History rewritten in ancient city of Satala

GÜMÜŞHANE

Archaeological excavations continue in the ancient city of Satala, the only surviving castle on the eastern border of the Roman Empire and the only Roman Legion castle in Anatolia that can be excavated.

Excavations started six years ago in the ancient city of Satala, located in Sadak village of Gümüşhane's Kelkit district and a large number of findings have been unearthed so far by a team under the leadership of Bartın University Archeology Application and Research Center Director Şahin Yıldırım. Artifacts from 5,000 years ago are reported to change the history of Anatolia.

It is known that the ancient city of Satala, where the 15th Legion of the Roman Empire, also called the Apollinaris Legion, ruled for 600 years, is a very important castle visited by the five emperors of Rome.

“The work we carried out in the Roman legion castle and in the section where the tombs are located in Gölbaşı are the main elements this year. In addition to this, we also carried out studies on the architecture of the castle buildings where these legions were located. During our studies, we have reached the findings dated to the beginning of the second century A.D. We also found the remains of buildings and tombs dated back to the Urartian period and earlier periods,” said Yıldırım.

Emphasizing that Satala is the most important ancient city in Northeast Anatolia, Yıldırım said, “We think that the importance of this place will increase with the studies to be carried out here for many years. It also has a great tourism potential. We plan to further the work here and bring the projects to life. Especially if we implement landscaping and museum projects, we will further increase Satala's presence in this region.”