Sculptures found in ancient city of Pisidia Antiokheia

Five sculptures of gods and goddesses have been found in the sanctuary of Mēn Askaenos in the ancient city of Pisidia Antiokheia in Turkey.

Excavations close to the ancient city, located in the southern province of Isparta’s Yalvaç district, unearthed the five intact sculptures in one of the previously unearthed prestigious chambers.

Excavations head Professor Mehmet Özhanlı said the sculptures of the Goddesses Hekate, Kybele, Athena and the Gods Mēn and Apollon were found together in the excavation field. Özhanlı added that such an example had never before been found in any excavations in Anatolia.

"All the gods of Greek, Roman and Anatolian Pantiona were brought together to create a cult. The local Anatolian god Mēn is on an altar in the center of the other gods, in front of Kybele and Apollo. Next to Mēn is Athena. This is the first time in the history of archaeology that these gods have been found together in a prestigious chamber. That is why this year’s excavation works present very good data about ancient beliefs in the area."

For more images, please see here, at The Archaeological News Network.

Mēn, by the way, is a lunar God worshipped in the western interior parts of Anatolia. He is attested in various localised variants, such as Mēn Askaenos in Antioch in Pisidia, or Mēn Pharnakou at Ameria in Pontus. Strabo describes Him as a local God of the Phrygians.