Satala (Lesser Armenia)
Coordinates: 40 ° 1 ′ 34 ″ N , 39 ° 35 ′ 26 ″ E
Satala (Old Armenian Սատաղ , Satał ) was an important Roman traffic junction and military camp in Lesser Armenia . The ancient site is on the site of today's Turkish village of Sadak , Gümüşhane Province , Kelkit County .
history
The area was already settled by the Hittites , Assyrians and Greeks . In Roman times, Satala was one of the most important military camps in this area. The Legio XV Apollinaris was stationed there until the 4th century. Satala was at the crossroads of the two important connecting routes in the area: the east-west route from Ancyra via Nicopolis and Satala to northern Armenia and the north-south route from the Black Sea port of Trebizond via the large military camps Satala, Melitene and Zeugma to Antioch . In 297 there was a decisive battle between the Romans and the Sasanids, who had invaded Armenia. The Sasanids were defeated and had to withdraw from Armenia in the period that followed.
After the Romans, the city belonged to the Byzantine Empire ( Battle of Satala (530) ).
The ruins are theatrical up the slope above today's Sadak village. In the necropolis there, some reliefs depicting the goddess Nike have been found.
literature
- Burchard Brentjes, Eckart Olshausen: Satala. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , column 99.
Web links
- The Roman army in Satala
- Report on a survey in Satala 2004 (PDF file; 1.34 MB)
- Jona Lendering: Satala (Sadak) . In: Livius.org (English)