City gate, shops being unearthed at Hecate Lagina

MUĞLA

The ongoing excavations at the Hecate Lagina Sanctuary, located in the western tourism hotspot of Muğla’s Yatağan district and regarded as a center of pagan belief, are uncovering the city's entrance gate and ancient shops.

The work at Lagina, which was the first excavation in Türkiye to be led by a Turkish archaeologist and originally initiated by Osman Hamdi Bey 134 years ago, is now being continued by Professor Bilal Söğüt.

This year, as part of the “Heritage for the Future Project,” excavations are being carried out at the entrance gate and shops of the ancient city within the Hecate Lagina Sanctuary.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Professor Söğüt, head of the Stratonikeia and Lagina excavation team, said that they carry out excavation, restoration and architectural drawing activities in Lagina throughout the year.

He noted that Lagina, located about 8.5 kilometers from the ancient city of Stratonikeia, was one of its two religious centers. The fact that the temple dedicated to Hecate, one of the prominent goddesses of the ancient world, is located in Lagina makes the sanctuary even more significant, he added.

Söğüt noted that no larger sanctuary dedicated to Hecate has been found and that rituals were held in Lagina during antiquity. People from 22 countries from the eastern Mediterranean to Spain attended these ceremonies, making it an important center.

Highlighting the site's growing popularity among visitors each year due to its unique characteristics, Söğüt said: “This year, as part of the Heritage for the Future Project, we are excavating the entrance gate and adjacent structures. We want to find out which shops people saw before entering the sanctuary, what kind of structures were present and which of the buildings mentioned in inscriptions were located here. We’re seeing excellent results from the excavation. We've begun to uncover the stoa shops [a stoa being a colonnaded street in ancient Greek architecture], and additional structures behind them are also coming to light. Both the walls and architectural elements of these buildings are now visible. We even identified roof tiles that fell in their original locations.”

We plan to uncover all the data

While the general layout of sanctuaries and similar sites in antiquity is mostly known, Söğüt pointed out that the specific layout and buildings at the entrance to this sanctuary were still unknown.

“Our work here aims to uncover all the data related to this layout,” he said. “We are working in areas from the Hellenistic and Roman periods that we are certain about. There are remains here dating back 2,400 years. When we fully uncover these areas, we will decide how to preserve each structure in the best way.”

Söğüt also mentioned that the blocks unearthed are being digitally reconstructed in real time using 3D software and that they will decide how to display the architectural elements once everything is revealed.

He concluded by stating that the city gate, which was arranged in honor of Hecate, exhibits a distinctive architectural style befitting the sanctuary, and this makes both the excavation work and the findings particularly important.