2,200-Year-Old Mother Goddess Stele Found in Turkey Points to Hellenistic Sanctuary

A fragmented Kybele votive stele from Çayağzı successful occidental Turkey. Credit: Ali Özkan / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

A breached chromatic stele discovered beside an past roadworthy successful occidental Turkey whitethorn people the tract of a antecedently chartless Hellenistic sanctuary dedicated to Kybele, the past Mother Goddess worshipped crossed Anatolia and the Mediterranean world.

The artifact was uncovered successful Çayağzı colony successful İzmir’s Kiraz district, a portion wrong the fertile Küçük Menderes Valley of past Lydia. The vale erstwhile connected large settlements including Ephesos, Hypaipa, Palaiapolis, and Philadelphia, present modern Alaşehir.

The discoveries were examined successful a survey by Ali Özkan, who investigated a radical of Hellenistic remains from the area, including the Kybele stele, a adjacent tomb, and 2 antiaircraft structures overlooking past routes done the valley.

Stele suggests worship extracurricular large cities

Archaeologists identified the stele during a rescue probe conducted by the Ödemiş Museum successful 2017 aft reports of amerciable digging adjacent the site.

Trapezoidal walls astatine the Karaburç fortification. Credit: Ali Özkan / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Although the precocious conception of the marble stele is breached and heavy worn, capable details stay to place the fig arsenic Kybele. Researchers said the goddess appears lasting successful accepted formal with lions beside her, a communal diagnostic of the “Ephesos type” of Kybele votive steles produced successful occidental Anatolia during the Hellenistic period.

The determination of the artifact makes the find particularly significant. Unlike spiritual objects recovered from municipality temples, the stele was recovered successful a agrarian mounting adjacent a watercourse and an past roadway. Researchers judge the entity whitethorn person belonged to an open-air sanctuary utilized by travelers and section farming communities.

Kybele was intimately associated with fertility, protection, and the earthy world. Her worship often appeared successful mountains, caves, and countryside shrines crossed Anatolia.

Tomb and ceramics uncover wider connections

Near the stele, archaeologists documented a rectangular tomb dated to the 2nd period BCE. Despite harm caused by looting, the burial inactive contained quality remains and respective ceramic vessels, including 2 unguentaria and a lagynos.

Researchers said the lagynos resembles pottery linked to the Pergamene creator tradition. Traces of pigment connected the vas suggest it whitethorn erstwhile person carried painted decoration, pointing to taste and commercialized connections betwixt agrarian communities successful the vale and larger Hellenistic centers.

Fortifications guarded routes done the valley

Kiraz Plain from the Karaburç fortification. Credit: Ali Özkan / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

The study besides examined 2 fortifications astatine Karaburç and Çayağzı, located astir 2 kilometers apart. Built connected elevated positions overlooking the Kilbos plain, the structures apt monitored roads starring toward Philadelphia and different settlements.

Architectural features day the fortifications broadly betwixt the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, a play marked by struggle among rival Hellenistic kingdoms pursuing the decease of Alexander the Great.

Together, the discoveries suggest the Kiraz portion was not an isolated agrarian zone, but a strategically important scenery shaped by religion, agriculture, trade, and subject enactment much than 2,200 years ago.