#termessos

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the tomb of Alcetas, Termessos, Antalya, Turkey.

Alcetas was the brother of Perdiccas and the son of Orontes from Orestis. He is first mentioned as one of Alexander the Great's generals.

On the death of Alexander, Alcetas was a strong supporter of his brother Perdiccas.

At the time of Perdiccas' murder by his own troops, Alcetas was with Eumenes in Asia Minor engaged against Craterus. The Perdiccas' army revolted from him and joined Ptolemy. They condemned Alcetas and all of Perdiccas' supporters to death.

Theatre of Termessos

Termessos, Pisidia, Asia Minor (Turkey)

2nd century CE

4000 - 5000 spectators

Immediately to the east of the agora lies the theatre. Commanding a view out over the Pamphylian plain, this building is no doubt the most eyecatching in all the Termessos plain. It displays most clearly the features of the Roman theatre, which preserved the Hellenistic period theatre plan. The Hellenistic cavea, or semicircular seating area, is divided in two by a diazoma. Above the diazoma rise eight tiers of seats, below it are sixteen, allowing for a seating capacity of some 4-5,000 spectators. A large arched entrance way connects the cavea with the agora. The southern parados was vaulted in Roman times, the northern has been left in its original open-air state. The stage building exhibits features characteristic of the 2nd century CE. A long narrow room is all that lies behind it. This is connected with the podium where the play took place, by five doors piercing the richly ornamented facade or scaenae frons. Under the stage lie five small rooms where wild animals were kept before being taken into the orchestra for combat.

Je reprends mon projet de présenter la plupart de mes 52845 photos.

1991, Notre second voyage en Turquie

- les 4 premières, le lac turquoise d’Eğirdir et sa curieuse presqu’île, un petit village en bois et moi, en Jésus marchant sur l’eau (bon, un Jésus en maillot de bain rouge...)

Theatre of Termessos, Pisidia (Turkey)

Roman theatre built in the 2nd century CE. Annia Aurelia Faustina, a grandniece of Marcus Aurelius and a short-term empress (221 CE)  had a large estate in Pisidia.  

A 2,300-year-old ancient road has been unearthed in the ancient city of Termessos in the southern province of Antalya. The ancient city is known as one of the cities that Alexander the Great failed to conquer.

Located on a natural platform on top of the 1,665-meter-high Güllük Mount, Termessos is 30 kilometers away from the city center. No excavation works have yet been carried out in the ancient city, which still maintains its magnificent structure.

The Lion Sarcophagus 

Termessos, Pisidia, Asia Minor (Turkey)

1st/ 2nd century CE

The lion monument is a funerary monument shaped as a Corinthian prostyle temple with three columns (tristyle). The walls and columns rise up on a base of four steps, forming a room of about 3 m. width and depth, within which an ornate sarcophagus is stationed. The unfluted columns were 3.66 m. tall, including base and capital, and 1.73 m apart, measured from center to center, their location is indicated by mortises in the stone slabs.

The entablature consists of a high architrave with an attached frieze and dentils cornices with masks. The decorations on the entablature differ significantly from what has been brought up in the drawing. On the frieze, the acanthus is not used but the bay leaf, and in the architrave crowned fillet continuous there are continuous tendrils instead of the usual palmettes. 

Sarcophagi of the Termessian Necropolis

Termessos, Pisidia, Asia Minor (Turkey)

2nd and 3rd centuries CE

The sarcophagi, hidden for centuries among a dense growth of trees south-west of the city, transports one in an instant to the depths of history ceremony, the dead were placed in these sarcophagi along with their clothing, jewellery, and other rich accouterments. The bodies of the poor were buried in simple stone, clay, or wooden sarcophagi. Dateable to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, these sarcophagi generally rest on a high pedestal. In the family tombs of the wealthy on the other hand, the sarcophagi were placed inside a richly ornamented structure built in the shape of the deceased together with his lineage, or the names of those given permission to be buried alongside him. Thus the right of usage was officially guaranteed. In this manner the history of one specific tomb can be ascertained. In addition, one finds inscriptions calling on the fury of the gods to prevent the sarcophagi from being opened and to scare away grave robbers. The inscriptions also state the fines meted out to those who did not conform to these rules. These fines, ranging from 300 to 100,000 denarii and generally paid to the city treasury in the name of Zeus Solymeus, took the place of legal judgments.