Archaeological Site of SAGALASSOS - View over the upper AGORA - Ağlasun/Turkey
''Historical monuments are the common heritage of mankind''
Upper Agora:
''In 2001, we completed excavation--as far as is possible--of the street giving access to the Upper Agora from its northeast corner. This colonnaded street will be used in the future bring visitors to the Upper Agora through its original entrances. Last year, we began digging in the Northeast Building, a row of shops accessible from this street on the south. In origin, the Northeast Building can be related to the layout of the Upper Agora in Augustan times, but its existing northern facade was laid out in the sixth century A.D., after the earthquake around 500. Stratigraphical analysis indicates that the building may have seen further, substantial damage from the mid-seventh century earthquake. It may have seen a final (short-lived ?) attempt at reconstruction, after which it was gradually abandoned.''
interactive.archaeology.org/sagalassos/
www.tursaga.com/usrfiles/files/yayinlar/sagalassos_ziyare...
www.tursaga.com/usrfiles/files/yayinlar/sagalassos_visito...
Sagalassos is an impressive archaeological site set in a magnificent mountain landscape, 7 km to the north of the nearest town of Ağlasun (province of Burdur, SW Turkey). The archaeological remains are spread along the south facing terraces of the mountain slopes.
The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project not only unearths a site covered under erosion layers but it studies an uninterrupted occupation of more than 1000 years in all its aspects, from daily life, diet, religious beliefs, to architecture, production, trade and its mechanisms, as well as natural resources and environmental conditions of the past.
The ongoing interdisciplinary archaeological research programme of the University of Leuven is being conducted since 1990. The project emerged as a spin-off of the 'Pisidia Survey' and was conceived from the start to evaluate all feasible data in collaboration with other related disciplines, such as geology, geomorphology, geophysics, zoology, botany, ecology, anthropology etc. Recently social geography, planning and tourism studies have been included into the interdisciplinary structure. The site and the 1200 km² wide territory of ancient Sagalassos became the focus of intensive research, and at present the monumental centre of the town is for the large part unearthed and open to visito
Unesco Tentative List;
whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5409/
The archaeological site of Sagalassos is located in southwest Turkey, near the present town of Ağlasun (Burdur province); roughly 110 km to the north of the well-known port and holiday resort of Antalya. The ancient city was founded on the south facing slopes of the Taurus mountain range and was the metropolis of the Roman province of Pisidia. Next to its mountainous landscape, a series of lakes form another typical feature of the regional geography. Today this region is known as the Lake District.
The first traces of hunter/gatherers in the territory of Sagalassos date back to some 12 000 years BP. During the eighth millennium BC, farmers settled along, the shores of Lake Burdur. During the Bronze Age, territorial "chiefdoms" developed in the region, whereas Sagalassos itself was most probably not yet occupied. This may have changed by the 14th century BC, when the mountain site of Salawassa was mentioned in Hittite documents, possibly to be identified with the later Sagalassos. Under Phrygian and Lydian domination the site gradually developed into an urban centre. During the Persian period, Pisidia became known for its warlike and rebellious factions; a reputation to which the region certainly lived up in 332 BC, when Alexander the Great experienced fierce resistance at Sagalassos while conquering the region as part of his conquest of the Persian kingdom.
Pisidia changed hands many times among the successors of Alexander, being incorporated into the kingdom Antigonos Monopthalmos (321-301 BC), perhaps regaining its autonomy under Lysimachos of Thrace (301-281 BC), and then being conquered again by the Seleucids of Syria (281-189 BC) and later given to Attalids of Pergamon (189-133 BC). The use of Greek, the development of Municipal institutions and material culture of Greek origin seem to testify to fairly quick Hellenisation, but the recent discovery at Tepe Düzen of an indigenous city, with a possible Hellenistic date makes clear that Hellenisation must have been a complex process. After the Attalids bequeathed their kingdom to Rome, Pisidia at first became part of the newly created Roman province of Asia, then, around 100 BC of the coastal province of Cilicia and once more of Asia around the middle of that century.
Sagalassos and its territory turned into dependable and very prospering Roman partners. In fact, the control of an extremely fertile territory with a surplus production of grain and olives, as well as the presence of excellent clay beds allowing an industrial production of high quality table ware ("Sagalassos red slip ware"), made the export of local products possible. Rapidly, under Roman Imperial rule, Sagalassos became the metropolis of Pisidia. Trouble only started around 400 AD, when the town had to fortify its civic centre against, among others, rebellious Isaurian tribes. Sagalassos seems to have remained rather prosperous even under these conditions. After the earthquake around 500 AD, it was restored with a great sense of monumentality.
As a result of recurring epidemics after the middle of the 6th century and related general decline of the economic system in Asia Minor, the city started to lose population. Large parts of the town were abandoned and the urban life was replaced by a more rural way of living.
In the 7th century AD, the situation had further aggravated due to continuous Arab raids and new epidemics when the city was struck once more with a heavy earthquake, most probably around 590 AD. Despite this disaster, recent research has proven that the city remained occupied until the 13th century in the form of isolated and well-defended hamlets, located on some promontories which maintained the name of the former ancient city. One of these hamlets found on the Alexander's Hill of Sagalassos was destroyed in mid 13th century, by which time Seljuk's had already build a bath and a caravanserai in the village in the valley (Ağlasun).
The abandoned ancient city was then rapidly covered under vegetation and erosion layers. As a result of its remote location, Sagalassos was not really looted in later periods and remained to be one of the best preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagalassos
Sagalassos (Greek: Σαγαλασσός) is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia), and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7 km from Ağlasun (as well as being its namesake) in the province of Burdur, on Mount Akdağ, in the Western Taurus mountains range, at an altitude of 1450–1700 metres. In Roman Imperial times, the town was known as the "first city of Pisidia", a region in the western Taurus mountains, currently known as the Turkish Lakes Region. During the Hellenistic period it was already one of the major Pisidian towns.
Archaeological Site of SAGALASSOS - View over the upper AGORA - Ağlasun/Turkey
''Historical monuments are the common heritage of mankind''
Upper Agora:
''In 2001, we completed excavation--as far as is possible--of the street giving access to the Upper Agora from its northeast corner. This colonnaded street will be used in the future bring visitors to the Upper Agora through its original entrances. Last year, we began digging in the Northeast Building, a row of shops accessible from this street on the south. In origin, the Northeast Building can be related to the layout of the Upper Agora in Augustan times, but its existing northern facade was laid out in the sixth century A.D., after the earthquake around 500. Stratigraphical analysis indicates that the building may have seen further, substantial damage from the mid-seventh century earthquake. It may have seen a final (short-lived ?) attempt at reconstruction, after which it was gradually abandoned.''
interactive.archaeology.org/sagalassos/
www.tursaga.com/usrfiles/files/yayinlar/sagalassos_ziyare...
www.tursaga.com/usrfiles/files/yayinlar/sagalassos_visito...
Sagalassos is an impressive archaeological site set in a magnificent mountain landscape, 7 km to the north of the nearest town of Ağlasun (province of Burdur, SW Turkey). The archaeological remains are spread along the south facing terraces of the mountain slopes.
The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project not only unearths a site covered under erosion layers but it studies an uninterrupted occupation of more than 1000 years in all its aspects, from daily life, diet, religious beliefs, to architecture, production, trade and its mechanisms, as well as natural resources and environmental conditions of the past.
The ongoing interdisciplinary archaeological research programme of the University of Leuven is being conducted since 1990. The project emerged as a spin-off of the 'Pisidia Survey' and was conceived from the start to evaluate all feasible data in collaboration with other related disciplines, such as geology, geomorphology, geophysics, zoology, botany, ecology, anthropology etc. Recently social geography, planning and tourism studies have been included into the interdisciplinary structure. The site and the 1200 km² wide territory of ancient Sagalassos became the focus of intensive research, and at present the monumental centre of the town is for the large part unearthed and open to visito
Unesco Tentative List;
whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5409/
The archaeological site of Sagalassos is located in southwest Turkey, near the present town of Ağlasun (Burdur province); roughly 110 km to the north of the well-known port and holiday resort of Antalya. The ancient city was founded on the south facing slopes of the Taurus mountain range and was the metropolis of the Roman province of Pisidia. Next to its mountainous landscape, a series of lakes form another typical feature of the regional geography. Today this region is known as the Lake District.
The first traces of hunter/gatherers in the territory of Sagalassos date back to some 12 000 years BP. During the eighth millennium BC, farmers settled along, the shores of Lake Burdur. During the Bronze Age, territorial "chiefdoms" developed in the region, whereas Sagalassos itself was most probably not yet occupied. This may have changed by the 14th century BC, when the mountain site of Salawassa was mentioned in Hittite documents, possibly to be identified with the later Sagalassos. Under Phrygian and Lydian domination the site gradually developed into an urban centre. During the Persian period, Pisidia became known for its warlike and rebellious factions; a reputation to which the region certainly lived up in 332 BC, when Alexander the Great experienced fierce resistance at Sagalassos while conquering the region as part of his conquest of the Persian kingdom.
Pisidia changed hands many times among the successors of Alexander, being incorporated into the kingdom Antigonos Monopthalmos (321-301 BC), perhaps regaining its autonomy under Lysimachos of Thrace (301-281 BC), and then being conquered again by the Seleucids of Syria (281-189 BC) and later given to Attalids of Pergamon (189-133 BC). The use of Greek, the development of Municipal institutions and material culture of Greek origin seem to testify to fairly quick Hellenisation, but the recent discovery at Tepe Düzen of an indigenous city, with a possible Hellenistic date makes clear that Hellenisation must have been a complex process. After the Attalids bequeathed their kingdom to Rome, Pisidia at first became part of the newly created Roman province of Asia, then, around 100 BC of the coastal province of Cilicia and once more of Asia around the middle of that century.
Sagalassos and its territory turned into dependable and very prospering Roman partners. In fact, the control of an extremely fertile territory with a surplus production of grain and olives, as well as the presence of excellent clay beds allowing an industrial production of high quality table ware ("Sagalassos red slip ware"), made the export of local products possible. Rapidly, under Roman Imperial rule, Sagalassos became the metropolis of Pisidia. Trouble only started around 400 AD, when the town had to fortify its civic centre against, among others, rebellious Isaurian tribes. Sagalassos seems to have remained rather prosperous even under these conditions. After the earthquake around 500 AD, it was restored with a great sense of monumentality.
As a result of recurring epidemics after the middle of the 6th century and related general decline of the economic system in Asia Minor, the city started to lose population. Large parts of the town were abandoned and the urban life was replaced by a more rural way of living.
In the 7th century AD, the situation had further aggravated due to continuous Arab raids and new epidemics when the city was struck once more with a heavy earthquake, most probably around 590 AD. Despite this disaster, recent research has proven that the city remained occupied until the 13th century in the form of isolated and well-defended hamlets, located on some promontories which maintained the name of the former ancient city. One of these hamlets found on the Alexander's Hill of Sagalassos was destroyed in mid 13th century, by which time Seljuk's had already build a bath and a caravanserai in the village in the valley (Ağlasun).
The abandoned ancient city was then rapidly covered under vegetation and erosion layers. As a result of its remote location, Sagalassos was not really looted in later periods and remained to be one of the best preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagalassos
Sagalassos (Greek: Σαγαλασσός) is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia), and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7 km from Ağlasun (as well as being its namesake) in the province of Burdur, on Mount Akdağ, in the Western Taurus mountains range, at an altitude of 1450–1700 metres. In Roman Imperial times, the town was known as the "first city of Pisidia", a region in the western Taurus mountains, currently known as the Turkish Lakes Region. During the Hellenistic period it was already one of the major Pisidian towns.