124 articles by a licensed guide
The ancient cities of Turkey go far beyond Ephesus — this country holds more Greek and Roman ruins than Greece and Italy combined, and in this category I share the history of the sites I have spent my career studying and guiding. As a nationally licensed Turkish tour guide, I trained in the archaeology, mythology and history of all of Anatolia, and these articles are where I put that training to work for you.
The priests of Artemis at Ephesus were led by a high priest called the Megabyzos, with Essenes and virgin priestesses beside him. Persian traces in the cult, the priestesses of Roman times and Aristarche, who took Artemis to Marseille.
Mazaeus and Mithridates were two freed slaves who paid for the triple gate beside the Library of Celsus in Ephesus: who they were, what the inscription says and where you see the gate today.
Who lived in the Terrace Houses of Ephesus? Rich families, among them the Dionysus priest Furius Aptus, and what their homes had: marble halls, household shrines, running water, costly red paint and glass windows.
Ancient amulets of Ephesus: the phallus charm, bronze bells, the evil eye, the bee of Artemis and the Ephesian Letters, and what you can still see in the Ephesus Museum.
The Belevi Mausoleum is a huge Hellenistic tomb about 14 kilometers from Selçuk, the second largest in Anatolia after Halicarnassus. Who was probably buried in it, what it looked like, the Belevi Tumulus nearby, and how to see it today.
The East Gymnasium of Ephesus is a 2nd-century Roman bath and exercise complex next to the Magnesian Gate, one of four bath-gymnasiums of the city. What it was, who probably paid for it, and what you can see today.
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7 Amazing Female Heroes of the Turkish War of Independence, Turkish Heroes, Learn about Turkey War of Independence, Hire historical tour guide in Turkey, Turkey
Top 10 most remarkable archaeological discoveries in Turkey in 2024, hire Turkish tour guide who is archeologist, Turkish archeological tour guide, Turkey tour
The Temple of Domitian in Ephesus, also called the Temple of the Sebastoi, made Ephesus neokoros, the temple warden of the emperors. Its vaulted terrace, the colossal head in the Ephesus Museum, the stones recut after Domitian's murder and how it differs from the Temple of Hadrian, from a licensed guide in Ephesus.
The Ottoman Empire entered World War 1 in October 1914 as one of the Central Powers. Read about its fronts, the Gallipoli victory and how the war ended.
Gordion was the capital of ancient Phrygia, near Ankara, and the home of the Midas Mound and the Gordian knot. It joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023.
Ottoman ceramics found in the Agora excavations of Ancient Smyrna in Izmir, and what the agora is today.
The largest ancient floor mosaic in Turkey was found in Antakya in 2010 and is now shown in a museum on the ground floor of a hotel.
A three-centimeter clay mini pottery, about 2,300 years old, was found in the ancient city of Troy in Turkey. It was probably a votive offering.
Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher born a slave in Hierapolis, now Pamukkale. Read about his life, his main idea and some of his best known sayings.
Surgery in ancient Turkey was done by Greek and Roman doctors with bone drills, forceps and hot irons. Read how the craft grew and where to see it today.
The “smile” emoji on the 3,700 years old jug, which was unearthed by the Turkish – Italian team of archeologists in Karkamış, one of the most important ancient…
I recently guided a tourist group in Hierapolis Ancient City. A person in this group happened to have a sophisticated drone with him. We shot a video over…
Manisa is the ‘City of Princes’, where the sultans, who were the sons of the Ottoman emperor, spent their princely period. Manisa is an important historical and cultural…
Cassius Claudii Galenos or more commonly known as Galen was born in the year 130 in the City of Pergamon (Modern Bergama of today’s Turkey). His father Nikon…
Sardis was the capital of ancient Lydia, near Salihli in western Turkey. It is the home of the first coins, a very large synagogue and the Temple of Artemis, and it joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025.
Pergamon was the capital of the Pergamon kingdom and stands above the town of Bergama near Izmir. UNESCO listed Pergamon in 2014.
Lagina is a Carian sanctuary of the goddess Hecate near Yatağan in Muğla, once the religious center of the ancient city of Stratonikeia.
Hecate was an ancient goddess of crossroads, torches and the moon, probably Carian in origin, and later linked with the dead and witchcraft.
Who went to school in ancient times, what children learned, and how books, papyrus and libraries worked in Greek and Roman cities, with examples from Anatolia.
The ancient philosophers of Anatolia in this post are Thales, Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Aristotle, Diogenes, Strabo, Galen and Epictetus. They lived from about 600 BC to about…
In the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., the Anatolian economy was in very good condition and was experiencing its golden age in almost every field. With the victory…
Zerzevan Castle, which was built by the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) as a military base on the ancient trade route between Diyarbakır and Mardin, and which was…
2021 was the year of easing restrictions of the Covid outbreak and archeological teams all around Turkey started to make it back to the excavations in various parts…
Hercules, one of the most well-known characters of Greek and Roman mythology, who is also known as Heracles has settled in cultures all over the world as a…
Greek vs Roman theater: Greek seats lean on a hillside, Roman seats stand on vaults. See how to tell them apart at Priene, Miletus, Ephesus and Aspendos.
Julius Caesar was a Roman general, writer and dictator. Read about his reforms, his death on March 15, 44 BC and his victory at Zela in Turkey, where he is said to have written Veni, vidi, vici.
Et tu, Brute? (You too, Brutus?) Roman Emperor Caesar Founded in the 1st century B.C. under the leadership of Augustus, the Roman Empire ruled in the Mediterranean and…
While I was researching for this article, I realized that what people believed and did for staying healthy thousands of years ago was not that different from what…
Some Greek and Roman cities had the tradition of the bride’s father bathing her daughter a night before the wedding and cutting her hair as a rite of…
Brides were gifted many valuables and gold by the groom’s family. All these treasures were kept in the bride’s family home. This money would be used to secure…
When it comes to a marriage, a religious blessing is necessary. Such an important religious and social action would have been possible with the sacrificial offerings and the…
From the beginning of the Ottoman Empire to the empire; I have compiled chronologically the important wars, treaties, political and cultural events of the 600-year period from the…
Most ancient sculptures lost their noses by accident, because the nose sticks out and breaks first, but a few were damaged on purpose, as statues in the Ephesus Archeological Museum show.
I have previously published two lists featuring some great archeological structures from Turkey and received a great reaction from my visitors. I now publish the third article on…
Early Life of Strabo Strabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher of the Roman period in Anatolia. Strabo, born in Amasya (called Amaseia during the Roman Era)…
History of Hierapolis Ancient City Hierapolis Ancient City was founded in the second century BC by the king of the Pergamon Empire, Eumenes the Second. According to ancient…
Thanks for all the emails and comments you have sent me about the list of 8 unmissable archeological structures from Turkey. I decided to create another list featuring…
The wide geography of the Byzantine Empire (Today’s Anatolia and Asia Minor) which included different cultures and its cultural structure shaped by the acceptance of Christianity as the…
Fennel, mulberry, greater celandine, ground elder and boxwood are five plants the Roman Empire gifted to Asia Minor, and all of them still grow in Turkey today.
The Stone Bridge, which hosts 6 different civilizations in Adana and is known as the oldest bridge still in use in the world, stands with its glory like…
There is a cuneiform tablet numbered 2461 in the Old Oriental Works section of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. This tablet is the world’s oldest known love poem belonging…
There are thousands of breathtaking attractions in Turkey when it comes to interests of archeology and history. I made a list for you featuring ”8 Unmissable Archeological Attractions…
The water use regulations of Laodicea are a Roman law of 114 AD, carved on a marble block in front of the Trajan fountain. They protect the city’s…
You will find posts here on the great classical cities of the Aegean coast: Priene, the little mountainside town with the most perfect Hellenistic street grid you will ever see; Miletus, home of the first philosophers; and Didyma, where the colossal Temple of Apollo still makes visitors gasp. I write about Aphrodisias and its sculpture school, about Pergamon and its steep theatre, and about the layers of civilisations — Hittite, Lydian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Ottoman — that make Anatolian history so wonderfully complicated.
My aim in every article is the same as my aim when I guide: to turn a field of broken columns into a living place. Who walked this street? What did they argue about in this agora? Why did this harbour silt up and this city die? When you know the answers, ruins stop being scenery and become stories.
Many of these sites sit within easy reach of Kuşadası and İzmir, which makes them perfect day trips, and several combine beautifully with Ephesus in a single day of guiding. Read the articles, choose the places that speak to you, and if you would like to explore any of these ancient cities with a licensed guide who genuinely loves them, I would be delighted to accompany you — get in touch and we will plan your day together.
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