Historical city in Olympus comes to light

ANTALYA

New finds have been unearthed during archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Olympus in Antalya's Kumluca district.

The excavation and restoration work that started in the new season have made the ancient city an important center of the Lycian region in terms of mosaic flooring.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has recently made a visit to the ancient city, which sheds light on the Lycian period. “The number of excavations in Olympus will reach 26,” he said.

Getting information from the excavation director, Gökçen Öztaşkın, about the works carried out in the ancient city, which is home to the mosaics of the Tomb of Captain Eudemos dating to the third century and mosaics dating to the fifth and sixth centuries.

He stated that restoration will be conducted in the areas where the excavations have already been completed, and the ancient city silhouette will be revived.

This season, which started in April, the excavations concentrated in the Episcopal Palace, Church No. 3, Harbor Monumental Tombs, Theater, Necropolis and Northern Harbor Street revealed that opus-tesselatum mosaics with plant, geometric, animal and human figure compositions were heavily preferred on the floors of the ancient city.

Refrigerium scene, thalassa (sea), gaia (earth), ktisis (build, create), trupe (debauchery), kharis (elegance, beauty) and apolausis (wealth) personifications were brought to light in the mosaics in the spaces around the peristyle of the Episcopal Palace. Lion Hunt, a mosaic with the depiction of a ship andreia (courage) and dikaiosyne (justice) personifications were also detected in the atrium porticos of Church No. 3 in the ancient city of Olympus.

The experts, who estimated that the "Seven Virtues" personification was located in the church atrium, revealed a “Lion Hunt” scene on the floor of the vaulted burial chamber, containing the sarcophagus of Captain Eudemos in the Port Monumental tombs, and a mosaic with the depiction of a ship entering a harbor at the entrance of the burial chamber.

Olympus, together with the mosaics found during previous excavations, became an important center offering a wide repertoire for the Lycian region in terms of mosaic flooring.