Roman-Era Hospital Converted into Byzantine Church Found in Ancient Kaunos, Turkey

Ruins of the ancient Greek metropolis of Kaunos. Credit: HALUK COMERTEL / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

Archaeologists successful southwestern Turkey person uncovered a singular architectural translation successful the past metropolis of Kaunos (Greek: Καῦνος), revealing however a Roman infirmary was aboriginal converted into a Byzantine church wrong a monastic complex.

The find offers uncommon penetration into however 1 of Anatolia’s cardinal larboard cities evolved from a spot of healing to a halfway of Christian worship.

A metropolis of tombs, theaters, and timeless culture

Kaunos, located successful what is contiguous Mugla’s Koycegiz district, Turkey, and listed connected UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, is already celebrated for its Hellenistic rock-cut tombs, Greek and aboriginal Roman 5000-seat theater, and its 2 1000 twelvemonth aged baths and mosaics.

The caller findings exposure different broadside of its history—showing however medicine, religion, and regular beingness intertwined crossed successive civilizations.

Excavations hint the site’s past aesculapian roots

The excavations, led by Associate Professor Ufuk Çörtük of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, person focused connected the Archaic walled monastery area. Over the past 3 years, Çörtük’s squad has unearthed layers of ruins and artifacts documenting much than a millennium of continuous use.

The earliest structures day to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, erstwhile the tract served arsenic a Roman aesculapian complex, identified done the find of galore surgical instruments.

A Roman infirmary astatine a bustling port

The Roman gathering featured a courtyard surrounded by rooms, a plan emblematic of aboriginal hospitals that began arsenic subject facilities earlier opening to civilians.

📍 Muğla'nın Köyceğiz ilçesindeki Kaunos Antik Kenti'nde yürütülen kazılarda kilise gün yüzüne çıkarıldı.

Muğla Sıtkı Koçman Üniversitesi Arkeoloji Bölümü Öğretim Üyesi ve Kazı Başkanı Doç. Dr. Ufuk Çörtük, manastır bölgesindeki Geç Antik Çağ'a ait yapı kompleksinde 3 yıldır… pic.twitter.com/TMjtAb0D61

— arkeolojihaber ® (@arkeolojihaber) October 15, 2025

Its presumption adjacent Kaunos’s past harbor suggests it served some residents and travelers arriving from crossed the eastbound Mediterranean, reflecting the city’s relation arsenic a span betwixt Greek, Roman, and Anatolian cultures.

From healing to faith: a Byzantine transformation

By the sixth period CE, the analyzable was drastically transformed. Archaeologists recovered a ample Christian religion built straight atop the Roman foundations, marking the emergence of a Byzantine monastic complex.

The religion remains remarkably well-preserved, illustrating however Kaunos shifted a Roman healing spot to a Byzantine spiritual center, portion maintaining architectural continuity done changing eras.

Medieval traces people the site’s endurance

Evidence besides points to aboriginal occupation. A coin belonging to Aydın Mehmed Bey of the Aydınoğulları Beylik, a 14th-century Turkish principality, confirms that the tract remained progressive into the medieval period.

Hellenistic benignant Kaunian stone tombs successful Dalyan, Turkey. Credit: OscarKosy / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Çörtük said Kaunos experienced 4 to 5 chiseled phases of use, from the Roman play done the Turkish-Islamic era, reflecting its enduring adaptability.

A surviving timeline of civilization and belief

Researchers picture the tract arsenic a “living timeline” of Kaunos’s translation nether shifting empires and beliefs. Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and aboriginal portion of the Turkish Anatolian world, the tract embodies the city’s continuous reinvention implicit centuries.

The find highlights however Kaunos—once 1 of past Caria’s astir important Greek-influenced larboard cities—stood astatine the crossroads of medicine, faith, and civilization successful the eastbound Mediterranean.