A team of 54 experts in Türkiye have excavated in and around an ancient Roman amphitheater. They recently discovered an ornate burial site for gladiator tombs.
The setting for this discovery was the ancient city of Anavarza. Strategically located within the borders of the present-day village of Dilekkaya in southern Turkey, the settlement was founded during the Hellenistic period (323-32 BC). It became an important trade center connecting central Anatolia with Syria.
It was one of the most important cities of Cilicia, a Roman province first annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC and which remained under Roman rule for many centuries. Anavarza was then one of the important municipalities in Anatolia. In the 2nd century AD, Anavarza began to expand under the rule of Emperor Septimius Severus. The city eventually became the “Capital of Cilicia” in 408 AD.
Aerial photo of the site in the ancient city of Anavarza where the tombs of Roman gladiators were found, noting fallen ancient Greek columns. (Anadolu Agency)
The Gladiator’s Tomb questions the City’s ‘Indestructible’ nickname
Similar to the folk who named the Titanic unsinkable, the founders of ancient Anavarza called their settlement “The Indestructible City.” In a case of speaking too soon or tempting fate, two major earthquakes in 525 and 561 AD caused fierce plague epidemics that brought the city to its knees. It later lost its former importance due to constant wars throughout Anatolia.
As reported by NTV Anavarza, the province of Cilicia is most famous for its magnificent gates and defensive ramparts. Furthermore, this is also home to “the first two-lane road of the ancient world”. This 2,700 meters (8,860 feet) long and 34 meters (37 yards) wide street is decorated with 1.5 meters (1.6 yards) high columns.
Now, Turkish archaeologists excavating in the ancient city of Anavarza have unearthed “rare gladiator tombs.”
A team of 54 strong gladiator hunters is searching for more
Over the past few years, archaeological teams have been digging up the Roman amphitheater and theater of the ancient city. Anadolu Agency ( AA ) reported that “the excavation involved 54 people, including 30 scientists, 24 general staff and two archaeologists.” Recent excavations were led by Dr. Fatih Gülşen from Çukurova University. Dr Gülşen told AA that his team “found graves near the southern part of the excavation site, near the amphitheater” where it is believed the gladiators fought.
A previously found unfinished Roman sarcophagus, discovered in the Anavarza necropolis area, Türkiye. (Dosseman / CC BY-SA 4.0 )
The lead archaeologist explains that Anavarza covers an area of “1143 decares” – one decare is equivalent to 1,000 square meters or about 0.25 acres. In this vast ancient space, researchers have identified “castles, mosaics, baths, churches, triumphal arches, aqueducts and stone tombs, stadiums and ancient theaters.” .
Standing above all these structures, however, Gülşen said the amphitheater in Anavarza is special in that it is only “one of four such examples in Anatolia.”
The next discovery will hopefully be a gladiator skeleton
Although the team of archaeologists have now successfully identified where the gladiator’s graves were located, they have yet to lay their hands on the bones or skeleton of the actual gladiator. Gülşen said the team hopes to discover bones of gladiators “and a necropolis” in their planned future excavations.
And when bones are discovered, all the hand-held excavation tools will be replaced by forensic microscopes and DNA analyzers, as a team of scientists in a new lab build a map of where the warriors are raised, trained and how they meet their own destiny.
Where all this gets bloody but fascinating is when scientists have to differentiate between gladiator wounds. That means, the bodies will have a series of terrible wounds and scientists must find out which causes are caused by humans and steel weapons, and which ones are caused by the jaws and claws of animals that once fought. duel with gladiators in the Roman arena caused.
The term Gladiator isn’t really accurate, is it?
Roman accounts write that frescoes and mosaics tell archaeologists and historians that the warriors in the arena fought lions, tigers, aurochs, elephants, rhinoceroses, and bears. , leopard, hippopotamus and bison. Then we, the public, learned in the headlines that “Roman gladiators” fought these animals.
However, it is worth noting that the term “gladiator” is a generalization and it actually means “swordsman.”
The specific type of Roman men (or women) who fought animals in death arenas were called “bestiari” or “venators.” Although these highly trained outdoorsmen knew how predators moved and fought their prey, they were only lightly armed and not well protected. So it’s all going to get bloody and very interesting when the gladiators’ skeletons are unearthed.
