkemper : Kilikien and Isaurien. Tabula Imperii Byzantini Volume 5. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-7001-1811-2 , pp. 153–154.
- Serra Durugönül : The rock reliefs in the Rough Cilicia . (BAR International Series 511). BAR, Oxford 1989, ISBN 0-86954-652-7 , pp. 19-28.
