Archaeologists have uncovered a remarkable female statue from the Roman period in the ancient city of Vlandos in western Turkey.
Standing 1.90 meters tall, the statue is missing its head and arms and is estimated to be around 2,000 years old. It was found during excavations in 2018 around the Temple of Demeter in the Ulumbey area, just south of modern Usak.
Once preserved, the statue is expected to be displayed at the Usak Archaeological Museum in approximately 5-6 months, according to Sabri Ceylan, director of the local branch of Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Ancient Vlandos, formerly known as Mlandos when Macedonian soldiers of the Seleucid Empire settled there, is situated about 40 km south of Usak and 200 km east of Smyrna. While larger inland cities in Asia Minor, such as Sardis and Hierapolis, have undergone extensive excavations, smaller sites like the relatively well-preserved Vlandos remain largely unexplored. The city was inhabited from the Hellenistic period to the Byzantine era but appears to have been abandoned during the Middle Ages.
Source: APE-MPE