Explore Ancient Anatolia

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte (Ishtar) in Phoenicia. This Aphrodite figurine of 3rd century B.C., a burial gift found in the necropolis of Dardania on Mount Ida. It has the symbol of Asklepios, the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion, snakes entwined around her left arm and left leg, symbolizing life and death.

Hittite relief showing a figure holding an animal follows another figure that a bard plays a guitar-like instrument with a tassle. The left part is unfinished. This is the earliest relief of guitar, andesit orthostat of imperial Hittite period, ca. 1430–1180 BC, found at Alaca, Çorum. Exhibited in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at Ankara. Alacahöyük was inhabited since the Chalcolithic Age. Excavations show there were four layers of cultures of Chalcolithic, Old Bronze, Hittite and Phrygian ages. More on Hittites ... More on ancient music and cithara.

Reading of Bible, John, in Aramaic Language, (Syriac), language spoken by Jesus, after short introduction in Turkish in Mor Gabriel Monastery in Midyat, Mardin, Turkey.

  Figurines of ancient musicians, Assos of Troas, 4th century B.C. Behramkale, Turkey. These figurines were burial gifts found in the sarcophagi excavated in Assos cemetery dating to the Classical Period. They can be related to the cult of Dionysus. Several of these figurines are depicted as playing musical instruments such as flute, lyre, kithara and drum, while some are depicted as singing and dancing. Canakkale Museum of Archaeology, Turkey.

Faces of head sculptures on a marble Roman tomb of ancient Dardanelles at Canakkale Museum of Archaeology, Turkey.

The Yesemek quarry and sculpture workshop of Hittites lies on the eastern slopes of Yesemek village 27 km south-east of Islahiye town in Gaziantep, Turkey.

Ancient Cities surveys the cities of the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and the Greek and Roman worlds from the perspectives of archaeology and architectural history, bringing to life the physical world of ancient city dwellers by concentrating on evidence recovered from archaeological excavations. Urban form is the focus: the physical appearance and overall plans of the cities, their architecture and natural topography, and the cultural and historical contexts in which they flourished. Attention is also paid to non-urban features such as religious sanctuaries and burial grounds, places and institutions that were a familiar part of the city dweller's experience. Objects or artifacts that represented the essential furnishings of everyday life are discussed, such as pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics and coins.