Sagalassos
Coordinates: 37 ° 40 ′ 41 ″ N , 30 ° 31 ′ 10 ″ E
Sagalassos ( Greek Σαγαλασσός ) is an ancient city in the Pisidia region of Asia Minor not far from today's Ağlasun in the Turkish province of Burdur at the foot of the Taurus Mountains at 1450 to 1600 m above sea level, popular as a destination for excursions from Antalya .
Sagalassos was founded in the Hellenistic period and abandoned after a severe earthquake in the early 7th century during the late antique - early Byzantine era. Apparently, the ruined city remained untouched and almost unlundered to the present day, although fragments of columns, buildings and pottery shards indicate to the untrained eye that an ancient city was vast and prosperous in its prime.
history
The first human settlements emerged in the Sagalassos region as early as 8000 BC. BC. Hittite documents then have a mountain settlement called Salawassa v in the 14th century. Chr. The city received Phrygian and Lydian cultural impulses. During the Persian era , Pisidia was known for its warlike tribes.
When Alexander the Great in 333 BC BC Sagalassos conquered on his way to Persia , it was already one of the wealthiest cities in Pisidia. A few thousand residents are likely to have inhabited the city. After the death of Alexander, the region became one of the territories of Antigonus I Monophthalmos (321 to 301 BC), possibly of Lysimachus (301 to 281 BC), the Seleucids of Syria (281 to 189 BC). ) and the Attalids of Pergamon (189 to 133 BC). Archaeological evidence shows that the Hellenistic culture was quickly adopted by local residents.
After the Attalids, the Roman Empire took over Pisidia, which became part of the province of Asia and 100 BC. Part of the newly formed province of Cilicia . 39 BC It was given to the Galatians Amyntas , a client king of the Romans, but after this 25 BC it was given. Rome took over Pisidia again as part of the province of Galatia . Augustus also made the Pax Romana in Sagalassos . In the Roman Empire, Sagalassos became one of the most important urban settlements in Pisidia, with a noticeable discrepancy between the presumably small number of inhabitants (according to previous knowledge, well below 10,000 people) and the splendor and size of the public buildings.
Sagalassos was fortified around 400 AD; perhaps this was a reaction to the tense situation in the empire at the time, or perhaps it was a prestige project. Because the place was still important and prosperous throughout late antiquity ; spacious private houses were built in the later 6th century . Earthquakes repeatedly devastated the city, especially in 518, but it was precisely after this significant turning point that many of the public and private buildings were restored or rebuilt with particular splendor.
But after the middle of the 6th century, this reconstruction phase was apparently ended abruptly, so public spaces were suddenly misused as waste dumps, the large palace building east of the center of Sagalassos was dismantled into small buildings and its decorative decorations were burned to lime, which gives this striking building its character as a representative building lost. The city's apparent decline could be due to periods of drought , a decline in long-distance trade, or military threats; presumably the plague epidemic around the year 542 (the Justinian plague ) also had a strong impact on Sagalassos, as a considerable part of the population was probably killed.
Once again, however, the place was able to recover, even if the old bloom was not regained. The Persian-Roman War from 603 to 628 threatened the city, because from 613 the Sassanids temporarily advanced as far as western Asia Minor. Another earthquake that hit the city badly around 630 at the latest, but above all the frequent Arab attacks at the time of the Islamic expansion into Asia Minor (since around 640), subsequently promoted the most extensive abandonment of Sagalassos and other once flourishing poleis in Asia Minor . By 700 at the latest, the city was deserted as a result and culminating point of wars, epidemics and natural disasters. The common people may have repopulated the Sagalassos valley afterwards. Excavations only revealed signs of a fortified monastery , possibly a religious community that was destroyed in the 12th century during the Islamic-Turkish conquest of the land . Sagalassos disappeared from all records and was forgotten.
In the centuries that followed, debris and sediments covered the ruins of Sagalassos and, because of its location, it was not significantly looted.
Discovery story
The explorer Paul Lucas , who toured Turkey on behalf of the French King Louis XIV , visited the ruins in 1706. When the British Francis Arundell deciphered the name of the place, western travelers began to visit the ruins. The Polish-Austrian Count Karl Lanckoroński drew the first map of Sagalassos. Still, the city did not receive much archaeological attention until 1985, when a British-Belgian team led by Stephen Mitchell began extensive archaeological exploration of the settlement.
The Belgian archaeologist Marc Waelkens began systematic research on the city's grounds in 1991. He found that she had two agors , an upper and a lower. The lower agora was excavated together with approx. 80 local helpers and approx. 120 scientific employees. In 1992 Waelkens began excavating the upper agora. A monumental fountain with sculptures was exposed along the north wall . The objects that have already been restored are exhibited in the Burdur Archaeological Museum .
A large library was also excavated, which had been built by a wealthy citizen of the city, Flavius Neon, in memory of his father. There were mosaics are exposed. The library was destroyed by fire.
A 1 km long boulevard runs towards the lower agora, next to which are the ruins of a temple that was begun in the time of Emperor Hadrian and inaugurated under Emperor Antoninus Pius . In the course of the 5th century, this temple appears to have been converted into an episcopal church. At the lower agora there are two wells that are being rebuilt by the archaeologists. In 518, as mentioned, the city was destroyed by an earthquake. Among the skeletons buried around the church are those of children who were not related to those of the adults. It is believed that an epidemic struck the city when large parts of the city were still destroyed by the previous earthquake. This epidemic could have swept away the children: It was probably the epidemic that struck the Mediterranean from 541 and is known as the " Justinian Plague ".
Sagalassos had a Greek theater with a Roman stage, which described more than a semicircle and which should have seated a good 9,000 people. Apparently, visitors from the surrounding area were expected. From his tiers one had an excellent view not only of the stage, but also of the level behind. Tunnels carved into the rock should have made it possible to evacuate this theater within about five minutes in case of danger.
A tunnel has been uncovered in the northern city wall, which the residents could possibly have used as a secret escape route or as a sorting gate against enemies.
In 1997 a building was uncovered on a natural plateau in the western part of the lower agora, which had the political function of the agora from the 1st century BC. BC to the 3rd century AD: the Bouleuterion (town hall). In this the members of the city council came together to decide on the politics of the city.
Two spouses from the upper class fought such a competitive battle after their divorce that they apparently created a market square and a well with which they tried to outdo each other. Waelkens also dug out a heroon (heroes' complex) and a nymphaeum (fountain) with Gorgon heads .
The archaeologists have started to build an archaeological park on approx. 1800 km². Approx. 1 million objects are excavated, documented, secured, restored every year, and where more than 80% of the ancient object fragments are present, building and statue fragments are put together with additions carefully made from original materials by stonemasons ( anastilosis ).
In 2008, archaeologists discovered the remains of a colossal marble statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius . The head of the statue of the young emperor alone is almost three feet high and of high quality. Parts of arms and legs were also excavated.
Movie
- The last Romans. Documentation, France, 2007, 52 min., Directors: Marco Visalberghi, Philippe Axell, production: arte .
literature
- Ine Jacobs: A late bloom. The rise and fall of Sagalassos in late antiquity. In: Ancient World . Journal of Archeology and Cultural History. 2011, No. 3, pp. 76-80.
- Veli Köse: Necropolis and funerary monuments of Sagalassos in Pisidia in the Hellenistic and Roman times. Brepols, Turnhout 2005, ISBN 9782503513713 .
- Ronald Sprafke: The Colossi of Sagalassos. In picture science . Issue 01/2010, pp. 82–87.
- Marc Waelkens: «First city of Pisidia, friend and ally of the Romans». New research in Sagalassos . In: Antike Welt 42, 2011, issue 3, pp. 62–71. - P. 72–80 two smaller contributions to ceramics and to the development in late antiquity.
- Marc Waelkens, Jeroen Poblome (ed.): Sagalassos. A Roman city in southwest Turkey. Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86832-072-5 (illustrated book on the latest research and the exhibition in the Gallo-Roman Museum Tongeren , Belgium ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information in the ARD program database , accessed on December 25, 2015.