My Visit to the Ancient City of Sagalassos - The City in the Clouds

Hello my friends. As I continued my journey through Turkey I reached Sagalassos, one of the highest and most impressive ancient cities in Turkey. The biggest feature of this place is that it hosts the oldest functioning ancient fountain in the world. Its gushing water has not stopped for more than two thousand years, connecting us directly with a past era. This is one of the oldest ancient cities in Turkey that has survived to the present day. It is located about one hundred ten kilometress away from Antalya. And you can easily reach it by car in one point five to two hours. The ruins of this ancient city are hidden on top of the mountains, approximately fifteen hundred meters above sea level.

Precisely because of this, unlike the famous Perge which is right next to Antalya and easily accessible by public transport, there are no crowds of tourists here. Sagalassos offers you a complete sense of tranquility and makes you feel like an explorer. From the very first steps entering through the gate, the city greeted us with giant jigsaws from the past. These massive stones stacked neatly along the roadside are the result of years of ongoing archaeological excavations. Just like detectives, archaeologists collect, separate and document every single stone fragment, column piece or relief detail for years, hoping luck favors them to raise a whole building back on its feet. Looking at these huge stone storage areas, you understand much better how much superhuman effort was spent to bring life back to this city among the clouds.

In front of us stood a massive urban mansion complex. In its time, this was a luxurious private villa with more than eighty rooms spread across diferent levels of the mountain slope. It belonged to local nobles, wealthy landowners and aristocrats. Tiered walls built of stone and brick, column ruins and door openings can be clearly distinguished even today. This complex was constructed and expanded over centuries from the third century BCE to the sixth century AD. During its grandest period, the mansion was unbelievably rich, featuring its own gated courtyard, a magnificent dining hall for banquets and even a private bath complex with floors decorated with geometric mosaics. Looking at the ruins, it was not hard at all to picture in my mind how the hosts entertained their guests here and how they admired the valley view from their windows. The mansion, just like the rest of the city, was abandoned following the destructive earthquakes and epidemics in the sixth century AD.

When I first approached these ruins, I thought this was an important state institution or the remains of an entire neighborhood. But in reality, it was simply someone's home, a massive private villa of local aristocrats. Just think about it, over eighty rooms in total spread across several levels built into the mountain slope. To avoid going to public baths, these people had their own inner courtyards, banquet halls and even private spa areas. You cannot even estimate how many servants collapsed from exhaustion here. Right at the entrance of the city, Sagalassos reveals the lavish luxury in which the local elites once lived.

They do not call Sagalassos the City in the Clouds for nothing, as it literally floats above the mountain valleys. Its history dates back thousands of years, but the most astonishing part is how unbelievably well preserved it is. Thanks to both its isolated location in the mountains and that great earthquake which trapped and protected the city under a layer of soil, Sagalassos has reached our day in all its glory.

While wandering through the debris gathered from the ruins of a once grand and majestic building complex, right at our feet among the green grass, we came across a massive piece of an ancient cornice. This flawless motif is more than two thousand years old. The stone carving looks so crisp and full of volume that it seems as if the master completed his work just yesterday. Adorned with delicate leaf details, this classic ancient ornament once decorated the roof of a grand building or temple. In regular museums, they hide such artifacts behind thick glass, but here in Sagalassos, history lies directly in the open air. You can touch it with your hand and examine the craftsmanship of the ancient sculptors down to every single centimeter.

Another legendary detail caught our attention. It is like a real lace made of marble. The master did not just carve spirals. He engraved tiny beads, relief leaves and deep motifs along the edges. This block weighs hundreds of kilograms and once bore a tremendous load, carrying the massive cornice of a grand entrance. Sagalassos continued to amaze us. we do not need to lock ourselves in indoor museums to examine ancient masterpieces down to the finest detail. The stone witnesses of Roman grandeur lie right beside the path and you are just an arm's length away from all of them.

We saw another Sagalassos stone lace that defies the laws of physics. Ancient sculptors managed to create the illusion of a rope out of hard limestone. The small beads stand independently from the base, looking as if they are strung on a thin cord. A true jewel art that has overcome centuries in monumental architecture.

I want to draw your attention to an important detail. The stone blocks and decorative elements that remained exposed on the surface for centuries have been mercilesly worn down by sun, wind, rain and temperature differences. Usually only vague outlines remain of them. However, those masterpieces that stayed deep underground after the earthquake have been preserved perfectly. The earth canned them for two thousand years, protecting them from the wrath of nature. That is why when archaeologists extract them from beneath the ground, we can see even the smallest scratch and the finest detail of the patterns on them.

We reached the ancient stone-paved road leading up to the Upper Agora, the center of Sagalassos. At the top of the slope rises a partially restored stone triumphal arch. In the Roman period, this was the grand main entrance to the Upper Agora. On both sides of the road, wall ruins are visible, which were once public buildings, shops or colonnaded galleries. On my left side stretches the magnificent panorama of the Western Taurus mountains. This view perfectly summarizes the uniqueness of Sagalassos, its high mountain location and how masterfully monumental Roman architecture was integrated into that harsh mountain terrain.

Finishing the climb we finally emerged onto the spacious square of the Lower Agora. In antiquity this was the center of city life. Markets were set up, political debates took place and court trials were held. Monumental columns reaching toward the sky imediately catch the eye. In the Roman period, these columns served as a kind of honor board. At the very top point several meters high, bronze or marble statues of the wealthiest and most respected citizens who contributed significantly to Sagalassos were erected.

Ancient metal remnants remain inside some column capitals. They melted and poured metal directly into the stone. That is real history. Birds have also made nests in the hollows of the triumphal arch. In my opinion it is a legendary place for taking photos.

The ancient structures here mind-blow you. This place is not just the ground, but also the ceiling, because it has collapsed downward in places. Or there is a drainage system at the bottom to evacuate underground waters. They designed it to drain rainwater from above and groundwater from below so that the ground would not slide. The people of Sagalassos knew their business.

We examined the Upper Agora and the grandeur of the view literally took our breath away. Those tiny details we examined among the grass along the way fade in comparison to this massive picture. Standing right in front of us was the famous Antonine Nymphaeum. We could also call it the main business card of Sagalassos.

The sign titled Upper Agora South Gate explained the exact things we mentioned earlier. Honor columns, how buildings were gathered from ruins, how blocks scattered around were numbered and drawn. This gate has a crazy story. A local wealthy person built it in honor of Emperor Caligula. But when Caligula was assassinated, the Romans erased his name from the stones and rededicated the gate to another ruler. Also, while archaeologists were assembling these arches back from the ruins, they placed modern seismic isolators inside. So now earthquakes cannot do anything to these gates.

The other sign titled Upper Agora summarized the tremendous history of this place. How an ordinary marketplace turned into a luxurious political center and how everything was wiped out in an instant. This place is not just a nice spot on a mountain peak. Starting as a simple market in the second century BCE, Romans turned it over time into a lavish center with marble pavements, columns and statues. However, a massive earthquake at the beginning of the sixth century AD erased all this grandeur from the map in an instant. The city was literally buried under rubble and earth and no one could see this beauty for more than a thousand years until archaeologists arrived.

From here I climbed the steps, each nearly half a meter high and reached the top. These were most likely the seating areas for nobles. Looking at the square from above, it looked really beautiful. We continued our tour and discovered the other beauties of Sagalassos. On my next post I will continue telling you about what I saw here. See you my friends.