Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A gladiatorial arena that also included battles between men and animals like bears, tigers and elephants has been re-discovered after historians found it referenced by European travel writers who visited the area 200 years ago.
The amphitheatre which was forgotten about after being referenced by the writers and ended up being slowly covered with trees has now been rediscovered by Turkish archaeologists who have spent the last five months clearing the area, and are astonished by the size of the fighting arena they have exposed.
The local mayor of Nazilli where the amphitheatre was found, Kursat Engin Ozcan, said: “Even when we carried out a careful surface survey it was impossible to see that there was a settlement here if this size or a fighting arena that was on the scale of the Colosseum.
“It was difficult to detect because the area was completely wooded, so the structures could not be seen. Yet the region was described in the writings of theatre, and that was where we found the amphitheatre which had clearly been built with a significant degree of engineering skill.
“It was clearly designed to provide entertainment including races to a large population in a thriving local civilisation and we are happy to learn about our regions past.”
The architects rediscovered the location after investigating the writings of European travellers to Turkey who had visited it two centuries ago, allowing them to rediscover the ancient structure which they described as “similar to the Coliseum”.
They say that the arena is at least 1800 years old and would have been part of the ancient city of Mastaura in the western Turkish city of Aydin’s Nazilli district.
It had been largely buried and disappeared under a grove of olive and fig trees and now it has been cleared the experts have described it as unique in the Eastern Mediterranean basin in size and importance.
They said that the fighting arena itself was around a hundred metres in diameter, with an extensive 360-degree row of seats of which many of the walls have been preserved.
The initial research shows that despite extensive damage by treasure hunters, there appear to be many articles of interest in the 2,700-year-old city.
Adnan Menderes University Archeology Department academic staff member Dr Sedat Akkurnaz said: “This is a gladiator fighting arena from the Roman imperial period. It is a special area that we call an amphitheatre where wild animals were also fought. There is nothing comparable to this even in Greece, Egypt or Anatolia. It is the best-preserved example we know of this type of amphitheatre in the Eastern Mediterranean basin.
“Now we are doing cleaning work here. We will do our best to do scientific studies before preparing the place for tourists.”
Romans were known to use exotic animals in their large amphitheatres like this one, which would have included elephants, buffaloes, wild boars, bears, leopards, lions, tigers, hyenas, and wolves.
The team say they are hoping to find evidence of which animals were used in the current arena, which from its size and layout was also used for fights involving animals, as well as for gladiatorial battles and racing.
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