Stairs from Roman temple found in Turkey's İzmit

“As part of work in the region, we found a 17-step temple stairs,” Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Adnan Zamburkan said. “We see that the stairs continue upwards. There are the remains of a tunnel underneath the stairs. We think that the structures are connected to each other. This is the area where Nicomedia [ancient İzmit] was formed. We think that historical artifacts are in this field,” he said. 

He also said they found a statue of the goddess of health had been found during the initial stage of the operations.

İzmit served as a capital in the Roman Empire and was a coastal town in which the world’s most magnificent palace sculptures were constructed, Zamburkan said. 

The artifacts were discovered three months ago, when a local wanted to drill in the third-degree archaeological field in the Çukurbağ neighborhood for construction. 

“A sculpture was found during the works and excavations started in the area,” he said.

Zamburkan said they would remove the artifacts and place them on display so that they could be seen by visitors.