Posted inArt, Culture

The History of the Prinkipo Orphanage, the Largest Wooden Building in Europe

Büyükada is the largest of the nine Princes’ Islands located in the Sea of Marmara, so close to the city of Istanbul that they are considered its neighborhoods. Its barely 5 square kilometers, where motorized vehicles are prohibited, boast some historical monuments, Byzantine churches and monasteries, along with a mosque, an abandoned amusement park, and […]

Posted inArchaeology

Unveiling Splendor: Ancient Sadacora Reveals a Roman Villa Adorned with 600 Square Meters of Mesmerizing Mosaics

In the province of Kayseri, located in central Turkey, impressive mosaics dating from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD have been unearthed during recent archaeological excavations in the village of Incesu, identified with the ancient city of Sadacora or Sadogora. The mosaics, spanning an area of up to 600 square meters, are exceptionally well-preserved […]

Posted inAntiquity, Archaeology

How the Karatepe bilingual inscription from the 8th century B.C. led to the decipherment of Anatolian hieroglyphs

Just as the Rosetta Stone was fundamental in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, other writing systems followed a similar process, sometimes more rugged and convoluted. Some contributed in part to the decipherment of the Anatolian hieroglyphs, in a sort of curious domino effect. In 1694, the Cippi of Melqart, two pedestals bearing bilingual inscriptions, in […]

Posted inAntiquity, Archaeology

How archaeologists found the origin of the legend of King Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold

One of the best-known legends of antiquity is that of the Phrygian king Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold. According to Aristotle, he died of starvation when it was impossible to touch any food without transforming it into the precious metal. The problem is that there are at least three kings with that […]

Posted inArchaeology, Prehistory

The inhabitants of Çatalhöyük were already experiencing typically urban problems 9,000 years ago

Around 9,000 years ago, the inhabitants of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey were among the earliest humans to experience some of the dangers of modern urban living. Çatalhöyük was one of the first large agricultural communities in the world and housed between 3,500 to 8,000 people at its peak. New research shows that residents faced overcrowding, […]

Posted inAntiquity, Archaeology

The monumental rock relief excavated by the Hittites on Mount Sipylus more than 3,000 years ago

When he speaks of Laconia in the third book of his Description of Greece Pausanias comments that the inhabitants of Acriae boasted of having the oldest temple of the Mother Goddess in the Peloponnese. But immediately afterwards he mentions that the oldest image of that goddess is elsewhere: The people of Acriae say that this is the […]