Excavations at the ancient city of Tralleis in Turkey's southwestern Aydin province have yielded two separate finds: a large Roman-era pool inside a bath-gymnasium complex and a nearly 2,000-year-old hall containing a floor mosaic depicting a hippocampus, a sea creature from Greek mythology. Both discoveries were made as part of Turkey's government-backed 'Legacy for the Future' project.
Archaeologists uncover 2,000-year-old pool and Roman mosaic at ancient Tralleis site in Turkey
Excavations at the ancient city of Tralleis in Turkey's southwestern Aydin province have yielded two separate finds: a large Roman-era pool inside a bath-gymnasium complex and a nearly 2,000-year-old hall containing a floor mosaic depicting a hippocampus, a sea creature from Greek mythology. Both discoveries were made as part of Turkey's government-backed 'Legacy for the Future' project.
Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry announced two weeks before the article's publication date that the pool had been found inside the frigidarium — the cold room — of the Hamam Gymnasium complex. Frigidariums were used as the second-to-last stage of the Roman bathing process and were intended to tighten the skin and close pores, after which bathers would apply oil.
The pool measures approximately 37 metres long and 12 metres wide, with an estimated capacity of around 300 people. Researchers believe it was used by young people receiving training at the gymnasium.
The excavations are led by Professor Dr. Murat Çekilmez of Aydin Adnan Menderes University, in collaboration with Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Turkish Cultural Heritage and Museums general directorate.
In late July, a separate excavation at the same site, also led by Çekilmez, uncovered a nearly 2,000-year-old hall with a Roman-era mosaic floor depicting a hippocampus — a sea creature associated in Greek mythology with the deity Poseidon — according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency. Çekilmez told Anadolu Agency that the area had initially appeared to contain only a Byzantine-era workshop, but further digging revealed a mosaic floor beneath.
Çekilmez described the Hamam Gymnasium complex as an educational institution where children learned from an early age, and said the structure contained spaces related to schooling as well as physical education. According to Çekilmez, the gymnasium 'trained many scholars, including doctors and engineers,' and 'Tralleis was known in antiquity as a place that produced writers and scientists.'
According to the ancient Greek geographer Strabo, Tralleis was founded by the Argives and Trallians, subsequently fell to the Persian Empire, and surrendered to Alexander the Great in 334 BCE. The city later passed through the control of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, the city of Pergamon, and Rome, before being Christianized and reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in the late 11th century. One of the city's historically noted residents is Anthemius of Tralleis, identified in the source as the architect of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
- The source does not state the exact date on which the pool discovery was announced, referring only to 'two weeks ago' relative to the publication date.
- The source does not provide independent verification of the estimated 300-person capacity figure or the approximate 2,000-year age attribution for either find.
- The source does not state whether either find has been or will be subjected to peer-reviewed dating analysis.
- The source does not clarify the current or planned conservation or public-access arrangements for the pool or the mosaic.
- The source contains an apparent typographical error in the name 'Anthemius of Tralleis alles,' which appears to repeat part of the place name; the correct form cannot be confirmed from the source text alone.
- The source refers to the state news agency as both 'Andalou Agency' and 'Anadolu Agency'; the standard official rendering is Anadolu Agency, but the discrepancy is noted.
Read the original at The Jerusalem Post