Sinekkale


Sinekkale is the archaeological remains of a big villa rustica in Turkey. The original name is unknown.

Location

Sinekkale is at in the rural area of Silifke ilçe of Mersin Province. Its distance from Silifke is and from Mersin is. Sinekkale is to the north of some other sites of archaeological importance such as Karakabaklı and Işıkkale. The visitors follow the Turkish state highway which runs in parallel to Mediterranean Sea coast. About west of Atakent the visitors turn to north for about. The last is unaccesible by motor vehicles and the visitors have to walk through the bushy area.

History

The building is a typical Roman or Early Byzantine building. But there is a symbol of the Hellenistic Olba Kingdom carved on the lintel of one of the auxiliary buildings. The first description and a plan of Sinekkale were prepared in the early 1970s by Turkish art historian Semavi Eyice. Friedrich Hild, Hansgerd Hellenkemper, Gilbert Dagron and Olivier Callot also visited the site and recently Ina Eichner made the most accurate description of the house.

The building

The east to west dimension of the villa is and the north to east dimension is.It is a two-storey building. There are five rooms in the ground floor and six rooms in the first floor. There are visible consoles in the first floor which once supported a balcony. The house has a cistern, two bath rooms and a toilet.