AYDIN PROVINCE, TURKEY—Türkiye Today reports that an excavation conducted by Murat Çekilmez of Adnan Menderes University has uncovered a 2,000-year-old mosaic floor in a bath-gymnasium complex in western Turkey’s ancient city of Tralles. Found under the remnants of a Byzantine workshop, the floor features an image of a hippocampus, a mythical sea creature associated with the sea god Poseidon that has the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a fish. Çekilmez said that the city was known in antiquity for producing scholars and writers. In addition to bathing, the bath-gymnasium complex contained rooms for education, exercise, and socializing, and perhaps scientific study, he concluded. To read about Greco-Roman religion in the ancient region of Caria, go to "Goddess at the Crossroads."
