35 Items
Kalecik
The small fort of Kalecik sits atop a rocky outcrop next to the Black Sea about 1.5km north of Buzluca Kale.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, Defensive Network, Fortifications, Medieval, Turkey
Hortokop Kale/Gizenenica/Chazanenica
At the village of Hortokop, just south west of the town of Macka, lie the remains of a circular fort. The fort has seen some limited archaeological investigation, nothing recently and no proper excavation at all.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, Defensive Network, Fortifications, Late Antique, Roman, Turkey
Egil
Egil is identified as Carcathiocerta, the former capital of the ancient Armenian kingdom of Sophene. The most impressive remains are on the citadel which lies high above the river Tigris on a plateau formed by the river.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Armenian, Byzantine, Citadel, Defensive Network, Fortifications, Late Antique, Roman, Turkey
Amida/Diyarbakir Citadel
The citadel occupies the northeast corner of Diyarbakir's defensive perimeter. The defences consist of a large wall joining the north and east sections of the city wall enclosing an area between the walls in which the fortified citadel mound lies.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, Defensive Network, Fortifications, Medieval, Ottoman, Roman, Turkey
Amida/Diyarbakir's South Wall and Mardin Gate
The well preserved southern section of Diyarbakir's very impressive ancient defences and the Mardin gate. The fortifications have been substantially modified and repaired over the centuries.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, Defensive Network, Fortifications, Gate, Medieval, Roman, Turkey
Hawwarin
Hawwarin was known as Evaria in late antiquity and is recorded as being the seat of two bishoprics. It appears to date from the Roman era as there is extensive evidence of Roman spolia in the Byzantine remains in the town. The local population talk of there having been seven basilicas in the settlement and evidence of three of these is still extant, although only one has been excavated thus far - by a Syrian team led by Wedad Khoury of the DGAM. The Roman dressed limestone blocks were carried to the site from some distance away as there are no quarries in the vicinity of the town and the modern dwellings are mud brick or cement. At the centre of the settlement is the mysterious "burj" or tower, which local people believe to have been part of an Umayyad hunting lodge, but which is built with Roman spoil and may well date from the Byzantine period as its nearest equivalent structure is the C6th stone tower at Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi. However, unlike the Qasr and neighbouring Khans/Caravanserai this tower has entrances to both the north and south rather than the single entrance that is the norm for such structures.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Architecture, Basilica, Byzantine, Castle, Church, Evaria, Hawwarin, Limestone, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, Roman, Syria, Tower, Umayyad
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi is the western of the two famous Umayyad palaces built to the east and west of Palmyra. This palace was built on the site of an earlier building and the stone tower still extant from that earlier phase has an inscription suggesting that it may have been part of a C6th monastery complex. The Qasr ("little castle") was built of mud brick, field stone and bricks and the whole was covered with a layer of stucco. The façade was covered with stucco decoration that was excavated from the site in the early C20th and reconstructed in Damascus as the façade of the National Museum. The frescoes and a number of stucco figurative three dimensional sculptures taken from the site are now on display in the National Museum.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, Castle, Fresco, Khan, Monastery, Palmyra, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, Sculpture, Stucco, Syria, Umayyad
St. Nicholas/Gemiler Island 
Gemiler Island is dotted with several late antique church's from the 4th-6th century AD and is believed to have been the original burial site of St Nicholas, the 4th century AD Bishop of Myra. A covered processional walkway leads to the uppermost and largest church on the island which is cut into the summit of the hill. Fresco's and writing are still visible on portions of one of the lower churches. By the sea, facing the mainland and partially submerged, lie the remains of relatively small structures cut into the rock, likely houses and or shops. Large cisterns are also to be found, presumably to provide fresh water to the permanent monastic population that would have occupied the island and to thirsty pilgrims to the site.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, C4th-C5th, C5th-C6th, Church, St. Nicholas
Resafa Cisterns
Located in the Syrian desert approximately 25 kilometres south of the River Euphrates, Resafa depended on capturing seasonal rainwater and irrigation systems for its water. This water was then stored in large cisterns until needed.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Byzantine, Cistern, Euphrates, Resafa, Roman, Sergiupolis, Syria, Water
South Basilica, Side
Situated towards the southernmost point of the peninsular that Side occupies this Basilica was built in the 5th century AD usurping and partly building over the sites of the older Temples Apollo and Athena. The large basilica was destroyed in the 7th century and a smaller church was built within.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Basilica, Byzantine, Church, Late Antique, Roman, Turkey