Mersin Uzuncaburç (Diokaisareia) Archaeological Site

The ancient city, 30 kilometers north of Silifke, attracts attention with its well-preserved ruins. The ancient city became an autonomous city with the name of Diokaesareia in the Roman Period, minting money in its own name. In the ancient city, there are two columnar streets that cross each other perpendicularly, and the buildings are lined up along these streets.

At the beginning of East-West Street, there is a monumental gate 7 meters high and five columns standing with Corinthian capitals. Another monumental gate is located in the north of the city and is protected by a large entrance in the middle and two small arched entrances on the sides. The inscription on it says that the gate damaged by the earthquake was repaired during the rule of the Roman Emperors Arcadius (395-408 B.C) and Honorius (395-423 B.C) together.

One of the earliest buildings in the city is the temple of Zeus Olbios, which is known to have been built in the Hellenistic Period. It is known that the building was converted into a church in the 5th century A.D. There is also a temple dedicated to Tyche (the Goddess of Luck) in the ancient city. From the inscription on this temple, six columns of which have been preserved, it is understood that the temple was built and gifted to the city by Oppius and his wife Kyria, one of the nobles of the city. A well-preserved theater built in the 2nd century B.C in the ancient city; 5.5 x5.5 m. there is a 15-meter-high preserved pyramidal roofed tomb monument with a square plan and a Hellenistic Period Tower measuring 16 x 13 and 23 meters high. It is understood from the inscription on it that it was built by Tarkyares in the second half of the 3rd century B.C. The necropolis area, which is spread on both slopes of a valley to the north of the city, was used in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods.