Temple of Zeus near Turkey’s Aegean back in spotlight

MUĞLA

A Turkish excavation team is carrying out works to unearth a temple of Zeus in the ancient city of Euromos, located at a short distance from the Turkish Riviera city of Bodrum.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Abuzer Kızıl, an archaeologist at Mugla Sıtkı Kocman University in southwestern Turkey near the Aegean, said they brought artifacts to the surface in excavations they started in 2011 and have been aiming to bring more historical remains to light ever since.

Stating that cleaning, drilling, mapping and excavation has been carried out in the ancient city’s temple, agora, theater, bath and city walls in recent years, Kızıl said Euromos’ location made it “among the luckiest ancient cities of Anatolia.”

Euromos is one of the important cities of Caria, he said, adding that they were planning important projects for the temple.

He said the local temple of the ancient Greek god Zeus was one of the best-preserved temples in all of Turkey’s Anatolia.

Kızıl said that initially, they conducted partial excavation and cleaning works in the temple and documented the same area, noting that they have prepared a project to carry out the restoration seriously.

After funding comes through, the work will begin, he stated.

He said that to address one of their biggest problems, a slope at the north facade of the temple would be revamped and strengthened to make it earthquake resistant.

“The Temple of Zeus will take its rightful place,” he said. “It will be one of the best, most interesting and most-visited temples in Anatolia.”

He underlined that they want to preserve the materials they unearthed during years of work, noting that the site has great importance for promoting the region and tourism in Turkey.