Explore Ancient Anatolia

Two thousand years after he built a wall across Britain to keep out the barbarians, Hadrian is returning to this part of his empire. More than 200 treasures relating to the Roman Emperor will go on display in a block-buster exhibition this summer, the British Museum announced yesterday.

Parts of a huge, exquisitely carved statue of the Roman Emperor Hadrian have been found at an archaeological site in south-central Turkey. The original statue would have stood 4m-5m in height, experts estimate.

Hadrian's Gate, Antalya , originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com . The Hadrian's Gate, Hadrianus Gate or Üçkapılar, meaning the Three Gates in Turkish, is a triumphal arch which was built in the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited Antalya in 130 A.D. It has three arched gates. According to the legend, Sultan Belkis, the Queen of Sheba, is said to have passed under those gates and enjoyed a happy day in the palace in Aspendos on her way to visit King Solomon.

Flight of Emperor From Antalya to London Giant statue of Emperor Hadrian unearthed near Antalya, Turkey is at on public display at British Museum at London.

Sagalassos , originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com . Sagalassos is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya, and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7 km from Ağlasun in the province of Burdur, on Mount Akdağ, in the Western Toros mountain range, at an altitude of 1450-1700 metres. In Roman Imperial times, the town was known as the 'first city of Pisidia', a region in the western Taurus mountains, currently known as the Turkish Lakes Region. Already during the Hellenistic period, it had been one of the major Pisidian towns. Sagalassos was one of the wealthiest cities in Pisidia when Alexander the Great conquered it in 333 BCE on his way to Persia.

Aizanoi, Çavdarhisar: urban and cultural development of prehistoric and early Roman city in western Central Anatolia.

The Antioch mosaics are a grouping of over 300 mosaic floors created around the 3rd century AD, and discovered during archaeological excavations of Antioch between 1932 and 1939 by a consortium of five museums and institutions. About half of the mosaics are housed at the Antakya Archaeological Museum, with others currently residing at the Worcester Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Baltimore Museum of Art, Harvard University and Princeton University Art Museum among others. The mosaics range in design from realistic imagery and scenes, to purely geometric patterns.

Perfect head statue of Roman female at Bolu Archaeology Museum, Claudiopolis of Bithynia, Bolu, Turkey, opened recently. Bolu was part of one of the Hittite kingdoms around 2000 BC and later 500 BC became one of the leading cities of the Kingdom of Bithynia. Strabo mentions a Hellenistic town, Bithynium, celebrated for its pastures and cheese, which according to Pausanias was founded by Arcadians from Mantinea.

Arycanda , originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com . Arykanda (Arycanda) is an ancient Lycian city, built upon five large terraces ascending a mountain slope, located near the small village of Aykiriçay, on the Elmalı-Finike road in Antalya province in south western Turkey.

Allianoi is in Pasha Ilicasi region, close to Bergama – Ivrindi Highway, Izmir, Turkey. In the 2nd century BC, orator and medicinal writer Aelius Aristides of Mysia wrote a book called Hieroi Logoi (Sacred Words) and mentioned that when he was traveling from Hadrianoterai to Bergama, he became ill and he went to Allianoi, drank its thermal spring water and got better. He said that he dreamed of God Asclepius and felt himself better with the inspirations of Asclepios. He said that the distance of this thermal spring water center to Bergama was 120 stadia (23-25 km). There is not any other important thermal water complex known between Bergama and Balıkesir. Although there is no epigraphic finding, relying on Aristeides work it is claimed that this place is Allianoi.