Classical Archeology

Abstract: A “bust” brought from the ancient city Xanthos is on display as a part of  “ production of sculpture” at the permanent exhibiton of Antalya Archaeological Museum. The fragment was brought to the museum in 1972, however the place it was found is still unknown. The lower part of this “bust”is broken and lost, its head is unfinished.  The subject of this paper is to examine what kind of object it belongs to, its function and date. By workmanship, it seems to be one of the figures which lays on a kline lid of a sarcophagus. The use of this kind of sarcophagi, produced between 2th-3th century AD, at the ancient city is documented well by archaeological evidences.

Öz: Antalya Arkeoloji Müzesi’nin “heykel yapımı” sergi alanında, Ksanthos antik kentinden getirilmiş bir “büst” bulunmaktadır. Müzeye 1972 yılında getirilmiş olup buluntu yeri belirsizdir. Alt kısmı kırık ve kayıp olan, baş kısmı tamamlanmadan bırakılmış, yarım işçilikli bu “büst”ün nasıl bir esere ait olduğu, işlevi ve tarihlendirmesi bu çalışmanın konusunu oluşturur.  İşçilik bakımından klineli bir lahit kapağının üzerindeki figürlerden olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. MS 2.-3. yüzyıllar arasında üretilen bu tip lahitlerin Ksanthos kentindeki kullanımı, arkeolojik bulgularla belgelenmiştir.

Nysa ad Maeandrum was one of the important
cities of Caria Region in ancient times. The city is
known as one of the cities where the famous
geographer Strabo was educated, and it stands out
as an education and culture city with buildings such
as a library and gymnasium. It is understood that
the city, of which foundation is known together
with the Hellenistic Period, developed
architecturally, especially during the Roman
Imperial Period. It is also known by the
inscriptions about the beneficence for the building
and repairment of structures such as the “Library”
and the “Gerontikon” that the city had a particular
aristocratic class. Ongoing excavations yield
numerous architectural and sculptural finds.
Among these, a piece with "Sleeping Eros" relief is
the subject of the study. The motif, which has its
origins in the Hellenistic Period, extends on the
lion skin in the Nysa example. The piece reflecting
a popular type of the Roman Imperial Period in
terms of sculpture tradition, also documents the
cremation burial and urn burial tradition in the city
for the first time. In the study, besides the
introduction and dating of the piece, its function is
examined and its importance in terms of city
history is mentioned.

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary research project carried on during the Covid-19 Pandemic and supported by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). The results are gathered from six months of field and office work, as the project was limited with this period. The archaeological site of Letoon in Muğla/Turkey has been chosen as the test area, specifically the triple temples of Leto, Apollo, and Artemis. Photogrammetric reconstruction of the current situation, as well as archaeologically accurate 3D models, have been created and converted into interactive immersive VR content to measure consumer behaviour and experience. These two different types of 3D content are integrated into the VR environment both separately and as a single content with switching from one to the other. After the creation process, the content was experienced by the visitors with different demographic characteristics and a survey was conducted to measure this experience.

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary research project carried on during the Covid-19 Pandemic and supported by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). The results are gathered from six months of field and office work, as the project was limited with this period. The archaeological site of Letoon in Muğla/Turkey has been chosen as the test area, specifically the triple temples of Leto, Apollo, and Artemis. Photogrammetric reconstruction of the current situation, as well as archaeologically accurate 3D models, have been created and converted into interactive immersive VR content to measure consumer behaviour and experience. These two different types of 3D content are integrated into the VR environment both separately and as a single content with switching from one to the other. After the creation process, the content was experienced by the visitors with different demographic characteristics and a survey was conducted to measure this exp...

Ongoing excavations and research in Nysa ad Maeandrum, a settlement obtaining impressive architectural remains, put forward many findings on the city's history in terms of the material culture. Finds, evaluated predominantly in secondary contexts, among the ruins of the Late Antique Period, substantial in the city, also indicate the existence of a prosperous Roman Period. Nysa, with its three bridges, tunnels, stadiums and orthogonally planned street system built on the valley, constitutes a good example of Roman architecture and engineering of city planning in harmony with topography, in addition to its magnificent Ro-man monumental structures. Studies conducted in Street 1 -  plateia, the central axis of the east-west directed city plan and the focus of the research on the city's street system, uncovered various sculptural artefacts as well as numerous architectural elements. In this context up to the present, many artefacts had documented varying in scale, material, chronology and iconography. Among the finds, two ideal statues representing female and male are remarkable in their eligible craftmanship. The heads and feet of statues are lost, yet their height can determine as approximately 120 cm. The female figure, with its long, transparent wet
chiton off the shoulder and leaving the left breast exposed, constitutes a reduced-size representation of the Louvre-Napolitype of the goddess Aphrodite. Similar to the archetype statue in posture and dress, it differentiates only with two strands of hair flowing on its shoulders. Close parallels to our example are statuettes of Aphrodite from the Pamphylian city Side. Determining the identity of the half-dressed male statue is more difficult. According to its reduced size, it can't be an official, usually represented in this iconography. Its reduced size falls against the main aim of honouring and glorifying officials by setting up statues. However, the representations of divine and mythological characters have many functions, from worship to decoration, and their production varies in size. In Nysa's example, the figure lifts its right arm high and probably holds a spear or a sceptre. According to this posture, the figure has an iconographic analogy with representations of gods such as Zeus, Hades, Poseidon and Asclepius. Although its attribute lacks but probably holds a spear or sceptre, we can consider the statue as a depiction of the god Zeus, whose cult in Nysa is documented on epigraphic grounds. Based on stylistic and technical features, we might suggest the two statues have been made in the first half of the 2nd century AD. According to their superficial backside, they probably have been intended to be displayed frontally. They are detected as Late Antique Period spolia, out of the original context and can't be associated with a building yet. Due to their height and intention to display frontally, we might suggest that they belong to a building with an elaborate facade, such as a nymphaeum, a library or a villa

The subject matter of this paper consists of the iconographic roots of the human-headed, birdbodied figures that appear on some of the Lycian grave reliefs in the Classical Period. In total there are five human-headed bird-bodied figures on two monuments standing in the acropolis of Xanthos. One is "Building F", the other is the pillar tomb termed the "Harpy" Monument. Researchers have connected these human-headed bird-bodied figures with the descriptions of Sirens that are recorded in Greek Mythology. According to the accepted understanding today, the figure depicting the Siren was transported from eastern art to the shores of the western Aegean, a consequence of the increasing maritime-trade relationship of Mediterranean and Aegean peoples. However, neither the root nor the religious affiliations of this image that is found in Lycian tomb depictions have been examined in detail in studies concerning Sirens. This paper examines the origin of the "Lycian Sirens" and their status within the Lycian and Anatolian spiritual belief system, regarding both literary and archaeological evidence; with the aim of elucidating the presently obscure belief in the otherworld of the Lycian people. Özet: Çalışmamızın konusunu Likya Klasik Dönem mezar kabartmaları üzerinde karşımıza çıkan insan başlı-kuş gövdeli figürlerin ikonografik kökeni oluşturmaktadır. Ksanthos kenti akropolünde yer alan iki anıt üzerinde toplam beş adet insan başlı-kuş gövdeli figür bulunmaktadır. Bunlardan birisi F Anıtı, diğeri ise Harpy Anıtı olarak adlandırılan dikme mezardır. Araştırmacılar bu insan başlı-kuş gövdeli figürleri Hellen mitoslarındaki Siren adlandırmalarıyla özdeşleştirilmişlerdir. Tekil olarak sirenleri irdeleyen çalışmaların kabul edilen görüşlerince, Siren figürü Ege ve Akdeniz halklarının, denizcilik vasıtasıyla artan ticari ilişkilerinden dolayı doğu sanatından Ege'nin batı kıyısına taşınmıştır. Ancak Likya mezar kabartmalarında da karşımıza çıkan bu motifin inanç sistemindeki yeri ve kökeni ayrıntılıca irdelenmemiştir. Bu bağlamda bu çalışmayla figürün kökeni, Likya ve Anadolu inanç sistemindeki yeri, antik kaynak ve arkeolojik veriler ışığında irdelenecek, aynı zamanda bilinmezlerle dolu Likya'nın öte dünya inancına da ışık tutulmaya çalışılacaktır.

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary research project carried on during the Covid-19 Pandemic and supported by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). The results are gathered from six months of field and office work, as the project was limited with this period. The archaeological site of Letoon in Muğla/Turkey has been chosen as the test area, specifically the triple temples of Leto, Apollo, and Artemis. Photogrammetric reconstruction of the current situation, as well as archaeologically accurate 3D models, have been created and converted into interactive immersive VR content to measure consumer behaviour and experience. These two different types of 3D content are integrated into the VR environment both separately and as a single content with switching from one to the other. After the creation process, the content was experienced by the visitors with different demographic characteristics and a survey was conducted to measure this experience.

Mimari açıdan etkileyici kalıntılara sahip Nysa ad Maeandrum / Menderes Nysası'nda yürütülen arkeolojik kazılar, kent tarihine materyal kültür açısından birçok bulgu sunmaktadır. Kentte güçlü bir şekilde yaşanan Geç Antikçağ'ın kalıntılarında, çoğunlukla ikincil kontekstlerde ele geçen bulgular aynı zamanda kentin zengin Roma Dönemi'ne de işaret etmektedir. Nysa, görkemli Roma Dönemi anıtsal yapılarının yanı sıra vadi üzerine inşa edilmiş üç köprüsü, tüneli, stadion'u ile orthogonal planlı cadde-sokak sistemiyle Roma mimarisi ve mühendisliğinin topografyaya uyumlu kent planlamasının güzel bir örneğini oluşturmaktadır. Kentteki caddesokak sistemi araştırmalarının ve kent planının doğu-batı doğrultusundaki ana aksını oluşturan Cadde 1plateia çalışmaları yoğun mimari elemanların yanı sıra çeşitli heykeltıraşlık bulgularını da sunmaktadır. Bu kapsamda bugüne kadar farklı boyutlarda ve materyal, kronolojik, ikonografik çeşitlilikte eserler belgelenebilmiştir. Bunların arasında yer alan biri kadın diğeri ise bir erkeği betimleyen iki ideal heykel nitelikli işçilikleri ile dikkat çekmektedir. Baş ve ayak kısımları eksik heykellerin yaklaşık 120 cm yüksekliğe sahip oldukları anlaşılabilmektedir. Kadın heykeli, gövdesine yapışık uzun khiton'unun sol omzundan sıyrılarak sol göğsünü açık bırakmasıyla Aphrodite'nin Louvre-Napoli tipinin normal insan ölçülerinden küçük bir temsilini oluşturmaktadır. Arketip esere benzerliği duruş ve motif bakımından son derece yakın olup ondan yalnızca her iki omzuna dökülen uzun birer saç tutamıyla ayrılmaktadır. Benzerlerine, Pamphylia'dan Side'de bulunmuş Aphrodite heykelciklerinde rastlanmaktadır. Mantosu, vücudunun alt kısmını ve de sol kolunu tamamen kapatan yarı giyimli erkek heykelinin kimliğini belirlemek ise daha zordur. Normalden küçük ölçülerde yapıldığından bu tür ikonografiyle betimlenebilen imparator veya bir kamu görevlisi olması mümkün görünmemektedir. Zira, küçük ölçülerde yapılması bu tür kişilerin heykellerinin onurlandırma ve yüceltilme amacına ters düşmektedir. Buna karşın tanrısal ve mitolojik karakterlerin betimlemeleri tapınımdan dekorasyona birçok işleve sahip olup farklı ölçülerde yapılabilmişlerdir. Sağ kolunu yüksekçe havaya kaldıran ve olasılıkla bir mızrak veya uzun bir asa tutan figür, duruş ve giysisi bakımından Zeus, Hades, Poseidon ve Askleipos gibi ideal figürlerde karşılaştırma örneklerini bulur. Hiçbir atribut'u olmadığından ancak mızrak tutuyor olduğu düşünüldüğünden, Nysa'da kültü yalnızca epigrafik olarak belgelenmiş tanrı Zeus'un betimlemesi olduğu önerilebilir. Stilistik ve teknik işçilikleri nedeniyle heykeller için önerilen tarih MS 2.yüzyılın ilk yarısıdır. Hemen hemen aynı yükseklikte olan iki heykelin de arkaları daha yüzeysel şekillendirilmiştir. Bu bağlamda cephesel bir sergilemenin amaçlandığı açıktır. Eserler, Geç Antikçağ' da devşirme yapı malzemesi olarak kullanılmış olduklarından henüz herhangi bir yapıyla kesin olarak ilişkilendirilemezler. Bununla birlikte, yaklaşık 120 cm yükseklikleri ve ön cepheden izlenmelerinin amaçlandığı anlaşıldığından, nişli bir yapıda belki süslü cephe mimarisiyle bir nymphaeum, kütüphane veya bir villada yer aldıklarını önermek mümkündür.

Öz: Döneminin Anadolu'daki en güçlü ve zengin devleti-ne sahip Lydialıların antik çağın pahalı, lüks ürünleri olan parfümler, kokulu yağlar ve kremlere olan düşkünlükleri antik kaynaklar vasıtasıyla bilinmektedir. Bu ürünlerin tüketimi MÖ VII. yüzyılın sonu ve VI. yüzyılda orta sınıf arasında yaygınlaşır. Akdeniz Dünyası'nda birçok merkez-de bu dönemde bilinen parfüm ve kozmetikler ile bunlara ait kap formlarından farklı yeni bir ürün ve içerisine kon-duğu özgün bir kap formu görülmeye başlar. Batı Anado-lu, Phrygia, Ege Adaları, Yunanistan, İtalya, Fransa, İspan-ya ve Güney Rusya'da ele geçen bu yeni kozmetiğin adı βακκαρίς, sunulduğu kabın ismi ise lydiondu. Olasılıkla Anadolu'nun dışına ihraç edilen ve taklidi yapılan, parfüm ve kozmetik konulduğu bilinen Lydia'ya özgü tek kap for-mu olan lydionların kullanımı, MÖ V. ve IV. yüzyıllarda azalarak da olsa devam etmiştir. Ancak bu yüzyıllara ait buluntuların çoğunluğu tarihlendirilemeyen tabakalardan gelmektedir. Bu çalışmada yedi eser değerlendirilmekte ve hibrit lydionlar olarak sınıflandırılan gruba yeni bir örnek sunulmaktadır. Bu çalışma ile Hamamtepe, İkiztepe ve ye-ni buluntular ışığında geçiş ve geç tip lydionların kronolo-jisine katkı sağlamak amaçlanmaktadır. Abstract: Ancient literary sources indicate that Lydians, who had the most powerful and richest state in Anatolia, were fond of perfumes, fragrant oils and creams, which were expensive and luxurious products of antiquity. Consumption of these products became widespread among the middle class in the late VII th and the VI th centuries BC. Concurrently, a novel product and its own unique vessel form, different from the usual perfumes, cosmetics and related vessel forms, began to emerge in many centers throughout the Mediterra-nean World. Found in Western Anatolia, Phrygia, the Aegean Islands, the Greek Sites, Italy, France, Spain and Southern Russia, this new cosmetic and its container were called βακκαρίς and lydion, respectively. The use of lydion, which was probably the only Lydian perfume/cosmetic-containing form that was exported and imitated outside Anatolia, persisted in the V th and IV th centuries BC, albeit in decreasing abundance. However, most of these findings were recovered from undated deposits. Seven lydions are evaluated in this study and a novel example of the group classified as hybrid lydions is presented. This study aims to contribute to the chronology of transition and late lydions in the light of Hamamtepe, İkiztepe and new findings.

The Bayındır D Tumulus in Elmalı, which was excavated by Antalya Museum in 1987, contains the richest grave content of Milyas Region. These finds, defined as aristocratic cultural materials, provide new and important information about harnessing and chariot materials. The finds include two silver chariot strap spreaders, four iron horse bits, four silver breastplates and four silver poll-crests. Among these, two silver chariot strap spreaders, whose existence we know so far only from visual evidence, are unique and material cultural finds. In addition, the presence of two silver chariot strap spreaders indicates that the funeral took place with two carriages pulled by two horses. However, these artifacts relate to Urartian and Neo-Assyrian horse harness materials, are dated between the 8th and 7th centuries BC, and are unique for their period and geography. The presence of materials belonging to horses and chariots among the Anatolian grave finds in the Iron Age is known from the Urartu, Phrygia, Mysia and Lydia tumuli since the 8th century BC. This proves that not only the tomb owner, but also her ancestors were rich, influential and high status people. This article aims to determine the chronology of the chariot and harness materials from the Tumulus D finds and present new information about the burial tradition of the Milyas Region.