The hidden ‘eagle’s nest’ metropolis that Alexander the Great couldn’t conquer

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Termessos, Turkey
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Alexander the Great tried to overcome Termessos however failed. Today, the unimaginable abandoned ruins of this once-powerful metropolis, perched like a fortified eagle’s nest excessive within the mountains of southwestern Turkey, will be conquered by anybody prepared to make the hike up right here.

But few folks ever do.

Termessos stands empty. A spectacular archeological jewel, preserved in isolation, seen solely by just a few handfuls of people that make the journey from the seaside resorts of close by tourism sizzling spot Antalya.

That’s a disgrace for individuals who miss out. For those that do get to discover, it’s a serious bonus. They get to wander round one among Turkey’s most spectacular historic cities all by themselves.

It’s a spot of unimaginable environment: historical past and panorama; views and silence; nature and destruction — all combining to create one of many Mediterranean’s nice unsung archaeological wonders.

Here, slowly being swallowed by vegetation and worn down by time, are gigantic mausoleums, huge underground cisterns, temples, imposing metropolis partitions and a wide ranging theater perched, like Machu Picchu, on a hilltop that provides views stretching for miles throughout.

Despite its vacancy, Termessos is straightforward to achieve. It solely takes round 45 minutes to drive from Antalya’s traffic-snarled downtown to the gates of Mount Güllük-Termessos National Park — a protected wildlife haven that surrounds the ruins.

After paying a three-euro (about $3) gate payment on the park’s entrance, guests then face one other 10-minute trip additional into the pine and gorse-clad hills alongside a switchback street that reaches about 1,000 meters above sea stage.

Eventually the street emerges into what looks like an uninteresting parking zone with a public restroom. This was, the truth is, at one time an enormous agora, or market for town, which in its heyday 2,000 years in the past would’ve been bustling with merchants and residents.

It’s right here the place the Termessos journey begins.

And it begins with demise.

Hidden by vegetation at one finish of the agora are the stone-strewn stays of what was clearly as soon as a grand avenue main away alongside the hillside. Instead of homes or outlets, this was lined with the tombs of Termessos’ wealthy and mighty.

Ancient sarcophagi carved with clues to who they as soon as contained, like shields and spears for warriors, lie scattered. Some are small, others large — providing clues to ranges of wealth or energy. Some are unfinished, their huge pedestals hinting at what would’ve been.

All of them have been damaged into by raiders over the centuries, their partitions smashed or lids prised off regardless of as soon as being locked shut with steel clasps. Tree roots and ivy creepers have additionally snaked by the stonework.

“The thieves working here were very good at their jobs,” says Önder Uğuz, an Antalya-based artwork instructor and licensed information who gives excursions of Termessos, which he’s been captivated by since first coming right here as a scholar in 1996 (“It was love at first sight!”).

Reaching the center of the traditional metropolis includes an uphill hike alongside a leafy pathway that’s just a little tough and steep in locations. Visitors right here have to be outfitted with sturdy footwear and OK with mildly strenuous mountaineering on tough terrain. In summer season, it’s greatest to go to early earlier than temperatures begin to climb, and produce water.

Soon the decrease metropolis partitions loom into view — a primary trace at how well-defended Termessos was when it was constructed maybe across the fourth or fifth century BCE, lengthy earlier than the Romans confirmed up with the engineering expertise that will rework the recognized world.

Which raises the query: how did the folks of Termessos do it?

Uğuz laughs off the suggestion of any thriller right here. We’re too caught up within the achievements of our technological age to understand even the essential talents of our distant ancestors, in his opinion.

“You and I, we’re nothing without our computers and social media accounts,” he says (shortly after taking a snap for his personal Instagram feed). “Take those away and we are helpless. Not these people. They worked with stone for centuries. They had nothing else. Building things like this was what they knew how to do.”

The folks of Termessos had been often known as Solyms, descendants of Luwians, an historic civilization that was unfold throughout what’s now Turkey, however largely missed by archaeological students till the previous few many years. To this present day, little is thought concerning the Solyms or after they constructed their metropolis, though with the location’s first-ever excavation introduced in 2025, that could possibly be set to alter.

The Solyms, nevertheless, clearly knew what they had been doing. Their alternative of location confirmed a genius for strategic considering. Not solely was it on a serious commerce route, enabling it to develop rich on items and funds from folks heading to and from the Mediterranean, its altitude and commanding views made it simple to defend.

Which is why when Alexander the Great confirmed up round 333 BCE — when Termessos made its first actual look within the historical past books — he was apparently unable to invade or blockade town into give up, regardless of a number of makes an attempt. He apparently known as town an “eagle’s nest.”

Later, the Romans had extra success in controlling town. Not by drive, says Uğuz, however by extra insidious means, like providing autonomy below Roman “protection.” “The Romans were like the mafia,” he suggests.

Climbing increased up the hillside on a rocky path sprouting with aromatic wild sage, there’s extra proof of how subtle life in Termessos would’ve been. To the left, there’s the marble ruins of town’s gymnasium, a sort of faculty campus for trainee troopers, full with bathhouse and refectory.

Some of the principle constructing continues to be intact, with indications that spectacular arches as soon as ran throughout its entrance wall. Inside had been two flooring, plus a subterranean vault for storage. In entrance is the palaestra, an space that will’ve been used for wrestling and fight coaching and which at this time is affected by items of the gymnasium’s terracotta roof tiles.

It is, in fact, largely derelict. Termessos was believed to have been destroyed by an earthquake the precise date of which isn’t recognized, however probably the 4th or fifth century. What stays just isn’t the work of archeological reconstruction. It’s the real state the constructing has been left in for the previous 1,600 years.

Here, on our go to in in June 2024, the silence and vacancy of the place permit the creativeness to wander — bringing these warriors again to life and permitting visualization of their mock battles in a spot that has modified so little over time.

The excavation work begun in the summertime of 2025 will concentrate on the mausoleum, the necropolis street, historic water constructions and the Hadrian Gate, reviews Hürriyet Daily News.

“One main necropolis road stretches 400–500 meters, lined with tombs and sarcophagi, many toppled. We’ll restore podiums and reassemble them. Two waterworks structures will also undergo cleaning and repair,” the chief of the excavation, Mustafa Koçak of Antalya Bilim University, informed the Turkish newspaper.

Further up, the higher metropolis partitions give commanding views of the forest under and supply a great vantage level over anybody making an attempt to sneak up for an invasion. Beyond them is extra proof of civilization.

There are the stays of a lined water drainage system. And for a metropolis that had few water sources, they’re one among its most spectacular belongings — gigantic multi-chambered underground cisterns carved by hand into strong rock and lined with plaster.

Capable of holding as much as 1,500 tons of water, these cavernous containers would’ve been very important to the survival of a metropolis that had few pure sources of H2O — particularly when Alexander the Great was mounting blockades. Today, they’re full of damaged columns and different rubble, doubtless dumped there when town was deserted. There’s hypothesis water shortages might’ve been behind a call to lastly relocate town elsewhere.

Nearby, there’s the imposing outer wall of the bouleuterion or meeting home that will’ve been town’s seat of energy, one other central agora courting again to pre-Roman occasions and the ruins of a colonnaded avenue that after housed town’s most unique outlets.

“This is the Champs-Élysées of Termessos,” says Uğuz. Like the Parisian upscale retail boulevard, this is able to’ve been the place the rich spent their money, he explains. The best olive oils, cloths, leather-based items and objects imported from throughout the Mediterranean would’ve been on sale right here.

These are all sideshows to town’s showstopper attraction: the theater.

After a final scramble over large slabs of marble, the view opens up onto an epic panorama of the big efficiency house, perched on town’s highest level.

The setting is breathtaking, with mountain ravines cascading away on both aspect. The sheer drop behind the theater’s higher partitions is dizzying. It’s a reminder to watch out when exploring ruins that haven’t been fenced off for security.

With room for about 4,000 folks, the semi-circle of stone terraces faces the ruins of what would’ve been a stage. The theater in all probability predated the arrival of the Romans, however was later up to date alongside Roman strains.

In Termessos, the situation is especially important, because it sits reverse a mountain that was as soon as sacred to town’s inhabitants. It’s simple to see why this was such a hallowed spot, with views that, on haze-free days, stretch so far as the port of Antalya.

And once more, it’s a spot to take a seat and picture what life was like almost 2,000 years in the past, when such theaters would’ve been utilized by the Romans as, in response to Uğuz, a propaganda device — a smooth drive to maintain their empire in verify.

As historical past classes go, that is fairly spectacular.

Uğuz (who will be contacted through e-mail: [email protected]) says he by no means tires of exploring Termessos. He additionally gives excursions of different extra standard archaeological websites within the space, however the tranquility and great thing about this hidden historic surprise draw him again again and again. He notably loves soaking within the vistas from town’s higher partitions.

“Usually, I’m sitting there with my wife, under a juniper tree in springtime, a beautiful blue sky with this great scenery,” he says, including that year-round, the solitude supplied by Termessos can be an attraction.

“For me it’s perfect. Just you and nature; little squirrels and archaeology. The only thing missing is a cold beer.”