2011 ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND INVESTMENT ACT

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From the plate :

History of Sagalassos and its research

In 1706 Western travellers rediscovered the site of Sagalassos, but its name was only identified in 1824. The first thorough research took place in 1884-1886 by count K. Lanckoronski. From 1985 to 1989 the site was surveyed as part of the Psidia Project directed by S. Mitchell (Exeter, UK) and the participation of M. Waelkens (K.U. Leuven, Belgium). In 1989 a salvage excavation took place in collaboration with the Burdur Museum in the Potters’Quarter discovered in 1987. From 1990 onwards Sagalassos became a Belgian excavation directed by M. Waelkens, interdisciplinary research produced the following highlights :
-The first farmers drained the marshy valley of Aglasun ca 4200 BC, when a deforestation of oak forest took place. In the course of the 3rd to 2nd millenium BC the Indo-European tribe of the Luwians colonized the region that became part of the Arzawa Federation, which was almost constantly in conflict with the Hittites in this border area. Perhaps the name of Sagalassos corresponds already with the mountain fortress of Salawassa mentioned by Hittite sources during the late Bronze Age. After the collapse of the Hittite Empire ca. 1180 BC, some of the Luwian states may have continued to exist. The Luwian population certainly did, but in classical times became known as different tribes, among which the Psidians, to which Sagalassos also belonged.
-From the 8th century BC onwards, during the early Iron Age, a second deforestation now mainly affecting black pine, occured. It probably reflects the emergence of larger centres, some of them with a proto-urban character. From the 8th to the earlier 4th century BC at the latest, Sagalassos was located on a flat plateau ca. 4 km to the southwest, where in 2005 a 22ha large fortified “city” dated to that period was discovered.
-Perhaps as the result of water problems, these people moved their city to the current location that was conquered by Alexander the Great in 333 BC from that time onward the city and its inhabitants became quickly hellenized and especially in the 3rd century BC it started large building programs. Eventually it became part of the Seleucid Kingdom.
-From 188 to 133 BC it was ruled by the Attalids from Pergamon, and then became incorporated into the Roman Republican province of Asia. From 39 to 25 BC, the region was given to Galatian king Amyntas. After his death in 25 BC, Augustus incorporated it now for good into the Roman Empire.
-From his reign until the 4th century AD, Sagalassos became the largest and richest city of Psidia. A first building boom took place under the Julio-Claudian dynasty (25 BC – AD 68). A second one from Hadrian (AD 117-138) to the first quarter of the 3rd century. The city’s prosperity was based mainly on the export of cash crops (wheat and barley, olive oil) but also on that of tablewares produced in the Potters’Quarter for nearly seven centuries. The 3rd century saw an investment in several new games related with the imperial cult, for which Sagalassos served as the centre for the whole of Psidia. During the 4th century AD, a lot of buildings were repaired in an opulent way.
-From the 5th century AD onward Christian structures (churches) gradually came to dominate the cityscape. After an earthquake around AD 500, the city was still rebuilt in a monumental way, but the recurrent plague started in AD 541-542 may have eliminated much of the ruling class as well as its economic base. Gradually, the city took on a more rural character and may already have been partially abandoned, when a severe earthquake with its epicentre in or near Sagalassos wiped it out completely during the 7th century AD. At first some form of occupation may still have continued, but eventually most if not all inhabitants left the city.
-In mid-Byzantine times at least 2 zones were reoccupied by small village or hamlet like settlements (10th-12th centuries AD). During the 12th-13th centuries AD a Byzantine fortress occupied the Alexander Hill, until the Selcuks, under whose rule Turks had settled in nearby Aglasun, which during the 13th century housed a still existing hamam and a lost kervansaray, destroyed it.



Upper Agora
This “political” square of the city goes back to the 3rd century BC, but in its current form it was enlarged, reoriented and paved under Augustus (25 BC – AD 14). The main monuments around it are :
1.The Bouleuterion (Council Hall), built ca. 100 BC.
2.The NW Heroon (honorific monument), built ca AD 1-14.
3.Four honorific columns for members of the most prominent family of the city (left columns for the brothers Krateros and Kallikles), who had rearranged the Upper Agora under Augustus (25 BC – AD 14). Their children would become the first Roman “citizens” of Sagalassos.
4.Propylon of the Doric Temple (probably for Zeus), built ca 1-25.
5.Probably monument for the Tyche (Fortuna) of the city, built under Augustus (25 BC – AD 14), i

From the plate :

History of Sagalassos and its research

In 1706 Western travellers rediscovered the site of Sagalassos, but its name was only identified in 1824. The first thorough research took place in 1884-1886 by count K. Lanckoronski. From 1985 to 1989 the site was surveyed as part of the Psidia Project directed by S. Mitchell (Exeter, UK) and the participation of M. Waelkens (K.U. Leuven, Belgium). In 1989 a salvage excavation took place in collaboration with the Burdur Museum in the Potters’Quarter discovered in 1987. From 1990 onwards Sagalassos became a Belgian excavation directed by M. Waelkens, interdisciplinary research produced the following highlights :
-The first farmers drained the marshy valley of Aglasun ca 4200 BC, when a deforestation of oak forest took place. In the course of the 3rd to 2nd millenium BC the Indo-European tribe of the Luwians colonized the region that became part of the Arzawa Federation, which was almost constantly in conflict with the Hittites in this border area. Perhaps the name of Sagalassos corresponds already with the mountain fortress of Salawassa mentioned by Hittite sources during the late Bronze Age. After the collapse of the Hittite Empire ca. 1180 BC, some of the Luwian states may have continued to exist. The Luwian population certainly did, but in classical times became known as different tribes, among which the Psidians, to which Sagalassos also belonged.
-From the 8th century BC onwards, during the early Iron Age, a second deforestation now mainly affecting black pine, occured. It probably reflects the emergence of larger centres, some of them with a proto-urban character. From the 8th to the earlier 4th century BC at the latest, Sagalassos was located on a flat plateau ca. 4 km to the southwest, where in 2005 a 22ha large fortified “city” dated to that period was discovered.
-Perhaps as the result of water problems, these people moved their city to the current location that was conquered by Alexander the Great in 333 BC from that time onward the city and its inhabitants became quickly hellenized and especially in the 3rd century BC it started large building programs. Eventually it became part of the Seleucid Kingdom.
-From 188 to 133 BC it was ruled by the Attalids from Pergamon, and then became incorporated into the Roman Republican province of Asia. From 39 to 25 BC, the region was given to Galatian king Amyntas. After his death in 25 BC, Augustus incorporated it now for good into the Roman Empire.
-From his reign until the 4th century AD, Sagalassos became the largest and richest city of Psidia. A first building boom took place under the Julio-Claudian dynasty (25 BC – AD 68). A second one from Hadrian (AD 117-138) to the first quarter of the 3rd century. The city’s prosperity was based mainly on the export of cash crops (wheat and barley, olive oil) but also on that of tablewares produced in the Potters’Quarter for nearly seven centuries. The 3rd century saw an investment in several new games related with the imperial cult, for which Sagalassos served as the centre for the whole of Psidia. During the 4th century AD, a lot of buildings were repaired in an opulent way.
-From the 5th century AD onward Christian structures (churches) gradually came to dominate the cityscape. After an earthquake around AD 500, the city was still rebuilt in a monumental way, but the recurrent plague started in AD 541-542 may have eliminated much of the ruling class as well as its economic base. Gradually, the city took on a more rural character and may already have been partially abandoned, when a severe earthquake with its epicentre in or near Sagalassos wiped it out completely during the 7th century AD. At first some form of occupation may still have continued, but eventually most if not all inhabitants left the city.
-In mid-Byzantine times at least 2 zones were reoccupied by small village or hamlet like settlements (10th-12th centuries AD). During the 12th-13th centuries AD a Byzantine fortress occupied the Alexander Hill, until the Selcuks, under whose rule Turks had settled in nearby Aglasun, which during the 13th century housed a still existing hamam and a lost kervansaray, destroyed it.

Library of T. Flavius Severianus Neon
According to a long inscription on the back wall mentioning several generations of the same family, this building was originally (phase 1) erected shortly after 120 AD by a prominent local citizen, T. Flavius Severianus Neon. The back wall with a podium containing small statue niches had a large curved, central statue niche and two superposed rows of two rectangular book niches each at either side of it. Originally the podium also continued along the two side walls.
The present side walls were built near the beginning of the 3rd century AD (phase 2) and contained two superposed rows of 4 niches each, alternatively rectangular and curved. All niches could be reached by a wooden gallery that was found burnt on the floor