Hadrianoupolis (Karabük)

The Roman city of Paphlagonian Hadrianoupolis was established by the 1st century BC and was occupied until the 8th century AD. Situated in what was the southwestern part of the province of Paphlagonia, it is 3 km west of the modern town of Eskipazar, with its “core” area at the village of Budaklar. The site extends along the Eskipazar-Mengen highway, covering an area of 8 km (east-west) by 3 km (north-south). Hadrianoupolis was situated in a rich agricultural area and controlled the principal western route from the Central Anatolian Plain through the mountains to Bartın and the Black Sea.

In 2005 the Archaeological Research Project of Paphlagonia, led by Dr Ergün Laflı of Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, surveyed the site and excavations began in 2006.

2007

Dr Laflı kindly provided the following information on the 2007 season.

In 2007 excavation continued in Bath Building A. Two more rooms were found in the north wing (Rooms 11a and 15). Room 11a is the most remarkable, with floor mosaics and well-preserved stucco on the walls. These mosaics have the same geometric designs as the mosaics in Room 11b in the south wing. Between these two rooms is a primitive wall that was built as late as the beginning of the 8th century AD. It is now clear that Bath Building A has four different architectural phases, beginning in the late 6th century AD and continuing until the beginning of the 8th century.

Another important operation in 2007 was excavation at the Early Byzantine villa located 300 m east of Church B, on a natural slope north of the Viranşehir stream. It is a building with at least seven rooms. In Room 7 is a very interesting mosaic floor with realistic, full-size human portraits of a male and a female. Some walls in the villa have frescoes preserved on the walls. This remarkable building is significant in terms of domestic life in Hadrianoupolis during the Early Byzantine period.

Epigraphic researches in 2005 and 2006 followed on earlier studies by İsmail Kaygusuz in the 1970s and Christian Marek in the 1980s-1990s and have resulted in the preparation of two articles by E. Laflı, one with twenty inscriptions from the Hadrianoupolis city centre and a second with seventy-five stone inscriptions, including mason’s marks, from the chora of Hadrianoupolis.
   
Material from the survey of Asar Tepe (sometimes identified as Cimistene [Strabo 12.3.41]), above Deresamail village near Eskipazar, carried out in 2005, was examined in 2006. The amount of pottery proves the importance of the site, already known from architectural, sculptural and epigraphic finds. The site clearly was occupied over a long period. There are few imported wares although there are some Red Slip Wares, which presumably come from coastal sites elsewhere in Anatolia (or were perhaps local imitations). More research is needed on the grey wares, which could be "Phrygian" or at least Iron Age, and also it would be useful to identify the stand-out sherds of red and dark brown painted plates and the moulded relief wares. The site was significant particularly from the Hellenistic to Late Roman periods, although the presence of Early Byzantine and even some later sherds shows that it continued to be occupied. Only a couple of glazed sherds were found and these do not necessarily prove continuous occupation into the Late Byzantine period but perhaps re-occupation at this later stage.

2006

The following information on the 2006 season was kindly provided by Dr Laflı.

The field surveys in 2005 identified the remains of at least fourteen buildings at the site. Among them are two bath buildings of the Late Roman period, two Early Byzantine churches, a fortified structure of the Byzantine period, a possible theatre, a vaulted building, a domed building and some domestic buildings with mosaic floors. In 2006 trenches were opened to investigate two of the best preserved of these buildings: Bath Building A and Early Byzantine Church A.      
 
Bath Building A was a monumental building located in the southern part of the city, ca 350 m southwest of Early Byzantine Church B, which was excavated in 2003 by the Archaeological Museum of Ereğli. Bath Building A was built on a natural terrace along the Göksu waterway. In 2006 only half of the structure (thirteen rooms) was excavated. The building consisted of four wings and had a central dome. The southern wall of the building was at least 100 m long, and it seems that this was a monumental building, erected sometime during the 5th century AD. It must have been in use until the beginning of the 8th century, as coins of that date were found. During the 300 years of its use, the building was rebuilt and enlarged a number of times, and timber seems to have been used frequently in the construction. The hypocaust was not used in later periods. The most important find was in Room 10: a 5th-6th century floor mosaic with geometric patterns. A 3rd century AD inscription had been reused in the pavement in Room 13.  

Early Byzantine Church A is located 2.5 km east of the fortification walls of Byzantine Hadrianoupolis and its association with the city has still to be determined. It is a basilical church with nave and two side aisles, for a total area of 20.28 x 15.84 m. The floor of the church is remarkable: the floors of the narthex and the three apses are almost completely covered with excellent mosaics. The mosaic in the narthex consists solely of geometric designs, while those in the apses show various animals. In the first (northern) apse different types of birds are shown within square frames. In the central apse animals are shown within square or cross-shaped frames: they include a tiger (Fig. 1), deers, goats, a griffin (Fig. 2) and sea birds. In the third apse are animals such as a giraffe, elephant, birds, and a gazelle, again within square frames. At the end of the northern aisle and of the nave are dedicatory inscriptions, both giving the name of the person who dedicated the mosaic floor. A coin of Leo III (AD 717-741) indicates the church was still in use at the beginning of the 8th century. It would have been built in the first quarter of the 6th century.

Fig. 1: Floor mosaic with tiger, nave of Early Byzantine Church A (E. Laflı, 2006)

Fig. 2: Floor mosaic with griffin, nave of Early Byzantine Church A (E. Laflı, 2006)

In general, the 2006 campaign has established that Hadrianoupolis was a fortified regional centre during the Late Roman and Early Byzantine period (5th-7th centuries), when it can easily be defined as a “polis” with civic buildings and a fairly large urban population, as well as an extensive agrarian rural population. Most of the visible surface remains belong to this period. Roman and earlier remains seem to consist almost exclusively of inscriptions, rock-cut graves, some cultic monuments and a small amount of pottery (including sigillata), but not civic buildings. It seems that the city was abandoned during the 8th century.

Website

Pictures of the project can be found at http://nauplion.net/lafli.html

Bibliography

Ergün Laflı and Alexander Zäh, "Archäologische Forschungen im Byzantinischen Hadrianoúpolis in Paphlagonien", Byzantinische Zeitschrift 100 (2007) Heft 2 (in print)