UNITS

The number of Aphrodite and Dionysus statue heads unearthed during the excavations carried out in the Penkalas Stream in the Aizanoi Ancient City, carried out by the DPÜ Archeology Department, has increased to five.

During the excavations carried out in the Ancient City of Aizanoi, new statue heads of Aphrodite and Dionysus were unearthed.

Aizanoin Ancient City, whose excavations are carried out by the Department of Archeology of DPÜ Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Tentative List since 2012. Excavations in the ancient city were carried out by Gürok Turizm ve Madencilik A.Ş., with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, Turkish Historical Society and Kütahya Governorship. It is carried out under the sponsorship of Halk Yatırım.

Our Head of Archeology Department, Prof. Dr. Gökhan Coşkun, who said that this season's excavations were carried out mainly in the agora (bazaar) and Koca Çay, stated that they found that there were ancient bridges on the stream and said, "Our work in this area has been continuing since 2021. We found that in this stream, there are ancient bridges dating back to the Roman Empire." "We know that there are 4 marble bridges. In the past years, two of these 4 bridges were restored and can be visited today." said.
 

"WE FOUND MORE THAN 100 PIECES OF SCULPTURES, SOME OF WHICH ARE 2-3 METERS LONG"

Stating that they encountered various marble blocks among the ruins of the building called 'Bridge No. 3', where the excavation work was completed, Prof. Dr. Gökhan Coşkun stated that they assessed that this 3-eyed bridge collapsed due to a great flood, and that many statue pieces were unearthed during the excavation of the wreckage of the bridge. He stated that they removed it.
 

Explaining that some of these are more important pieces, Prof. Dr. Coşkun said:
 

The most important development that excited us this season was the unveiling of the new statue head of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty in mythology, and the statue head of Dionysus, the god of wine. We have come across more than 100 sculpture pieces in the excavations we have carried out in the river so far. It is understood that some of the heads found belong to statues 2-3 meters long. These statue heads, the first of which we discovered 3 years ago, are very well preserved. During our excavations, we managed to unearth a total of 2 Aphrodite and 3 Dionysus statue heads.

Stating that the bodies of the statues were found in many pieces, Coşkun added that they will end the excavation season in the ancient city, which started last April, this month.