This article is about Goddess Kybele that was one of the most important cults of ancient era. The recent excavation in Kurul Castle that is located in Eastern Black Sea region proved us that Kybele was one of the goddess’ that had domination in Small Asia. Let’s listen to the story;

Kurul Fortress was one of the fortress’ that had settlement in II BC and I BC. It was located on the peak point that could see whole area. They were in belief of Kybele cult. They had made a sculpture of Kybele around 2000 years ago. Eastern Black sea region was important because it was lying on Black Sea coastal area and the region had some passages to inner region. Briefly it had strategical importance.

It was so high that it was built on stairs to climb up the castle. In addition to belief history, Kurul Castle was one of the important defensive points of the region.

Do you know that Kybele was transformed to Sibel as a female name at present?

Euromos ancient site was one of the important city states in the region. This ancient site had faced a lot of civilizations. Let’s listen to Euromos’ story;

This site was constructed in BC era and it had been named in different ways. It was famous for its autonomous formation. There were important religious buildings such as Zeus temple and Christian churches. The site was developed in Roman period and it was autonomous. During the Byzantine period, it was under Mylasa diocese. We can list Phillippoi, Eurome and Eouromos as its names.

It is located in Milas district of Muğla county in Western Anatolia. It is one of the worth visiting ancient sites of the region.

Nyssa ancient site is located in Aydin county and it was one of the important city states on Western region. Let’s listen to the story of Nyssa;

Nyssa ancient site was constructed by Anthiochos Soter I in 3rd centuries BC and it was built with every sort of facilities including gymnasium and theater. It was famous for philosophy education. Strabon was there to have a philosophy education. The most outstanding sector was education due to important education facilities.

According to Strabon, the most important building of the site was Bouleuterion which was used as Geronticon (Assembly of elders). Exterior walls were collapsed but some Byzantine walls were discovered.

We are going back to 1st century AD and we are in Ephesus. We are going to meet Soranus who was a Greek physician. He was born in Ephesus and he practiced medicine in Alexandria and Rome.

He was one of the first gynecologists and pediatricians in medical history. He had a novel “Gynecology” that was the pioneering book of modern medicine. It had been used in medical education for centuries.

Aizanoi was a special site for economical history because it was the place we saw the early economical struggle against inflation in the world. Before this point, let’s listen to Aizanoi’s story;

We are going back to Roman period. It was a glorious ancient site with a Zeus temple and a theater complex. Imperial palace had a strict control in the market. Inflation started to go up so imperial palace decided to control the markets with fixed prices. They published those prices of goods on Macellum’s official inscriptions (We have them at present). By this method, the system was working as a stock market. This stock market was ruled by Emperor Diocletian ( 301 AD).

Aizanoi ancient site is located in Kütahya county of Turkey. It is in the list of UNESCO World Heritage list.

There is an ancient site which is very special for history. Its name is Kanytelleis, Neapolis also it has an another name “bloody suffering” as the criminals were executed in a cruel way here. This is the story;

We are going back to BC 4th century. This site was a magnificent residential area but its outstanding feature was more specific. The criminals were thrown down a hole and hungry wild animals were killing them in the most cruel way. That’s why it was called as “bloody suffering”. It was located in border of Olba Kingdom. It was rebuilt by Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II with the name “Neapolis”.

It was one of the important ancient sites in ancient era. Can you imagine that cruel execution?

Ancient age had its super powers. One of them was Urartu Kingdom. They were neighbor of the Assyrian Kingdom and Urartu Kingdom was fighting for domination of the region. Let’s meet Urartu civilization;

We are going back to BC 13th century. We come across a site federation state on the eastern of the peninsula. It was early Urartu state formation. They were warriors and had a developed civilization. Urartu Kingdom got brighter after 4 centuries. Cities of Urartus’ were so developed that we could see the infrastructures like today. They also used Lake Van for transportation. It was the sign of a developed civilization.

According to archeological proofs, Urartu civilization had a significant level in ancient age.

This landscape hosts a wide range of historical background as we mention in every platform. Modern Assyrians are important colors of this landscape. Even though we know that their center is Mardin, we can see many Assyrian churches in Turkey and world. We will travel in time with them;

We are going back to 5000 years ago. We are in Mesopotamia. Assyrians are super power of Mesopotamia but they start to lose power by the time. They believed in Christianity. Their civilization shattered and they fell apart around the region then in the world. They have a strong tradition and relationship among the communities. So they can live with their cultural identity in future. They are grandchildren of Assyrians.

Cultural diversity is the key of building a peaceful world. The race or religion don’t matter, communities are parts of a peaceful public. We know that they are friendly and peaceful people. Briefly cultural diversity creates a historical wealthy.

We are in Hatay county of Turkey. Hatay is known as the city of tolerance due to praying facilities of three religions. But I will give you an information on a great building of Roman engineering. It is known as Titus tunnel. This is the story;

We are in Roman period of the region. The weather was rainy and the the territory was rocky so it created dangerous floods from the mountain. Finally Roman Empire Vespian decided to build a tunnel to evaluate the water. The construction had begun AD 69 and it was finished in AD 81 by his son Titus. It is around 1300 meters. Its height is 7 meters and it has 6 meters width. It is so big that it can evaluate many liters of floods.

This water channel is so usable that it can be used even today. It can be considered as one of the wonders of Roman engineering.