Skip to main content

Ankyra Hermes at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at Ankara

Ankyra Hermes at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at Ankara

Hermes statue found in Ankara’s busy Ulus district, at Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at Ankara.



The statue of Hermes, an Olympian God who is a messenger of the gods, was found during excavations at the Roman Bath in Ankara's Ulus district, August 3, 2007. The archaeologists working in the excavation noted that the statue is unique. The statues of Hermes are exhibited in a few places in Turkey, Antalya and Ephesus. The statues are estimated to belong to the 2nd century A.D. These statues are identified by the cloak over their left shoulder.

Popular posts from this blog

Hattians - First Civilizations in Anatolia

The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in Asia Minor in the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC. They spoke a non-Indo-European language of uncertain affiliation called Hattic (now believed by some to be related to the Northwest Caucasian language group). They eventually merged with or were replaced by the Hittites, who spoke the Indo-European Hittite language.

Early Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey dated to 11000 years ago: Göbekli Tepe, Urfa

Göbekli Tepe is an early Neolithic site in Urfa, southeastern Turkey. It is famous for containing the world's oldest known stone temples (dated to before 9000 BC), and because it contradicts the long-held belief that the introduction of agriculture preceded the construction of large buildings. Göbekli Tepe was created by hunter-gatherers, yet is assumed to be a key location for understanding the origins of agriculture. (To give a timescale, remember that Stonehenge, a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles north of Salisbury, was erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC although the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.)

Etruscans: Anatolian Italians?

The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci. The ancient Greeks' word for them was Tyrrhenoi, or Tyrrsenoi. The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.