Diyarbakır's ancient history comes to fore with the ongoing excavations at the Zerzevan Castle, offering insights into the daily lives and religion of the Romans
During my visit to Diyarbakır last week, I had very little time to tour the entire city due to heavy rain, and I was not able to visit the city's most important archaeological find, Zerzevan Castle. Yet, just a few hours before my flight back to Istanbul, my kind hosts at the Diyarbakır Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate and the head of the excavations invited me to take a quick tour of the site that is a doorway through time to Roman rule in the region.
Early in the morning, we headed to Zerzevan Castle, located 13 kilometers from central Çınar in the Demirölçek neighborhood. I was accompanied by Cemil Alp and Mehmet Can from the Culture and Tourism Directorate and the head of the Zerzevan excavations, associate professor Aytaç Coşkun of Dicle University.
Situated on the hilltop on an area of 6 hectares, Zerzevan Castle was used as a military settlement in the Roman era when Diyarbakır was the eastern border of the Roman Empire. The castle was perhaps the most strategically significant Roman military garrison.
Continue reading
