Anavarza Ancient City is located in Dilekkaya Village, 28 km south of Kozan district center. In the 1st century BC, the Romans left the administration of this region to Tarkondimotos, whom they appointed as vassal king. After the Ancient City came under the rule of the Romans in 17 BC, it grew and developed and became one of the most important metropolises of Anatolia.
Important works of the ancient city include the columned street, bathhouse, church ruins, theatre, amphitheatre, stadium, waterways and rock tombs, the necropolis and ancient road in the west of the city, the pool mosaic of the sea goddess Thetis, the triumphal arch with three entrances and the medieval castle on a hill rising like an island in the middle of the plain.
The castle, which is located on the Anavarza Mountain and consists of several complexes, and the walls surrounding it, built on the plain at the foot of the mountain, are the acropolis of the city. Physician Dioscurides, the author of the world’s oldest surviving medicine-pharmacy book, lived in Anavarza. The Ancient City of Anavarza was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2014.
Source: Adana Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism
Places to Visit in Adana
Source: Adana Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate
