All posts tagged: Turkey

Travel Posts of the Ancient World on AHetc

Published by Jade Koekoe

So many people contribute amazing posts to AHetc about their travels around the ancient world. I recently went through them all and found some posts that feature places I want to visit someday. I’m hoping, that like me, you find some inspiration and ideas looking through them too. To view the posts, click on the accompanying image. Our Rome visit in Photos Everyone loves to see the photos you took when travelling, which is why I adore this post. Earlier this year two of the AHE team, Jan and James, visited Rome to present at a conference. They kindly took a bunch of photos of this ancient world for those of us that couldn’t go with them.

Ankara’s Cuirassed Statue of Hadrian

Published by Carole Raddato

Hadrian and his travels have often served as the guiding thread for my own travels. However, my recent trip to Turkey had a different focus, the Hittite civilization, with one of the highlights being a visit to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. After dazzling at the magnificent artifacts on display on the main floor of the museum, I discovered that there was also a section dedicated to the Roman period in Ancyra which featured, to my big surprise, parts of a statue of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

5 Key Sites Of The Hittite Empire

Published by Carole Raddato

Although mentioned several times in the Biblical texts, the actual existence of the Hittites was largely forgotten until the late 19th century. With the discovery of Hattusa in 1834, the city that was for many years the capital of the Hittite Empire, the Hittites were finally recognized as one of the Great Superpowers of the ancient Middle East in the Late Bronze Age.

My Top 10 Favourite Posts from AHetc Contributors

Published by Jade Koekoe

Hi everyone, I am Jade Koekoe, blog editor of AHetc. As an end of year treat I thought I would share with everyone my 10 favourite blog posts of 2015. 10 Hidden Ancient Treasures in Caria I love learning from people who have visited a place before me, this is why Carole Raddato‘s 10 Hidden Ancient Treasure in Caria, is top on my list. Carole provides a brief history of each place on her list and details the site’s significance today. This article is a truly wonderful guide for people wanting to travel to Caria in future. Carole has also written a similar post for AHE about Provence, France.

Stunning Nemrut Dagi and the Kingdom of Commagene

Published by Timeless Travels

Today we have another contribution from Timeless Travels Magazine in which Dr Christine Winzor writes about the colossal stone heads at Nemrut Dağ, Turkey. The colossal stone heads at Nemrut Dağ, with their distinctive array of crowns and caps, are among the most iconic images of Turkey. Many guidebooks and tour agencies stress the importance of visiting this monument – sometimes referred to as the Throne of the Gods – at either sunrise or sunset to appreciate fully the spectacular illumination and reflection of the sun’s rays on the sculptures and tumulus. Others specifically advise against visiting at these times on the grounds that inevitably you will share this impressive event with a large crowd of other spectators, thereby spoiling the sense of majestic isolation.

10 Hidden Ancient Treasures in Caria, Turkey

Published by Carole Raddato

Located at the crossroads of many ancient civilizations, Turkey is a haven for archaeology lovers. Over the centuries, a succession of empires and kingdoms – Hittite, Lydian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and, finally, Ottoman – ruled over Anatolia. The country’s unique cultural legacy, its remarkably beautiful landscape as well as the friendliness of its people make visiting Turkey a rewarding experience. The country is scattered with so many archaeological wonders that each visit always seems too short. I have myself come back several times discovering one fascinating place after another. Having visited most of the great classical sites in western Turkey, I invite you to discover the ancient treasures of Caria, a region of considerable historical importance and geographical diversity. Some sites, such as the coastal city of Miletus and the oracular sanctuary of Didyma are already familiar to the modern visitor. Other lesser-known ancient cities that are no less spectacular are to be found inland, in relatively remote areas. Caria is the name given during ancient times to the south western region of Anatolia’s …

Sanliurfa: Home to largest new museum complex in Turkey

Published by Timeless Travels

Today we have another contribution from Timeless Travels Magazine in which Nicholas Kropacek discusses the new Sanliurfa museum in Turkey. In short, Sanliurfa (often called Urfa) is a city with such a magnificent and tumultuous history that one would have thought that it must have had a large and important world-class museum. But it didn’t, at least not until now. The old Urfa museum was a small, modest building on two floors and with a small sculpture garden having room for a mere 500 or so exhibits. But what has been taking shape in Urfa’s central Haleplibahçe district over the past two years has been something of an entirely different order and will accommodate at least 10,000 items.

5 Amazing Libraries in Ancient History

Published by Jade Koekoe

From ancient times to the present many cultures around the world have considered libraries as storehouses of ideas, creativity and knowledge. Today we will look at five of the most notable libraries in history and explore why they may be considered significant. The Great Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria is the most famous library in classical antiquity. Over the years it has gained a mythical status as a ‘universal’ library where all scholars of the ancient world could come and share ideas. The library was located within the grounds of the Royal Palace in Alexandria a port city in northern Egypt and was built around 295 BCE by Ptolemy I. The library was a complex with shrines dedicated to each of the nine muses, lectures areas, observatories, a zoo and living quarters. It was thought to house the works of great scholars and writers including Homer, Plato and Socrates. The library’s destruction is most commonly thought to have happened in 48 BCE when Julius Caesar occupied Alexandria. When Caesar tried to leave …