Kanlıdivane (''ancient'' Canytelis,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Κανυτελής) is an ancient city situated around a big

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

Mersin Province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Geography

Kanlıdivane is in the rural area of

Erdemli Erdemli is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,279 km2, and its population is 151,928 (2022). It is west of the city of Mersin. Geography Erdemli is located between the districts of Mezitli (to the east) a ...

district, which is a part of Mersin Province at . It is to Erdemli and to

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

. Its altitude is approximately . It is close to the town Kumkuyu at the coast and just few hundred meters to

Çanakçı rock tombs Çanakçı is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Çanakçı District.

. The sinkhole is quite wide; the longer dimension being . The depth is about

History

There are ruins of antiquity around the sinkhole. They were unearthed and surveyed by Victor Langlois and

Semavi Eyice Mustafa Semavi Eyice (9 December 1922 in Istanbul, Turkey – 28 May 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey) was a Turkish art historian and archaeologist, who specialised in the study of Byzantine and Ottoman art in Istanbul. Professor Eyice is widely rega ...

Pre Roman era

Kanlıdivane was a part of the

Olba Kingdom Olba Kingdom was an ancient kingdom in south Anatolia. It was a vassal of the Seleucid Empire, Seleucid and Roman Empires. Geography The kingdom was a small state situated in Cilicia Trachea (present Mersin Province, Turkey). It was bounded by the ...

in the ancient age. In the northern

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

, there is a mausoleum, which was built by the Queen Aba for her husband and sons. On the inscription of the tower at south-west it reads; "Built by Teukros, the son of priest king Tarkyaris of Olba for

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

Roman era

By the first century, Olba kingdom became a vassal of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...

rebuilt the city as a Christian religious center and renamed it Neapolis. There are ruins of basilicas, cisterns, rock cut graves etc. around the sinkhole.

Kanlıdivane in popular culture

The current Turkish name Kanlıdivane may be a corrupt form of the ancient name Canytelis. It means "bloody crazy". It may refer to the red color of the surrounding soil. The name may also refer to a dreadful legend according to which the criminals had been executed by throwing into the sinkhole during Roman times.Travel guide
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Kanlıdivane in Mersin Music Festival

Every year during Mersin International Music Festival, one or two outdoor concerts are held in Kanlıdivane. The audiences and performers sit at the opposite sides of the sinkhole. (During such concerts Metropolitan municipality of Mersin add free bus trips to Kanlıdivane.)

References

External links

Photographic visit to the site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanlidivane Ruins in Turkey Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey Music venues in Turkey Sinkholes of Turkey Landforms of Mersin Province Olba territorium