Narlıkuyu in Cilicia

 

 

     
 

 

The Museum  
   

Narlıkuyu (Turkish for Pomegranate Fountain) is a small community about 25 km east of Silifke and two km west of Kızkalesi. The former fishing village lives mainly from tourism. Worth mentioning, besides several fish restaurants, is above all an antique bathhouse, which under the name Narlıkuyu Mosaik Müzesi (Narlıkuyu-Mosaik museum) as the only exhibit shows the mosaic of the three graces and a basin that survived the times.

 
   

 
The Mosaic of the Three Graces  
   

The mosaic consists of different coloured mosaic stones (tessesae) and shows the three graces, Euphrosyne (the "cheerful"), Thalia (the "flowering") and Aglaia (the "radiant") as well as a partridge, birds and flowers.

The four-line Greek inscription above the graces reads translated:

 

"If you ask who discovered these good baths, stranger, bringing to light the source that was once hidden, you should know it is Poimenios, friend and companion of the kings, who justly ruled over the holy islands"

 

 

 

 
The Basin  
   

The Coryk Caves (Cennet ve Cehennem) are in the immediate vicinity in the north. The underground river coming from there flows into Narlıkuyu into the Mediterranean Sea, which leads to brackish water deposits in some bays in the area. In ancient times it was the harbour for Korykion Antron, as the Coryk Grottoes were called in ancient times, and the places on the road leading to Olba.

 
     
     
Photos: @chim, Monika P.    
Translation aid: www.DeepL.com/Translator    
Source: Wikipedia and others