Narlıkuyu Mosaic Museum is a small museum in Narlıkuyu,

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

that encompasses a Roman bath with a mosaic tile floor. The mosaic depicts the Three Graces.

Location

Narlıkuyu is a town in

Silifke Silifke ( grc-gre, Σελεύκεια, ''Seleukeia'', la, Seleucia ad Calycadnum) is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova. Silifke is near the Mediterranean co ...

ilçe The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''. Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...

(district) of

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 f ...

. Narlıkuyu is from Silifke and from Mersin. It is situated in a small

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

bay which is fed by freshwater. The museum is actually a closed area of mosaic and it is situated just at the back of the restaurants at .

History

During the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, Narlıkuyu was called ''Porto Calamie''. In the 4th century A.D., Poimenios, the Roman governor of nearby Corycus, (modern Kızkalesi) commissioned a bath and baptism complex in Porto Calamie. The source of the bath water was an underground stream from the sinkhole Cennet, which is in the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...

, northwest of Porto Calamie. The bath survives and, in 1976, a building was constructed to house the bath. The building is now under the supervision of the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

as a free-of-charge museum.

The mosaic

An inscription at the entrance of the bath reads: The emperors mentioned were probably

Arcadius Arcadius ( grc-gre, Ἀρκάδιος ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the ...

(378-408) and Honorius (384-423). The holy islands are the

Princes' Islands The Princes' Islands ( tr, Prens Adaları; the word "princes" is plural, because the name means "Islands of the Princes", el, Πριγκηπονήσια, ''Pringiponisia''), officially just Adalar ( en, Islands); alternatively the Princes' Arch ...

of Marmara. The bath floor is a mosaic. The mosaic depicts three Graces,

Aglaea Aglaea () or Aglaïa (; grc, Ἀγλαΐα, lit=festive radiance) is one of the three ''Charites'' or ''Gratiae'' (Graces) in Greek mythology. Family According to Hesiod, Aglaea is the youngest of the Charites, the three daughters of Zeus a ...

Euphrosyne Euphrosyne (; grc, Εὐφροσύνη), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, was one of the Charites, known in ancient Rome as the ''Gratiae'' (Graces). She was sometimes called Euthymia (Εὐθυμία) or Eutychia (Εὐτυχία). F ...

and Thalia, and a couple of partridges and doves. The local name of the mosaic is ''Üç Güzeller'' ( en, Three beauties) The mosaic refers to the mythological story of the baptism of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

.Mersin Ören yerleri,Kaleleri, Müzeleri p.199

References

{{Mersin Province Silifke District Museums in Mersin Province Museums established in 1976 1976 establishments in Turkey Mosaics in Turkey