The Colonnaded Street


The Pompeiopolis Colonnaded Street was 350 m long constituting the main axe of the city, only 33 columns are still preserved. Visible architectural elements on the street (columns bases, column drums, capitals, friezes and cornices) are shattered around due to an earthquake.

The statue of the goddess Nemesis excavated in 2003 is the first and only console statue that has been unearthed so far. Group statues of Dionysus, Pan and a panther and another one consisting of Asclepius, Telesphorus and Hygieia, and the statue of the soldier-emperor Balbinus (238), a similar of which was found in Piraeus and the statue of Nemesis carved in the local style have been unearthed during excavation works since 2000 and they are all exhibited in Mersin Archaeological Museum. Another statue of a high official from Cilicia found in Pompeiopolis which is exhibited in Adana Archaeological Museum bears stylistic similarities with the statue of Trajanus Decius (249-251). All these statues are dated to the Severian period and later.

Head of Asdepius, Roman Period

 

Dionysus- Pan- Panther Statue Group, Roman Period

 

Soli Pompeiopolis offers a wide repertoire of inscriptions. The earliest inscription is dated to Augustan period. There are also inscriptions on the consoles that are dedicated to Hadrianus and Commodus. Other console inscriptions are dedicated to M. Aurelius Artemidoros, the priest, Armenius Peregrinus, the Consul (probably in 244) and other three beneficiaries, one of whom was a woman. These inscriptions are dated to a period from the Augustan period to the 3rd century AD.

The column capitals at Soli-Pompeiopolis are in Corinthian order. Some of the capitals are decorated with floral designs whereas others are decorated with human or mythological figures. It is possible to see the figures from the Greek-Roman Pantheon on these capitals: Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Pan, Satyr, the Dioskouroi... These capitals are usually dated to the Severian period (193-235) and to the 2nd and 3rd century AD. Emperor Hadrianus who visited Pompeiopolis in 130 AD, started renovation work in Pompeiopolis as it was the case in other cities.

The southern end of the colonnaded street Pompeiopolis

Corinthian Capital with a Mythological Figure

The opus sectile floor and a small church whose apse was built between two columns and a golden parure may be cited among the most remarkable finds from the early Byzantine period and are dated to the period before the 525 earthquake.