TRIPOLIS ad MAEANDRUM

2016 EXCAVATION WORKS

AGORA

The Agora, which was built in the city center in the Roman Period with a north-south oriented, rectangular plan; continued to be used with new arrangements made in the late 4th and early 5th centuries AD. Colonnaded Street is located to the south of the Agora, Hierapolis Street is adjacent to the east, and Bouleuterion is located to the west.The building measures 49 x 68 m and covers an area of approximately 3332 m². With the construction of the city walls at the end of the 4th century AD, the stadium remained outside the city boundary. With this situation, festivals, festivities and shows started to be held in the agora. Thus, the agora, which had a very large area, became one of the important public spaces of the city.The present appearance of the Agora, which reflects its final form in the Late Roman Period, has a similar plan with the Agora built in the same place in earlier periods (Early Imperial Period).  

The southern, western and northern borders of the Agora are formed by colonnaded galleries, while the eastern border is formed by the colonnade in the East Portico of Hierapolis Street.The West Portico is located to the west of the Agora, which has an opus sectile flooring with various geometric shapes using onyx, marble and travertine stones. The south of the portico opens to the Colonnaded Street, while the north is closed to passage. The Agora is enlivened by a tribune consisting of 7 steps with a single facade on the northern side and three facades on the southern side. 

The purpose of the 2016 excavations in the Agora were initiated for in order to remove the filling soil layer covering the Agora, to identify possible constructions in the Agora courtyard and to ensure the integrity of the area between the Hierapolis Street and the West Portico. The excavations were divided into three sections and continued gradually from the south city wall of the Agora to the north. The east-west direction of the excavation led to a change in the working codes due to the different slope of the topography.

A large part of the northern portico of the Agora was opened with the excavations. In general, when the upper code of the fill soil that forms the stratigraphy is descended to downwards; a small number of small-scale stone and ceramic sherds accumulated on the surface with the flow were encountered. In addition; architectural fragments consisting of stones such as marble, travertine and onyx concentrated in a certain area without homogeneous distribution within the layer can also be mentioned.

At the Agora ground level, a press bed made of banded travertine stone used for extracting olive oil and during the removal of the layer on the ground to the north of the South Seating Steps, pit graves in east-west direction with long sides irregularly built with tea and rubble stones were encountered.

The heads of the individuals -who buried dorsally in the east-west aligned graves- are facing west and it was determined that they were buried according to the Christian belief. Carbon 14 analysis was performed on 2 bone samples taken from the skeletons for dating purposes and the graves were dated to the 9th-10th century AD. according to the analysis results. In addition, a bronze coin dated to the years 913- 959 AD was recovered during the excavations around the graves.

Within the scope of these finds, it was determined that the filling soil, which completely fills the agora and is 3 to 4 meters high in places, was formed naturally as a result of the erosion accumulation that occurred in a period of approximately 200 to 250 years.

The tombs in the center of the agora constitute an important group of finds in terms of the limited number of finds and remains from this period in Anatolia and shedding light on the chronology of Tripolis.

Agora South Portico

The South Portico of the Agora is located between the city wall built on the north side of the Colonnaded Street and the south tribune that forms the southern border of the Agora. The South Portico, which is 5 m wide and 38 m long in east-west direction, is bounded to the east by a later wall dating to the 6th century AD, which cuts this area vertically in north-south direction. Probably after the Agora portico lost its function, benches were placed to the north and south of it. and the thin and long corridor was divided by walls and used as a workshop. The upper cover of the portico belonging to the last phase of use was formed with a vault made of terracotta bricks and lime mortar within the remains found in this area.

At the east end of the South Portico of the Agora, in the southwest corner of the shop exposed as the east-west direction, there is a semicircular building built adjacent to the north facade of the city wall.

The foundation of the building is irregularly raised with large rectangular blocks of travertine. The floor is made of onyx polygonal stones. The body walls were built with rubble and tea stones, marble and travertine pieces in a simple irregular order.

It was observed that the mud mortar wall collapsed naturally due to the unfavorable winter conditions following the 2015 excavation season. 

The building, which is thought to have been used as the warehouse of the workshop, built on the South Portico of the Agora in the Late Antiquity Period, has been affected from partial wall collapses due to natural conditions over time, endangering the construction around it.

In 2016, the removal of the ruins of the building was started. It was observed that the irregular stone mesh body walls of the building under the ruins were highly damaged and the cleaning works in this area were completed.  

Agora North Portico

During the 2016 excavations, the restoration of the north portico with an opus sectile floor covering extending east-west, adjacent to the north of the Agora North Seating Platform, was completed. 

During the excavations started in the eastern half of the North Portico of the Agora, large and small tea stones and rubble stones were observed within the fill soil that forms the stratigraphy in general.

To the north of the portico, stylobate blocks formed with smoothly cut rectangular/square travertine stones in the east-west direction and in situ attic-ion type column bases placed on these blocks were exposed. 

In the place of some of the stones of the portico floor pavement that have not survived to the present day, there is the infrastructure of the main floor formed with tea stone and lime mortar.

Another work carried out on the North Portico was the exposure of the entire row of steps placed under the blocks forming the stylobate to the north of the portico. 

These works continued in a narrow area between the Stylobate of the North Portico of the Agora and the southern section of the State Agora/Sanctuary.

It was determined that the arrangement consisting of 2 steps forming the southern façade of the State Agora/Sanctuary and continuing in the east-west direction together with the Agora North Portico continues with a decreasing slope towards the west. The blocks forming the step row are generally large, smoothly cut and rectangular in shape.

State Agora / Sanctuary

Among the public buildings constructed in the city center, the State Agora / Sanctuary is one of the most important structures due to its location and the in-situ exposure of its architectural elements. 

The city council and agora are located on the south side of the building, while a monumental fountain (nymphaeum) built in the 3rd century AD borders the east. To the northwest are magnificent buildings serving social life such as a bathhouse and theater built in the 2nd century AD. The State Agora measures 40 x 80 meters with its columned galleries to the west, north and east.

It must have been built in the 2nd century AD with a rectangular plan, a large courtyard in the center and surrounded by columned galleries on all four sides, placed on two insulae in the east-west direction. Although its construction dates back to the Roman Imperial Period, the archaeological materials recovered during the excavations reveal that it was used for many years. 

It was observed that certain parts were renovated in order to eliminate the damages especially after the 494 AD earthquake. The colonnades surrounding the building and forming the colonnaded galleries have 24 fluted columns with 2 drums and Attic-Ionic type bases. In addition; most of the lower drums of the columns belonging to this arrangement were exposed in situ.

The masonry continues along the western and northern sides of the building and is bounded behind the porticoes by smoothly cut, rectangular, medium-sized, horizontally placed travertine stones. The floor of the portico continues as compacted soil at the level of the upper code of the stylobate on which the column arrangement rests.

The upper cover of the columned gallery should have had a roof with a wooden construction overlapping the walls at the back and the capitals of the columns at the front; however, the marble architrave blocks complementing the upper cover were not found during the excavations.

State Agora / Sanctuary South Portico

The south portico of the building, continues to eastward from the outer wall of the northwest corner of the Bouleuterion at the west end of the Agora North Portico.In the southwest corner; the 'L' planned workshop built in the Late Antique Period on the portico was accessed from the north through a single door. To the west of the door is a north-south oriented, rectangular shaped space belonging to the workshop. To the east is another elongated space leaning, against the north wall of the east-west oriented Bouleuterion, which is an extension of the same workshop and was probably used as a storage room for the workshop. During the 2016 excavations, the entire workshop was excavated, the building boundaries were revealed and its plan was determined.

State Agora / Sanctuary West Portico

The West Portico of the State Agora / Sanctuary starts from the northwest corner, leaning against the outer face of the north wall of the Bouleuterion, and continues 50 meters to the north wall of the building.

It was found that the stylobate of the attic-ion column bases exposed in the southwest of the building continues under the floor of the east-west opus-sectile stoa. In addition, these blocks, which rise slightly to the north as a step under the exposed late period stylobate, constitute the original stylobate of the attic-ion pedestals on which the columns rested.

With the progress of the excavations in this area, the in-situ attic-ion column bases and the upper and lower drums of 24 fluted marble columns superimposed on the column bases were exposed in a collapsed state, largely intact. In general, the upper drums forming the column arrangement were not preserved. The lower drums of the columns were unearthed in situ with a part of the upper part semi-worked.

The capitals of the columns are of the Ionian type. Like the upper drums of the columns, most of the Ionic capitals are missing. It was found that the thickness of the wall of the western portico narrowed towards the north. The presence of marble slabs at the foot of the wall, the presence of profiled marble skirting pieces exposed in situ at the foot of the wall and the presence of mortar remains on the wall surface indicate that the inner side of the portico wall facing the agora was covered with marble slabs.

There are two doorways on the wall providing access to the building. While the doorway in the south belongs to the first phase of the building, the entrance in the north was used on the original floor with amorphous ceramic fragments, roof tile and brick fragments, clay soil and lime, probably with the new floor raised by filling in the 5th century AD. 

This practice continues during the first 4 wall stones of the wall line in the west of the area from the ground to the upper codes. The height of the masonry was increased along with the floor, which continues to be used by raising it above the portico. 

Thus, on top of the regular masonry built in the 2nd century AD with smoothly cut, quadrangular travertine stones, the 5th century AD masonry built with coarser stones was added and its height was increased.

In addition, the north door opening on the west wall of the West Portico, the irregular wall built in east-west direction, the lines of the funnel and the waste water channel entering the agora towards the east on the northwest-southeast axis; are important evidence for the use of the 5th-6th century AD. The sides of the waste water channel were covered with travertine blocks raised with rubble stones. The gaps formed at the upper parts were covered with smaller sized stones used as cover Stones.

In the northwest corner of the building, there is a different arrangement in the east-west direction. A part of this arrangement is leaned against the west wall of the west portico and the other part against the north portico wall. 

This structure built in the northwest corner of the State Agora / Sanctuary must be related to a late civilian building of the 5th-6th century AD. 

The building is entered from the north portico through a staircase arrangement formed by the use of spolia. The floor of the building is paved with marble slabs. However, it is observed that this floor has been destroyed to a great extent

In addition, there are in situ exposed travertine piers leaning against the west face of the wall bounding the west portico of the building to the west. The buttresses built to support the wall behind the rear wall of the portico, which is approximately 5 m high, continue at regular intervals from south to north and end at the northwest end of the west portico.

State Agora / Sanctuary North Portico

The north portico of the building extends 80 meters eastward from the west wall to the wall against which the Monumental Fountain rests. The differences in the width of the north portico are probably related to the destruction caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes and the subsequent late period arrangements. A total of 30 pedestals and 21 columns were found on the north portico, including the intersection point of the north portico with the west portico.Remains of lime mortar were found on the north portico from west to east in the area between the 1st column and the north portico wall. The north wall that borders the north portico continues with a row of smoothly cut, rectangular and square, medium-sized, rough-hewn travertine stones. The original stone course of the masonry lost its height towards the east and was raised with the addition of late period masonry made of large and small tea stones, rubble stones, marble and travertine fragments. In addition, the north-south oriented sewerage and funnel lines on the floor of the portico were used as a 5-6 century AD arrangement

Oyster shells (Ostrea edulis) constitute one of the find groups on the ground level of the North Portico. The most important find related to the chronology of the phases of use of the Agora following its original function is the 209 coins found on the floor level of the portico.  The information obtained from the coins reveals that the last phase of use of the Agora, at least in the North Portico section, ended with the great earthquake of 494 AD, which is also mentioned in ancient texts.

The entrance to the northern portico was provided by a doorway consisting of two jambs and a lintel in the center of the wall bordering the portico; a part of the door remains was found intact. 

In the northeast corner of the building is a water tank built in the 4th-5th century AD.  The body walls of the water tank were built with three rows of terracotta bricks on three rows of stones and the wall was completed. Tea stone, rubble stones, marble and travertine pieces were used inside the wall. The wall joints were sealed with a thick layer of lime mortar to ensure water tightness. It was determined that the water tank consists of two compartments and there is another reservoir under the stairs. An arrangement of five steps was encountered on the eastern façade of the water tank. 

 The water tank built in the northeast corner of the North Portico can be considered as a whole with the Monumental Fountain.

State Agora / Sanctuary East Portico

The East Portico of the State Agora/Sanctuary continues 50 meters from the North Portico wall southward, adjacent and parallel to the west wall against which the Monumental Fountain rests, until the North Portico of the Late Roman Agora. During the 2016 excavations, 30 meters of the north-south aligned east portico was exposed.

The width of the East Portico is 4.82 meters from the west wall of the Monumental Fountain to the outer face of the stylobate. From north to south, the first four pedestals are composed of Attic-Ionic and the others of postament. The last pedestal in the south is made of a crown block used as a spolia. There are fluted columns on the Attic-Ionic pedestals and fluted flat columns on the postaments.

A total of 6 columns were found during the excavations, the first four of which, from north to south, belong to the first phase of the building and are fluted up to half of their length. The other two columns are flat and fluted columns that were probably transported from another building with a circular plan and placed on postaments 7 and 8. The fact that the columns in the east portico are not parallel to the columns in the west portico indicates that the east portico was reorganized in later phases. The presence of postaments and flat columns also proves this.

Thus, the colonnaded galleries surrounding the courtyard of the State Agora consist of a total of 55 columns and 2 travertine piers placed in the southwest and northeast corner of the Agora. The eastern wall line delimiting the East Portico consists of 4 rows of bricks, 2 rows of small-scale stones underneath and large-scale travertine blocks at the bottom. On the west side of the east wall of the portico, there are arched niches built with double rows of bricks. On the floor of the portico, the density of north-south, northeast-southwest, east-west and north-south, north-east-southwest and east-west oriented funnel lines placed in the 5th-6th centuries AD draws attention. The funnels were probably used to transport the water from the Monumental Fountain to the southern parts of the city.

Monumental Fountain (Nymphaeum)

The Monumental Fountain, which is among the public buildings built in the city center during the Roman Imperial Period, was built in the 3rd century AD at the eastern end of the State Agora/Sanctuary, at the western end of the Hierapolis Street running north-south. It was probably started by local aristocrats in dedication to the emperor and was built in a short-winged 'U' plan with two or three floors. The water carried to the structure, which stands on a high podium with steps on the east façade, must have been brought from the northwestern slopes of the city. The cistern located 145 m northwest of the fountain, which also served the bathhouse near the theater and is therefore called the Theater Bath cistern, seems to be the most suitable structure for this function.

 The north-south west wall of the Monumental Fountain is 32 m long from outside to outside. The outer dimensions of the north and south short wings are not standardized. The body wall thicknesses of the fountain have different dimensions. Attic-Ionian column bases were placed on the stylobate blocks built adjacent to the inner wall faces of the fountain. Semicircular and square niches were opened on the long side extending north-south and on the two short wings extending east-west and animated with sculptures. In the center of the Monumental Fountain, there is a central niche belonging to the first floor built with two rows of bricks. A similar arrangement continues in the southern half of the Monumental Fountain, but most of the niches belonging to the 2nd floor on the south short wing and west wall of the fountain have been destroyed. The deep pool on the façade of the fountain has a rectangular plan.

North Necropolis

To the north of Tripolis is the Northern Necropolis consisting of a series of tombs carved out of the bedrock on steep and sloping slopes with a soft rock structure. Most of the rock tombs have been destroyed over time due to the soft structure of the bedrock and illicit diggings. The rock tomb located about 200 m above sea level has preserved its original condition very well until today.    

The north-south oriented rock grave consists of two main rooms. The first room is also the dromos of the rock grave. The passage from the dromos to the main chamber of the tomb is provided by a single door. The burial chamber is divided into three boat-shaped clinics carved out of the bedrock. The clinics are accessed by a promenade in the north-south direction. The upper cover of the tomb was built in the form of a vault by shaping the bedrock.

In general, when the finds/grave goods recovered during the studies conducted in the rock grave are evaluated, it is thought that the skeletons in the 3 clinics located in the north, east and west of the burial chamber are female. In addition, the bone structure and dimensions indicate that the skeletons belonging to the burials in the clinics belong to adult individuals.  Considering the skeletons encountered inside the clinics, it is thought that three individuals were buried in Kline 1 and two individuals were buried in Kline 2 and 3 inside the burial chamber.

When the finds recovered from this area, which is named as Rock Tomb 1, are evaluated, it is generally thought that the grave was reused in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. The rock grave is located 200 m above the sea level, about 20 m west of the rock grave among the steep rocks within the North Necropolis of Tripolis. The tomb has partially preserved its original condition until today. It consists of two main burial chambers in northwest-southeast direction and an independent clinic. The upper cover was formed by carving the bedrock in the form of a vault. However, the vaulted upper cover of the entrance was destroyed by collapses over time due to the soft rock structure. The main chambers of the rock grave are accessed through a north-south corridor.

Just east of the entrance of the tomb, there is a single kline, independent of the north and west burial chambers, whose floor and side walls are covered with thin lime mortar plaster. The upper cover of the section called East Kline has not survived to the present day. Immediately west of the main entrance of the rock grave is the entrance to the western burial chamber, which leads down to the promenade. Starting from the vaulted upper cover of the western burial chamber, a shallow 3 kline carved into the bedrock in the form of a boat was found by descending down the fill soil. There is also another single kline with a north-south direction inside the West Burial Chamber. The entrance of this section called Kline 4 was closed with terracotta bricks.

The excavation of the northern burial chamber was stopped due to the depressions caused by the soft rock structure on the vaulted upper cover and the deep cracks and ruptures caused by the plant roots penetrating into the bedrock. During the excavations of the rock grave, it was observed that the rock structure was very soft in general and depressions were formed in places. It was found that most of the skeletons were missing inside the cline probably due to illicit diggings in time and they were scattered and fragmented in the soil. During the excavations, deep and shallow bowl fragments, single-handled jug fragments, amphora body, handle and base fragments, oil lamp body, shoulder, handle fragments and pithos fragments were found scattered in the grave. When the coins recovered from the grave are evaluated, it can be dated to the 3rd-4th century AD.

Other Practices

With the start of 2016 excavation, conservation and repair works, cleaning works were carried out in order to enable local and foreign visitors to visit the site more comfortably and safely, to prevent the destruction of the structures and to protect the historical texture.

In addition, elements such as frescoes, mosaics, wall plasters and building floors have been protected with maintenance and applications carried out at regular intervals throughout the year. The data obtained as a result of excavation and restoration works were evaluated, reporting and data records were kept, architectural-ceramic and other drawing works were carried out, and protection was applied to qualified archaeological artifacts. 

The two-storey reinforced concrete excavation house, which is used for the accommodation of interns and technical staff, has been partially renovated (roof transfer, interior and exterior painting, plumbing and heating installation, etc.). In order to ensure the occupational health and safety of the technical staff and workers who are at the center of all these works, occupational risks were explained, risk reports were prepared by experts, health screenings were carried out, and courses/training were given to employees on occupational safety in order to eliminate occupational accidents that may occur.