Ariassos Antik Kenti

On the road from Antalya to Burdur, just after the Çubuk Pass, a triple-arched gate appears at the mouth of the valley on the left. Ariassos is a Pisidian city that owed its importance to its position on the roads linking mountainous Pisidia to the Pamphylian plain. According to the Culture Portal it lies about 50 kilometres north of Antalya, west of the Çubukbeli pass that connects the Antalya coast to the Anatolian plateau, and one kilometre from the village of Akkoç. Wikipedia places the city in the Taurus at 900 to 1,100 metres, at the 45th kilometre of the Antalya-Burdur highway, reached from the Akkoç turn-off. According to the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the surviving remains show that the city was inhabited from the 3rd century BC in the Hellenistic period until the 7th century AD in the Eastern Roman period. The Culture Portal dates its official foundation to 189-188 BC, in connection with the campaign of Manlius Vulso and the Peace of Apameia. According to Wikipedia the city first belonged to the Seleucid Empire, passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon in 189 BC and went to Rome together with that kingdom in 133 BC. Under Augustus it was attached to the Roman province of Galatia. The city minted coins from the 1st century BC until the reign of Gallienus. Thanks to its position on the passes it lived on tolls and tribute, and it was in league with the other Pisidian cities. In the Byzantine period it was listed in the province of Pamphylia, church documents name it as a bishopric until the 12th century, and after that period life came to an end. According to Wikipedia, viticulture and olive oil production are understood to have been practised here in antiquity. Ariassos is a city that leans its back against the slope. The main street starting from the triple-arched monumental gate and the buildings set on the terraces on either side form the backbone of the city plan. Research in recent years has shown that this street joined the Roman road leading to Termessos; in other words Ariassos and Termessos are connected by an ancient road. The walls were built on Hellenistic foundations, carry Roman and Byzantine traces and enclose the city from the west, north and east. The city's most striking and fully preserved structure is the triple-arched city gate. On top of the gate, which dates from the Roman imperial period, four large statues originally stood, as its bases and inscriptions show. According to the Culture Portal the gate is known to have been in use in the time of Emperor Severus Alexander. After the gate the best preserved remains are the heroon-type monumental tombs in the southern and eastern necropolis. The basilica, bouleuterion, stoa, nymphaeum, gymnasium, baths and some public buildings, together with the completely ruined theatre, are the other structures bearing Roman traces. The Culture Portal also notes that three small churches were identified, two on the colonnaded street and one in the northwest of the city. The tombs are Ariassos's second great show. There are eastern and western necropolises integrated with the settlement; nine mausoleum-type tombs stand in a row on the northern side of the western necropolis. These are podium structures resting on a two-stepped stylobate, covered with twin vaults, and a six-step stair leads up to the chamber holding the sarcophagus. Some forty simple tomb buildings on platforms were counted in the same necropolis, and nine tomb structures in the eastern one. Limestone sarcophagi with tabula ansata on their sides and Pisidian-type shields on their narrow faces, as well as simple burials cut directly into the rock, are also seen. On the western slope of the city an ancient Roman road paved with large blocks, descending across the present road to Akkoç village, can still be followed. The practical order for a visit is this. Drive up to the mouth of the valley and stop in front of the gate, then climb the slope along the main street to see the terraces and public buildings, and give time to the necropolises on the way back. Because the remains spread over a valley and steep slopes, sturdy shoes and water are essential; there is little shade at summer noon, so the morning hours or autumn are more comfortable. The Antalya Governorship lists Ariassos among the archaeological sites attached to the Antalya Museum; check the museum's or the Ministry's website for current entry arrangements and visiting hours. Planned together with Termessos, Ariassos makes a full Pisidian day; the ancient road linking the two cities is that pairing itself. According to the Culture Portal access is from the junction on the Antalya-Bucak road; it is hard to reach by public transport, so your own car or a tour is the most practical way.