Sagalassos, Burdur Museum, and Ariassos Tour

Tour Info:

Tour Days: All year round in Private basis
Duration: Full day
Status: Only on Private Basis
Pick up time: To be confirmed

Highlights:

• Sagalassos
• Burdur Archeological Museum
• Ariassos

Itinerary:

Pickup from hotels, flexible departure depending on the location of the hotel.

Sagalassos made the headlines in the international press in 2007 and 2008, due to some extraordinary finds such as the heads of the two Roman emperors, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius & city is located in South-West of Turkey, near the present town of Ağlasun (Burdur province), roughly 110 km or two-hour drive north of Antalya.

Sagalassos is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya, and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7 km from Ağlasun in the province of Burdur, on Mount Akdağ, in the Western Taurus mountains range, at an altitude of 1450–1700 meters. In Roman Imperial times, the town was known as the “first city of Pisidia“, a region in the western Taurus mountains, currently known as the Turkish Lakes Region. During the Hellenistic period, it was already one of the major Pisidian towns.

The urban site was laid out on various terraces at an altitude between 1400 and 1600 m. After suffering from a major earthquake in the early sixth century CE, the town managed to recover, but a cocktail of epidemics, water shortages, a general lack of security and stability, a failing economy and finally another devastating earthquake around the middle of the seventh century forced the inhabitants to abandon their town and resettle in the valley.

Large-scale excavations started in 1990 under the direction of Marc Waelkens of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. A large number of buildings, monuments, and other archaeological remains have been exposed, documenting the monumental aspect of the Hellenistic, Roman and early Byzantine history of this town.

After lunch in Aglasun, we will drive to visit the Burdur Archeological Museum.

Today, Burdur Museum is among the first 10 – 15 museums of our country with its 50.000 monuments. The museum, which is very rich in monuments, is insufficient in terms of place. The museum shall gain a new identity with new exhibition halls to be built in 1998.

It was strategically situated by a pass on the road between Pisidia and Pamphylia and inhabited into the Byzantine period and was abandoned in the 7th century CE.

Among the major preserved structures there is a Roman Arch in the eastern part of the town, two basilicas (heavily damaged), Nympheion, public cistern, and three necropolis – the East Necropolis is located on the slope of a hill descending towards the south, the North Necropolis (particularly impressive) has numerous sarcophagi of Pisidian type (some of them rock-cut), while the South Necropolis is located directly opposite the North one. Not far from the North Necropolis there are also remains of the Buleuterion.

End of the tour we will transfer you back to your hotel.