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Home > Magazines > Archaeology Odyssey > November/December 2000

After the Flood!

The drowning of an ancient Roman city

By Jessica A. Meyerson

It was called one of the biggest archaeological finds in years: In late November 1999 Turkish and French archaeologists began excavating the ancient Roman city of Zeugma in southeastern Turkey. Within weeks, they’d unearthed two large villas containing over a dozen exquisite ancient Roman mosaics. Preliminary surveys revealed that hundreds of other villas lay buried just beneath the surface of the surrounding area. It’s a 035“second Pompeii,” crowed one local Turkish politician. But time was running out for the 2,300-year-old city on the banks of the Euphrates. On April 29, 2000—less than six months after the Turkish and French […]

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Endnotes

1.

For a review of the modern scholarship relating to Zeugma, see David Kennedy, The Twin Towns of Zeugma on the Euphrates: Rescue Work and Historical Studies (Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1998).

2.

The roof tiles Wagner found bore the insignia of Rome’s IV Scythia legion, a military unit known to have been based at the Syrian city of Zeugma. References to Zeugma and its strategic importance can be found in many classical texts, including Pliny’s Natural History, Strabo’s Geography, and the writings of Diodorus Siculus.

3.

See Kennedy, The Twin Towns of Zeugma, p. 247.