GLOSSARY
Antiokhia: Ancient city founded near the banks of the Meander River in the province of Aydın, in the administrative district/borough of Karacasu, near the village of Başaran.
Apollon: God of beauty, virtue, fine arts, music and soothsaying (prophecy)
Akhaeos: General of the Seleucid king Seleucos III, who lived in the second half of the 3rd century B.C.
Apameia: Ancient city founded in the Hellenistic period near Dinar in Afyon.
Antonius: Famous lover of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra who committed suicide by a snake bite in 30 B.C. and who ruled Rome with Octavianus (Augustus).
Arch: An opening with a semi-round slope on top built for a gate or a passage.
Asia Minor: The name given to Anatolia in antiquity; it means ‘Small Asia’ in Latin.
Architrave: The horizontal beam, plain or with fasciae, placed on top of the columns.
Byzantine Period: The period between the years A.D. 395-1453. Western Asia Minor this period includes the era until the beginning of the 13th century.
Caria: In antiquity the name of the region in Western Asia Minor, which encompasses the Köyceğiz and the Dalaman (Indus) Stream along the coast, and inland the provinces of Aydın, Muğla and Denizli-Tavas as well.
Cadmos Mountain: The ancient name of the Honaz Mountain. In mythology Cadmos is also the titan son of the earth goddess Gaia.
Classical Period: The period which refers to the golden age of art in 480-330 B.C.
Cibyra Conventus: In the ancient period the regional judicial center also called Cibyratica, which comprised some of the cities of the Phrygia.
Cilicia: In the ancient period the name of the region that included the borders of the Mersin province.
Common Coinage: Coinage struck together by ancient cities that had commercial treaties among each other and which was valid in these cities.
Cicero: Famous Roman orator and statesman who was consul in A.D. 63
Commodus: Roman Emperor in A.D. 180-192.
Cavea: Rows of seats for spectators in theaters.
Caracalla: Roman Emperor in A.D. 211-217.
Constantinus: Roman Emperor in A.D. 306-337.
Domitian: Roman Emperor in A.D. 81-91.
Ephesus: One of the most important ancient sites of Western Asia Minor founded in the Archaic Period but where latest excavations have found Mycenaean pottery, it is located in the borders of the administrative district (borough) of Selçuk. The cities of Lycos in particular were exporting their textile products to the ancient world through the Ephesus harbor.
Geison: Hellenic name of Cornice.
Ganymedes: In mythology, the chief god Zeus disguised as an eagle abducted the handsome youth Ganymedes, who was considered the most beautiful of the mortals. In Olympos (the highest mountain of Athens) where the gods lived, Ganymedes became the servant who served wine for the gods.
Gladiator: Warriors who had to fight with wild beasts or humans in the arenas in the Roman Period.
Gymnasium: Schools where athletic and educational activities took place in the ancient period.
Hippodamian Plan: A grid-shaped city plan system, which laid out roads and streets intersecting each other in opposite directions. It was developed in the Hellenistic Period by architect Hippodamus.
Hoyuk: An artificial mound created by the accumulation of building levels as a result of the settlement of people in the same place for thousands of years.
Hellenistic Period: Period beginning with the Macedonian King Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. and continuing till the Battle of Actium in 30 B.C.
Hadrian: Roman Emperor in A.D. 117-138.
Isis: A goddess of Egyptian origin. The sister and wife of God Osiris. She is also the mother of god Horus. She is a goddess who symbolizes earth, products of earth, the revival and the greening of nature, fertility, abundance and fruitfulness, sea and the underworld and sorcery.
Ionia: In antiquity the name of the region in Western Asia Minor reaching from Foça (Phokaia) to the northern part of the Gulf of Güllük.
Laodike: The queen who was the wife of Seleucid king Antiochus II.
Labienus: The general who waged war against the Romans with the Parthian Kingdom, and destroyed Mylasa, Laodikeia and Kolossai and was later killed by the Romans in Cilicia in 39 B.C.
Lydia: Famous state and region in antiquity, which was founded within the borders of the Manisa and Usak provinces with its capital Sardis (Salihli).
Miletos: One of the most important Ionic cities in the ancient period founded in the Söke-Balat borders.
Minotauros: In mythology the bull that lived in the labyrinth in Crete and that ate children. The bull was killed by the Athenian hero Theseus.
Narthex: The name of court in Byzantine churches
Niche: Small recess.
Nicomedia: A city founded in the Hellenistic Period in present day İznik in the region of Bithynia (Bursa).
Nero: Roman Emperor in A.D. 54-68.
Nymphaeum: Monumental fountain building.
Nysa: An ancient city founded in Sultanhisar in the Hellenistic Period.
Odeon: A school for musical performances.
Pergamon: One of the most important cities in Western Asia Minor founded in present day Bergama.
Phrygia Region: In the ancient period the region, which comprised of the Lycos (Çürüksu) Plain, and the vicinity of Afyon and Eskisehir. Lycos in antiquity was the westernmost border of the Phrygian Region.
Phrygia Pacatiana: The city center where the administrative union of the ancient cities of Phrygia was located.
Ptolemaids: The kingdom founded in Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great in the Hellenistic Period.
Proconsul: The governor appointed by the Roman Empire.
Pontus Region: The name of the Black Sea Region in antiquity.
Parthian Kingdom: The kingdom founded in today’s Iran in the Hellenistic Period.
Roman Period: The era that comprises the years between 30 B.C.-A.D.395.
Saint Paul: The saint born in Antioch (Hatay) who contributed greatly to the spread of Christianity.
Saint Epaphra: The saint from Colossai (Honaz) who read the letters of Saint Paul to the people in the cities of the Lykos Valley and who invited them to convert to Christianity.
Salbakos: The name of Babadağ in the ancient period. This range of mountains is the border between Caria and Phrygia.
Samos: The ancient name of present day Sisam Island.
Sardes: The capital of the Lydian Kingdom. Today’s Salihli.
Seleucids: The kingdom founded in the borders of Syria, Iraq, Iran and South Eastern Asia Minor in the Hellenistic Period.
Strabon: The famous traveler and author of 1st century B.C.
Tumulus: A monumental tomb built by heaping an artificial mound of stone or earth on top of a tomb chamber.
Tripolis: An ancient city within the borders of today’s Yenicekent. It is in the ancient region of Lydia.
Theseus: According to mythology the Athenian hero who is a semi god.
Vault: A covering system made by consecutive semi-round/circular arches.
Vespasian: Roman Emperor in A.D. 69-79.
Vitruvius: The 1st century B.C. author of an architecture book.
Zeus: In mythology the god of gods, the head god, sky god.