Sagalassos-The forgotten city by KarmaSong

Photography • Historical • posted on Aug 27, 2014

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

When we reached Sagalassos-the forgotten city-high in altitude, on a sunny and mildly breezy morning, up in the Taurus mountains range, in the south of Turkey, I was, as well as my fellow-travellers, almost immediately impressed by the serenity and elegance of the place, wondering why it had been inhabited by several waves of civilization: Hittite, Phrygian, Lydian, then Roman and Hellenistic in such a wild and austere environment. It had a population of a few thousand when Alexander the Great conquered it in 333 BCE on his way to Persia....Sagalassos was then devastated by an earthquake in 518 A.D. and abandoned by its inhabitants, then hidden by centuries of erosion and forgotten from historical records, because of its isolated location,

To cut a long story short, from 1990 onwards, Sagalassos has become a major excavation project led by Marc Waelkens of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. My photo features the Antoninus Nymphaeum in which the water from the original spring captured by the ancient inhabitants flows again, clear, clean and fresh as ever from the top of the façade...To the left, there is drunken Dyonisos helped by a satyre and closer to the fountain spring , the goddess Nemesis.

For those who understand French, please go to this address for a fabulous report on Sagalassos with a digital reconstruction of the 'forgotten city' , in 3D... Thank you very much for your comments on my last photo. Please, click on the photo to get a full-size view of this part of the city.

Comments (38)

)

Cyve

10:56AM | Wed, 27 August 2014

WOW... C'est vraiment un fabuleux endroit et cette capture est exceptionnelle... Merci pour toutes ces informations suc ce lieu pratiquement magique !!!

)

Jean_C

11:12AM | Wed, 27 August 2014

La lumière elle-même rend un fabuleux hommage à cet édifice témoin de la grandeur passée! Ces ruines rendent encore une impression d'harmonie au milieu du paysage aride. Une photo fantastique, merci pour cette vue et les informations!

)

Leije

11:14AM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Le site est majestueux au milieu de ce beau paysage, et ta photo est splendide ! Merci pour les infos.

)

gaius

11:23AM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Non seulement tu me réjouis l’œil avec cette magnifique photo mais, en plus, tu m'enrichis car je ne connaissais pas du tout cette cité et ça me donne envie d'aller y porter mes pas...surtout s'il faut crapahuter un peu pour y aller !

)

blinkings

11:38AM | Wed, 27 August 2014

What an interesting place.

)

Gammacrucis

11:54AM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Jean Luc, Thank you for sharing this photo...I love forgotten places in the world! nice shot, great details...so were we so close this summer ? (Greece and Turkey) cool ^_^ Ale

)

jayfar

1:15PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

This is a super photo and I would love to visit this wonderful place.

)

brewgirlca

1:25PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

You reach capture the rugged isolation of the place. I have never seen an ancient city in Turkey where they bothered to restore the fountain and make it work again. What a way to bring back an element of life to the city. I take it that you were able to have a drink from the fountain? It would have been a marvelous experience... but I would have been a bit leary.

)

TranxG

1:31PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Amazing photo. Thanks for sharing.

)

FredNunes

2:48PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Very impressive as always from you.

)

Richardphotos

5:09PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

amazing historical capture. I would love to see in person

)

flavia49

6:13PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

fantastic image

)

magnus073

6:50PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Jean-Luc, this is one amazing presentation that I literally can't take my eyes off of. What a thrill it must have been to have stood here and taken in the rich history associated with this site. I for one can't wait to go check out the history you provided the link to.

)

kgb224

11:53PM | Wed, 27 August 2014

Superb capture my friend. God bless.

)

virginiese

1:55AM | Thu, 28 August 2014

WOW ! C'est effectivement une très belle cité perdue ! Il y a du travail pour restaurer tout ça ! J'aime beaucoup la couleur blanche des constructions humaines qui contraste bien avec le paysage. Tu as dû faire un circuit très dépaysant et surtout très enrichissant culturellement parlant : je t'envie ! Quant à la photo, elle est parfaite !

)