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Archaeology

In Hadrian´s footsteps

Excavation of Hadrian´s head and other part of an imperial statue

by Andrea Schütze     |     09/13/2021

Though there were also other Roman emperors travelling through the empire, none is associated with travel as much as the adoptive emperor Hadrian.

Not different from our days when the President or Chancellor comes, the residents of a place felt very honored by the presence of the highest and most powerful man in the state or empire.

Inscriptions and statues provided memoria – a reminder of this event, which was extremely important for the people in antiquity.

It was the same in the early 2nd century when Emperor Hadrian stopped there on his inspection trips in today’s Aydin.

In his honor, a statue and probably an inscription was created in the aftermath of this visit. The statue – or rather parts of it – have now been excavated under the direction of Professor Ali Yalçın. This also includes a well-preserved head of the emperor. More findings are still exspected.

It is worth mentioning that the parts of the statue were not found in one place, but in different places.

After the excavations are complete, all artifacts will be exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Aydin.

More information can be found in the article in the Hürriyet Daily News …

Roman emperor’s statue discovered in Aydın

Archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Alabanda in the western province of Aydın have brought to light the fragments of the statue of Roman Emperor Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus.

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Newsflash

The Treasure of King Croesus

A series of pictures of Hürriyet Daily News

Priceless ‘Croesus Treasures’ exhibited in Turkey’s Uşak

The Croesus (Karun) Treasures with 432 pieces of priceless artifacts including two-time stolen winged seahorse brochure are displayed in Turkey’s western Uşak province. Click through for the story in photos...

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Archaeology

Augusta in Cilicia – Rise up from the Floods

A positive effect of the negative climate change

by Andrea Schütze     |     Munich 09/12/2021

When in 1955 the Seyhan dam in Southern Turkey had been flooded – Augusta Augustopolis, founded by the Roman emperor Tiberius, had also been submerged in the water.

From then on Augusta had disappeared for centuries and millenia. Researchers of the 18th and 19th centuries had looked for it in vain.

The discovery of Augusta is related to the construction of the dam: Augusta was discovered in the 1950s by a civil engineer from the USA, who was working on this dam project.

He had informed British archaeologists, who had excavated nearby. In 1956 Michael Gough published his essay  on this subject “Augusta Ciliciae ” .

As a result, there followed a ten-day emergency excavation led by Mahmut Akok, that uncovered parts of the city and the theater above.

After this the knowledge had to give way to the progress and Augusta sank back under the floods of the Seyhan reservoir.

Meanwhile the water-level is falling due to the climate change and caused lack of water. At least during the low-water-period in autumn Augusta rises again from the floods – more precisely parts of the higher-positioned theatre and some of its rows of seats.

For further reading look at the article by Hürriyet Daily News …

Ancient city comes to light as water recedes

With the receding of water in the Seyhan Dam Lake in the southern province of Adana, some part of the ancient city of Augusta has come to light.

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