Byzantine Church and Bath Complex Unearthed in Ancient Greek City of Olympos in Turkey

The ruins of a bathhouse successful Olympos. Credit: Gunthram / CC BY-SA 3.0

Archaeologists person unearthed a ample Byzantine bath analyzable and richly decorated religion successful the ancient Greek metropolis of Olympos (Greek: Ὄλυμπος), situated successful the present-day Kumluca territory of Antalya, southwestern Turkey.

Researchers accidental the structure, measuring astir 200 quadrate meters (2,150 quadrate feet), was portion of a bishop’s residence, revealing however spiritual leaders of the clip besides held administrative and societal responsibilities. The find sheds caller airy connected however religion and nationalist beingness intertwined successful 1 of the Lycian League’s astir almighty cities.

Ancient Greek origins, Byzantine layers

Situated wrong the Beydağları Coastal National Park, Olympos has been the absorption of systematic excavations since 2006. Originally founded by Greeks during the Hellenistic period, the metropolis became 1 of six starring members of the Lycian League and held 3 votes successful the national assembly—reflecting its beardown governmental and economical lasting successful antiquity.

Excavation Director Gökçen Kurtuluş Öztaşkın said ongoing excavations screen structures from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras, uncovering layers of taste translation crossed centuries.

“This year, we concentrated connected necropolis areas, baths, home structures and churches,” Öztaşkın said. “At the city’s entrance, we uncovered the level of what we telephone Church No. 1. The full aboveground was covered with mosaics made utilizing the opus tessellatum technique, featuring wide geometric patterns.”

Mosaics and inscriptions successful Greek

Both the main hallway and a broadside enclosure of the religion diagnostic geometric and botanical motifs, on with inscriptions written successful Greek. One inscription astatine the entranceway reads: “Only those connected the righteous way whitethorn participate here.”

📍 Antalya’nın Kumluca ilçesindeki Olympos Antik Kenti’nde 1 Nolu Kilise zemininde yeni mozaik alanları ile kilise girişinde üzerinde yazıt olan mozaik zemin keşfedildi.

Yazıtta “Buraya sadece doğru yolda olanlar girebilir” ifadesi yer alıyor. Ayrıca kiliseye bağış yapan… pic.twitter.com/HUCpfyxh6K

— arkeolojihaber ® (@arkeolojihaber) June 19, 2025

The religion and the adjacent bath analyzable connection caller penetration into Byzantine municipality life, wherever nationalist and backstage spaces often overlapped nether ecclesiastical influence.

“Domestic baths are usually humble successful scale,” Öztaşkın said. “Yet here, we encountered an unusually ample example, astir 200 meters, with a afloat preserved heating system, furnace section, partition heating channels and partition coverings. For the Late Antique period, this is simply a uncommon find.”

A bishop’s civic and spiritual duty

The architectural standard and plan led researchers to reason that the residence belonged to a Byzantine bishop, who by the 5th and sixth centuries A.D. acted not lone arsenic a spiritual person but besides arsenic an administrative authorization successful metropolis life.

“The bath was not solely for backstage use,” Öztaşkın explained. “It had entrances opening some to the thoroughfare and to the residence. On definite days, the bishop allowed townspeople to usage it escaped of charge, arsenic a signifier of nationalist work promoting hygiene and health.”

Restoring past Olympos

The excavation squad has besides made advancement successful restoration work. Last year, archaeologists recovered 2 sarcophagi breached into 370 fragments.

“Our conservators painstakingly pieced them together, similar assembling a elephantine puzzle,” Öztaşkın said. “They were reerected connected tract for display. By the extremity of the year, we volition person restored a full of 4 sarcophagi to their archetypal form.”

As excavations proceed crossed Antalya, the finds astatine Olympos are helping researchers reconstruct the communicative of a Greek metropolis that evolved into a Byzantine spiritual hub, wherever bishops bridged religion and governance—embodying the dual relation of spiritual and civic enactment successful the past world.