Homer’s Iliad is a problematic text. On the one hand, it tells us of a time before the Bronze Age Collapse in the twelfth century BC, a lost era before the Greek palaces burned and the survivors of catastrophe forget, for centuries, how to read or write. Such resources detailing this world are few, and
As part of the “Heritage to the Future Project” carried out by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, excavations are underway under the ancient city of Aspendos. One of these digs, ongoing since 2024, has just revealed something extraordinary. Amidst the ruins of a nymphaion, a monumental fountain here attached to an entrance gate of
The main problem in understanding the Bronze Age Collapse is that we don’t really know what happened. This may look like an oversimplification but it is not. It is, instead, the simple truth. Of the four great civilizations that faced disaster in this 12th century BC collapse: the Mycenaean Greeks, the Hittites, the Assyrians and
In 1929, archaeologists excavating an octagonal monument at the heart of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus in modern day Turkey found a well preserved skeleton in a sarcophagus inside. In the hundred years since there has been much speculation about who this person was. The prime candidate is also perhaps the most exciting: since
Archaeologists working to excavate the ancient Anatolian city of Pisidia Antioch have found something special. An amulet has been unearthed which the team believes was used to treat cancer in ancient Turkey. The amulet, worked in a black and red stone known as “gemma,” contains inscriptions for healing, as well as the design of a
We know a great deal about the lost civilization of Llhuros. You may not have heard of this Iron Age kingdom, but far from being obscure and forgotten it is among the better attested cultures of Asia Minor. Situated in what is now Turkey, Llhuros was a neighbor of the more famous kingdom of Lydia