The Belevi Mausoleum is a huge Hellenistic tomb about 14 kilometers from Selçuk, the second largest in Anatolia after Halicarnassus. Who was probably buried in it, what it looked like, the Belevi Tumulus nearby, and how to see it today.
How the imperial cult in Asia Minor worked, from the first temple of Roma and Augustus at Pergamon to the Temple of the Sebastoi in Ephesus, what neokoros meant, the debate about Domitian and why the early Christians of the Seven Churches refused. From a licensed guide in Ephesus.
The East Gymnasium of Ephesus is a 2nd-century Roman bath and exercise complex next to the Magnesian Gate, one of four bath-gymnasiums of the city. What it was, who probably paid for it, and what you can see today.
Pliny the Younger, the Roman governor of Bithynia and Pontus, wrote to Emperor Trajan about the Christians around 110 AD. His life, his Vesuvius letters, how he differs from Pliny the Elder, and the places in his letters you can still visit in Turkey, from a licensed guide in Ephesus.
The skull found in the Octagon of Ephesus, once linked to Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV, belonged to a boy of 11 to 14. Read the story of the Octagon tomb.
The Temple of Domitian in Ephesus, also called the Temple of the Sebastoi, made Ephesus neokoros, the temple warden of the emperors. Its vaulted terrace, the colossal head in the Ephesus Museum, the stones recut after Domitian's murder and how it differs from the Temple of Hadrian, from a licensed guide in Ephesus.
The Prytaneion of Ephesus was the town hall of the city. The leading officials worked here, important guests were welcomed here, and the sacred fire of…
Roman Ephesus is the marble city you walk through today, with the Celsus Library, the Temple of Hadrian and Curetes Street. Hellenistic Ephesus is the Greek…
Ephesus history runs for about 3,000 years, from the first Ionian Greek settlers around 1000 BC to the Turkish town of Selçuk today. In between came…
The Ephesus Terrace Houses are two blocks of rich Roman homes on the slope of Bülbül Mountain, across Curetes Street from the Temple of Hadrian. In…
Eighteen gold pieces and silk woven with gold thread, about 1,700 years old, were found in a tomb house at Ephesus. Read where they came from and what they tell us.
Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher born a slave in Hierapolis, now Pamukkale. Read about his life, his main idea and some of his best known sayings.
Surgery in ancient Turkey was done by Greek and Roman doctors with bone drills, forceps and hot irons. Read how the craft grew and where to see it today.
Who went to school in ancient times, what children learned, and how books, papyrus and libraries worked in Greek and Roman cities, with examples from Anatolia.
Greek vs Roman theater: Greek seats lean on a hillside, Roman seats stand on vaults. See how to tell them apart at Priene, Miletus, Ephesus and Aspendos.
Julius Caesar was a Roman general, writer and dictator. Read about his reforms, his death on March 15, 44 BC and his victory at Zela in Turkey, where he is said to have written Veni, vidi, vici.
Fennel, mulberry, greater celandine, ground elder and boxwood are five plants the Roman Empire gifted to Asia Minor, and all of them still grow in Turkey today.
Gladiators in Ephesus were young men, mostly slaves, prisoners of war and a few volunteers, who fought in the Great Theater and the stadium. Their cemetery…
The Roman road in Tarsus is a paved Roman street found in 1993 in the old part of the city, about 150 meters from St. Paul's Well.
A Roman mosaic found under the old Zeytinburnu municipality building in Istanbul is now shown under glass in the Zeytinburnu Mosaic Museum.
The Via Sebaste was a Roman road from Antioch in Pisidia over the Taurus Mountains to Perge, finished around 6 BC in the time of Augustus.
The Roman road in Cilicia is located in Mersin city of modern Turkey. We believe Roman Province of Cappadocia was connected to the Roman Province of…
First Roman roads started to be built with the beginning of the Roman Republic. Roads were built and maintained during the Roman Empire era too. 372…
The Roman road in Ankara is a paved street of ancient Ancyra in the Ulus area, found in 1995. It lies close to the Roman Baths, the Temple of Augustus and the Column of Julian.
The Cilicia province lay on the south coast of today's Turkey, with Tarsus as its capital. Pompey made it a Roman province in 64 BC.
The Roman province of Galatia covered central Turkey around Ankara, the old Ancyra. Augustus made it a province in 25 BC.
Lycia et Pamphylia was a Roman province on the southwest coast of Turkey, where Perge, Aspendos, Side and Xanthos can still be visited.
