Öküzlü is an archaeological site in

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of fo ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Geography

Öküzlü (''Öküzlüklü'') is situated in the rural area of

Erdemli Erdemli is a town and district of Mersin Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, west of the city of Mersin. Geography Erdemli is located between the districts of Mezitli (to the east) and Silifke (to the west). In the north, Erdemli i ...

district which is rich in archaeological ruins. It is close to

Batısandal Batısandal (meaning "west sandalwood" named after Santalum album, a common tree) is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Erdemli, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 744 (2022). It is situated in the hilly region to the sout ...

village at about . There are many ruins around Öküzlü .

Kanlıdivane Kanlıdivane (''ancient'' Canytelis, Greek: Κανυτελής) is an ancient city situated around a big sinkhole in Mersin Province, Turkey. Geography Kanlıdivane is in the rural area of Erdemli district, which is a part of Mersin Province at ...

and

Elaiussa Sebaste Elaiussa Sebaste or Elaeousa Sebaste ( el, Ελαιούσα Σεβαστή) was an ancient Roman town located from Mersin in the direction of Silifke in Cilicia on the southern coast of Anatolia (in the modern-day town of Ayaş (there is a like-n ...

are to the south,

Emirzeli Emirzeli (İmirzeli) is a group of ruins in Mersin Province, Turkey. Location Emirzeli is a part of Karahmetli village in Erdemli district of Mersin Province at . The road to Emirzeli detaches from Turkish state highway . Kanlıdivane, an i ...

is to the west,

Tapureli ruins Tapureli ruins are in Mersin Province, Turkey. Geography Limonlu River is a small river in Erdemli district of Mersin Province. It was named ''Lamos River'' in the antiquity and it was usually taken as the borderline between ''Cilicia Trachaea' ...

are to the north of Öküzlü. Highway distance to the coastal town of Ayaş on Turkish state highway is . Öküzlü is also accessible from

Limonlu Limonlu (ancient: ''Antiochia Lamotidos''; Byzantine: ''Lamousia''; Arabic: ''Lāmis''; Armenian: ''Lamos'') is a small town in Mersin Province, Turkey (Popularly called Lamas). Geography Limonlu is a coastal town at It is by the river Limon ...

(Lamos of the antiquity). Its distance to Erdemli is and to

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

is .

History

The original name of the site is not known. Turkish name Öküzlü (literally "with ox") refers to reliefs of oxen on column heads (now in

Mersin Museum Mersin Museum is the main museum of Mersin, Turkey. It is operated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. However after establishing a new museum, i.e., Mersin Archaeological Museum most of the exhibits were moved to the new museum. History ...

). Archaeological evidence from masonry imply that the site can be backdated to

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

era. It was however reconstructed in the 5th or 6th centuries, i.e., early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

era.

The ruins

The house ruins in the north of the site are examples of the polygonal and Byzantine masonry. One house is a

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=fou ...

house. The foundations of some buildings are carved rock. There are

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...

along the road. At the center of the site there are ruins of a basilica. The basilica with three naves and a transept is backdated to about 500. There is a smaller church situated about south of the basilica.Mersin Valiliği: ''Mersin Ören yerleri, Kaleleri, Müzeleri'', İstanbul, 2009, , p 166-167

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okuzlu ruins Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey Former populated places in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Erdemli District Olba territorium