Nymphaion: the place where the nymphs played and danced around.
Sagalassos Ancient City was founded on a steep slope at a high altitude. The Taurus Mountains’ melting snow waters created the area’s tectonic underground water resources. Thanks to the successful use of natural water resources, the ancient city is best known for its gorgeous fountains today. It earned the nickname “the city of water” for this reason.
Sagalassos’ architecture also left its mark on other structures. The archaeological site boasts numerous must-see buildings, most of which have survived to this day and have undergone restoration by archaeologists. Along with the renowned fountains, the Imperial Bath Complex, Macellum, and Heroon are among the landmarks of the ancient city.
Historical Background
Settlements in Sagalassos Ancient City date back to the 10th century BC. Similar to Termessos, Sagalassos is a city in the Pisidian region, situated to the north of Lycia and to the south of Phrygia. Its name is more likely to come from the Luwian word “Salavassa,” which means “the castle on the high cliff.” In the latest years of the 4th century AD, Sagalassos came under Hellenistic influence. Following this, Sagalassos transformed into a Greek city.
In later years, Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king, redirected his course from Termessos to Sagalassos. Despite his successful conquest of the city, his reign was short-lived. The ownership of Sagalassos changed over time until the Roman Empire took control of the region after defeating the Attalids of Pergamon.
The Emperor Hadrian chose Sagalassos as the “neokoros” in the 2nd century, establishing the city as the official center of the emperor cult of Pisidia. This title also gave Sagalassians the same rights as the Roman citizens before the law.
A devastating earthquake in the 7th century destroyed a large part of the city. In addition, a severe drought around the same time caused a switch from agriculture to animal husbandry in the city region. Later, the city relocated to two different areas, where people continued to live until its abandonment in the early 13th century.
Key Attractions
Lower Agora
Lower Agora was also known as Trade Agora because commercial activities took place in this part of the Sagalassos Ancient City. You can reach the Lower Agora and the Colonnaded Street by passing through the Tiberius Gate, located in the west of the square.
Tiberius Gate
Located on the north side of the Colonnaded Street, Tiberius Gate was a monumental entrance to the Ancient City of Sagalassos. Despite its symbolic significance, the gate did not serve as a defensive structure for the city. Based on its materials, scholars concluded that the demolished gate was one of Sagalassos’ finest constructed structures.
Colonnaded Street
Built in the 1st century AD, the Colonnaded Street in Sagalassos is one of the earliest samples in Anatolia. Being 300 meters long, it’s one of the longest. There were columned galleries (porticos), which protected people from rain and sunlight, along both sides of the street. Behind these 3.5-meter-wide columned corridors were shops, restaurants, and workshops.
Imperial Bath Complex
As the center of the Roman imperial cult, the city hosted many visitors from surrounding settlements to attend the annual celebrations. Consequently, the construction of the new bath complex, which took approximately 40 years, took place on the hill where the previous bath structure stood. The building, consisting of 6500 square meters, is the largest in the city and one of the largest baths in Anatolia.
In Roman times, people came to baths not only to wash but also to socialize with others. The Imperial Bath Complex in the Ancient City of Sagalassos was one of those socialization areas in the ancient world. That’s why in this expansive building, there were separate hot, warm, and cold sections in the two sections of the bath for men and women. The complex also featured changing rooms, steam rooms, and service areas. Additionally, the complex structure included a pool and public restrooms, similar to those found in Ephesus.
Hadrian’s Fountain
Philanthropists and nobles of ancient cities constructed numerous monuments dedicated to Roman emperors as a means of fostering positive relations with the Roman Empire. Hadrian’s Fountain, built in the 2nd century BC upon the will of the first Roman knight Tiberius Claudius Piso, was dedicated to Emperor Hadrian. The only two-storey fountain in the city, Hadrian’s Fountain, is nearly 17 meters long and still functioning.
The monument has a niche structure built to hold statues. In the middle niche, there is a huge statue of Apollo, three meters high. On the semi-pedestals on the monument’s podium, you can see the reliefs of six of the nine muses.
Severus Fountain
Being the city’s first monumental fountain, Severus Fountain was built in the 2nd century AD. Located north of Trade Agora, it is the first fountain that those who enter the city via Columned Street will encounter.
Two statues of Nike, the goddess of victory, which are exhibited in Burdur Museum, were found during the excavations of this well-preserved building.
Upper Agora
Upper Agora was also known as the state agora since it was the political center of the city. The Senate House, market building, and concert hall were located in this part of the city. The area flourished during the Hellenistic period and went under urban regulation during the Roman Empire. Thanks to the city’s wealthy citizens, Emperor Augustus surrounded three sides of the agora with galleries and paved it with stone.
There was access to the upper agora via two different monumental gates. The Roman Senate cursed Emperor Caligula for his excessive behaviors, including the execution of senators and the high taxes he collected from the citizens. Once the Roman Senate cursed Caligula, they erased his name from the inscriptions. This time the gate was dedicated to Claudius and Caligula’s brother.
Bouleuterion
Derived from the word “boulē,” which means council in Ancient Greek, Bouleuterion is the senate house or a parliament building of an ancient city. The 1st century BC saw the construction of Sagalassos’ Bouleuterion. When the upper agora prospered in the 2nd century AD, the building remained simple. Therefore, the city began using the concert hall for senate meetings.
During the excavations, the archaeologists unearthed Corinthian-style half-column capitals in the area, and they thought that the senate house was built in the Greek style. However, its rectangular structure, which we also see in another Pisidian city, Mnara, shows that the structure was intrinsic to Pisidian cities.
Odeon
The presence of an odeon, widely known as a concert hall, in an ancient city, is an indicator of the wealth in that city. When cities with low budgets use the same building as a senate house, concert hall, and theater, wealthy cities have different buildings for each. Sagalassos is one of the wealthiest cities of the ancient world, with different buildings for different purposes.
The construction of the Odeon in Sagalassos started during the reign of Emperor Augustus in the 1st century AD. It took nearly 200 years to complete the construction of the building. One of the biggest Odeons of the ancient world, its horse-shoe-shaped sitting area has a capacity of between 1500 and 2000 people.
With its high-quality acoustics and excellent structure, Odeon gradually gained more popularity than Bouleuterion. As a result, senate meetings began to take place there in addition to concerts.
Antonines Fountain
The building of the Antonines Fountain dates back to 160 AD. Flavius Severianus Neon, a member of the wealthiest family in Sagalassos, is believed to have built this enormous and magnificent fountain.
An earthquake in the city destroyed this 28-meter-long fountain. After a 13-year battle, the fountain regained its original position and reconnected with the spring water. This feature enables it to remain operational among the five fountains in the city. The water runs from the center niche to the pool under it, which has a capacity of approximately 80 cubic meters.
The building is a representation of the cult of Dionysus. In the other four niches next to the center niche, Drunken Dionysus statues were located. Marble masters in Aphrodisias Ancient City, home to the renowned marble school, crafted these statues to embellish the building.
Macellum
Also known as the market building, Macellum is another key point located in the south of the upper agora. Sagalassos is one of the rare ancient cities that has a market building, which shows its wealth and importance as a trade center. The building’s early years saw the sale of meat and fish products. Later on, people started to sell expensive products, such as jewelry.
In the second century AD, a Sagalassian named Publius Aelius Akulas, an imperial priest and philanthropist, helped in the construction of the building. Akulas dedicated the circular structure in the middle of Macellum to the Emperor Commodus. However, the Roman senate cursed Commodus, just as it did Caligula. In later years, they removed his name from the inscriptions due to this curse.
The urban planners of Sagalassos had a sense of aesthetics that you can still observe all around the city. One of the small details about the city’s architecture is the loopholes in the shape of flowers in Macellum. They indicate the importance of aesthetic pleasure people took from architecture in those times.
Heroon Monument
Heroons are architectural structures built to honor a hero, a philanthropist, or a prominent person in a city. Generally, an inscription tells us whom it was built for. The end of the 1st century BC saw the construction of the 15-meter-long Heroon at Sagalassos, and excavations took place between 2000 and 2010. However, archaeologists couldn’t find any inscription during the excavation of the area, leaving us uncertain about the dedication of this structure.
The most captivating part of Sagalassos’ Heroon is the friezes that surround the walls of the building. The subject matter of these reliefs tells a specific story. In Heroon’s case, the reliefs depict dancing girls, a theme uncommon in ancient Greek mythology. Since the cult of Dionysus was widespread in the city, archaeologists first associated these figures with the god of wine. However, later studies showed that dancing girls are more likely to be related to a dead cult or the personal beliefs of the person whom the heroon was dedicated. You can see the original friezes at Burdur Museum.
Theater
One of the theaters built at the highest altitude in the world, the theater of Sagalassos Ancient City, was built at an altitude of 1575 meters in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Hadrian. However, due to the excessive expenditures in the city, the upper sitting area and the second floor of the stage building remained incomplete.
As previously mentioned, people from the surrounding cities visited Sagalassos, the center of the Roman cult in Pisidia. Therefore, they built a large theater with a capacity of 9,000 people to accommodate both the locals and the visitors.
Library
Severianus Neon, who attached importance to education and culture, had a library built for himself and his family around 120 AD. This restored library bears similarities with the Celsus Library in Ephesus Ancient City in terms of architecture.
Despite the library losing its primary purpose in the 5th century, the sculpture niches on the rear wall and the floor mosaics maintained their original form. The damaged panel in the middle of the mosaic floor depicted the scene of Achilles bidding farewell to his mother Thetis before leaving Greece to go to the Trojan War.
Small Fountain
A small fountain in the Doric architectural style stands near the library. The small fountain is believed to be the oldest in Sagalassos. It provided water to the residences of the rich in the east of the city in the 1st century BC. In 1997, they restored it to its original location, ensuring the fountain’s water continues to flow.
Visiting Tips
Sagalassos archaeological site is open to visitors every day between 08:30 AM and 21:00 PM. The entrance fee for the ruins is 8 EUR (8.7 USD), and the fee for the Burdur Museum is 3 EUR (3.2 USD).
How to Get to Sagalassos Ancient City?
Sagalassos Ancient City is located in Burdur, Aglasun, which is approximately one hour away from Antalya.
If you are traveling in a private car, you should follow the road that climbs north from the Aglasun town center. The archaeological site is seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away from the center.
If you are traveling by public transport, arrive in Aglasun by minibus first. Then, from the minibus cooperative stop, take another minibus or taxi to the ruins.
Conclusion
Sagalassos differs from the other ancient Greek cities with its rarely seen market building, friezes on Heroon, and the Dionysus cult followed by its citizens. As one of the best-preserved ancient cities in Turkey, you can feel its signature style all around the city. From the dancehall of the nymphs at the fountains to the dancing girls on the walls of Heroon, Sagalassos Ancient City is an antique treasure that belongs to the heritage of Anatolian culture.