KÜTAHYA, TURKEY—The Daily Sabah reports that some 400 drawings were recorded at the Temple of Zeus in the ancient city of Aizanoi, which is located in western Anatolia, by a team of researchers led by Elif Özer of Pamukkale University. The drawings have been attributed to five or six groups of people, ranging from those who lived in the city during the Byzantine era and used the temple as a Christian church, to the Çavdar Turks who lived in the city in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. “For instance, there were warriors and their leaders,” Özer said of the images. “These figures were drawn in larger size with larger horses. There are figures that were made smaller and probably depicted the enemy. There are figures of cavalry and hunters. Inside the temple, there are usually figures about revelry. Here we see komuz players and minstrels.” She also pointed out that the Byzantine-era Christians inscribed hundreds of crosses on the walls of the temple, and converted an altar to Zeus near the temple’s eastern entrance into an oven, where the researchers found a bread seal inscribed with a cross. “This shows that the seals with the sign of the cross were printed on the dough and given to the people of that period,” she said. To read about a recent discovery in Turkey dating to the Roman period, go to “Seals of Approval.”
