Sinekkale (literally "The castle of flies") 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 (district) of
Mersin Province. Its distance from Silifke is and from
Mersin
Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...
is . Sinekkale is to the north of some other sites of archaeological importance such as
Karakabaklı
Karakabaklı is an archaeological site in Mersin Province, Turkey.
Geography
Karakabaklı is situated next to Karadedeli village (now a remote neighborhood of Atakent) in the rural area of Silifke district at . In the antiquity this region was ...
and
Işıkkale. The visitors follow the Turkish state highway which runs in parallel to
Mediterranean Sea coast. About west of
Atakent
Atakent is a town in Mersin Province, Turkey.
Geography
Atakent is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal town in Silifke district which itself is a part of Mersin Province. Alluvial plains of Silifke lie in the west of the town and hil ...
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
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
Olba Kingdom
Olba Kingdom was an ancient kingdom in south Anatolia. It was a vassal of the Seleucid Empire, Seleucid and Roman Empires.
Geography
The kingdom was a small state situated in Cilicia Trachea (present Mersin Province, Turkey). It was bounded by the ...
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
Mustafa Semavi Eyice (9 December 1922 in Istanbul, Turkey – 28 May 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey) was a Turkish art historian and archaeologist, who specialised in the study of Byzantine and Ottoman art in Istanbul. Professor Eyice is widely re ...
. 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 (mostly demolished) 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.
[Mersin Valiliği:Mersin Ören Yerleri, Kaleleri, Müzeleri, p,215]
References
{{Mersin Province
Buildings and structures in Mersin Province
Silifke District
Tourist attractions in Mersin Province
History of Mersin Province
Villa rustica
Olba territorium