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Zeugma, la cité antique engloutie du sud de la Turquie



Zeugma fut fondée sur les rives de l'Euphrate par un général d'Alexandre le Grand environ 300 ans avant Jésus Christ. Elle comprenait environ 80 000 habitants et se trouvait sur la Route de la soie. Elle fut habitée durant plus de 1400 ans. Zeugma possédait de nombreux temples, théâtres, nécropoles et grandes demeures patriciennes romaines qui comprenaient de magnifiques mosaïques et peintures murales. La mise en service du nouveau barrage de Birecik en 2000 entraina l'engloutissement ainsi que la destruction quasi totale de Zeugma.



Zeugma was founded on the banks of the Euphrates on the Silk Road by a general of Alexander the Great about 300 years before Christ. It was inhabited for over 1400 years, with many temples, theaters, cemeteries and large Roman patrician houses which included wonderful mosaics and wall paintings. The commissioning of the new Birecik Dam in 2000 resulted in the sinking and the almost total destruction of Zeugma.
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