"SAGALASSOS – ANCIENT RUINS HIGH IN THE TAURUS MTNS" Aglasun by mtncorg

High in the mountains just 7 km up from the town of Ağlasun – 30 km from Burdur or Isparta – are the magnificent ruins of Sagalassos. The site is at around 1500 meters in elevation. Dating back to Hittite record referring to a possible town here in the 14th C BC, most of the ruins restored today date to the 2nd C AD. Excavations began in 1990 under the supervision of Marc Waelkens of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Sagalassos already had a few thousand living here when Alexander the Great paused to conquer the town in 333 BC on his way east. Following Alexander, the town drifted through Selucid rule to Peragon Attalid control. Attalus III bequeathed his kingdom to Rome in 133 BC and Sagalassos became part of Rome. Along with Pisidian Antioch, Sagalassos was the most important town of Pisidia. It was named a ‘first city’ of the province by the Emperor Hadrian. Earthquakes and Arab raids led to the town’s abandonment in the middle of the 7th C AD and the site was slowly covered by erosion. You can get an idea of how much of the city was covered by the whiteness of the marble – marble exposed to open air discolors with time. Statues that have been recovered can be found displayed at the nearby museum in Burdur with plaster replicas taking their place on site.