Çatıören in Cilicia

 

 

     
 

 

The western part of the settlement  
   

The ancient name of the settlement has not been passed down. Çatıören (Turkish for roof ruins) is the Turkish name. It is a ruined site from the Hellenistic-Roman early Byzantine period. The ruins are 7 km above the village Ayaş, the ancient Elaiussa Sebaste.

 
   

 
Temple of Hermes  
   

The ruins are grouped in a northwest-southeast direction along a valley that is as flat as it is narrow at this point, on the northwestern end of which there is a simple antenna temple with an area of about 130 square meters.
The door between the antes are two reliefs showing the Olbic sign of a cermes staff. An inscription of a foundation lies in the Pronaos, it describes a Pomponius Niger as Hermes priest, which led to the identification of the temple.
According to the inscriptions, the temple is dated around the 2nd to 1st century BC. Traces of a Byzantine redesignation were not found, possibly because the building was not architecturally suitable for it.

 
   

 
Olbic Watchtower  
   

Southeast of the temple stands an Olbic tower in polygonal construction on the rock, with the same wall in front of it to the northeast. Below these are several houses of the same construction, as well as on the southern and eastern slopes of the rock nose and in the surrounding valley. The oldest buildings of the village date back to the 3rd to 2nd century BC.

 
   

 
Byzantinische Basilika  

 

 

On the eastern side of the valley, just below the present street, stands the ruin of a three-nave basilica with galleries and choir walkway. Their ships are separated by a series of five or six columns with shafts and bases inside. Protruding cuboids at the northern corner of the west wall indicate that the construction of a narthex was planned.

 

 

 
 
Byzantine Basilica  
     
     
Photos: @chim    
Translation aid: www.DeepL.com/Translator    
Source: Wikipedia and others