18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Statue heads of “Aphrodite” and “Dionysus” were found in Aizanoi Ancient City in Turkey’s

The statue heads of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Dionysus, the god of wine, were unearthed in the excavations of the ancient city of Aizanoi, which has a history of 5,000 years, located in the Çavdarhisar district of Kütahya.

About the statue heads of Aphrodite and Dionysus, which were unearthed during the excavations in the Penkalas (now known as Kocaçay) tea bed in the ancient city of Aizanoi, the excavation coordinator, Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Archeology Department Head Prof. Dr. Gökhan Coşkun gave the following information to the AA correspondent.

“During the excavation in the brook, we came across finds that were surprising to us. These were the heads of large marble statues. One of them is the statue head of ‘Aphrodite’, which is about 50 centimeters high and known as the goddess of love and beauty. The other is the 45-centimeter-high ‘Dionysus’ statue head, known as the god of wine in mythology. In our previous works, we generally found the body of statues, and frankly, we could not find any heads. We were very happy to come across these heads of statues.”

Aizanoi Ancient City statues heads
Photo: Muharrem Cin/AA

“It giving information about the belief system of the Roman period”

Stating that the heads of the statues gave information about the belief system in the Roman period, Coşkun said, “We know that the ancient Greek god’s Aphrodite and Dionysus changed their names and continued to exist in the Roman period. These are important findings for us as they show that the polytheistic culture in Ancient Greece existed for a long time without losing its importance in the Roman period. The findings suggest that there may be a sculpture workshop in the region,” said.

With a history dating back 5,000 years, Aizanoi, situated 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Kutahya city center, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2012.

Related Articles

700 Years After Dante’s Death, His Handwritten Notes Are Discovered

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, and scholar are best known for his masterwork La Commedia (also known as The Divine...

Iron Age Warriors Bend the Swords of Their Defeated Enemies

22 April 2021

22 April 2021

Archaeologists from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) announced that a metal detector has discovered “one of the largest Iron Age...

Europe’s earliest cities had a predominantly vegetarian diet

27 December 2023

27 December 2023

The population of the Copper Age mega-sites in what is now Ukraine and Moldova had a predominantly vegetarian diet. In...

The Rock Tombs Found by Chance in the Al-Hamidiyah Necropolis

12 May 2021

12 May 2021

A series of rock tombs carved into the slope of a mountain have been discovered in the Al-Hamidiyah necropolis on...

A Rare Bilingual Inscription Discovered in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Province

28 June 2024

28 June 2024

Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission announced the discovery of a rare bilingual inscription in the village of Alqan in the Tabuk...

The researchers may have cracked the mystery of da Vinci’s DNA

7 July 2021

7 July 2021

A recent study of Leonardo da Vinci’s family tree indicates that the renowned Renaissance artist, inventor, and anatomist had 14...

A Special structure Contemporary to Göbeklitepe found at Gre Fılla Höyük in Eastern Turkey

4 August 2022

4 August 2022

Pit-bottomed structures dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period were found at Gre Fılla Höyük (Gre Fılla Mound) in the province...

‘Holy Grail of shipwrecks’ worth $20 billion in treasure to be raised from seabed

10 November 2023

10 November 2023

A treasure ship described as the “holy grail of shipwrecks” will reportedly be lifted from the sea floor where it...

Women in Anatolia from the Prehistoric Age to the Iron Age

19 March 2022

19 March 2022

Throughout the history of Anatolia: a woman appears as a goddess with creative and productive powers, as a ruling monarch,...

Kurt Tepesi: The Silent Sentinel in the Shadows of Göbeklitepe and Karahan Tepe – Unearthing the Forgotten Sister

31 May 2025

31 May 2025

In the arid plains of southeastern Anatolia, a quiet giant slumbers. While Göbekli Tepe has dazzled archaeologists and the global...

An Ancient Large Clay Vessel “Hum” 1.75 Meters High Unearthed in Kyrgyzstan

9 March 2024

9 March 2024

During recent archaeological excavations in the town of Uzgen in the Osh province of Kyrgyzstan, a 1.75-meter-high clay vessel known...

Complex Of Early Neolithic Monuments Discovered In Herefordshire, England

22 July 2023

22 July 2023

Archaeologists discovered a remarkable complex of early Neolithic monuments while investigating the area around Dorstone Hill in Herefordshire, England. The...

A unique 2,800-year-old ivory-decorated piece was discovered in the Ancient City of Hattusa

13 November 2023

13 November 2023

An ivory-decorated piece, estimated to be approximately 2,800 years old, was found during the archaeological excavation in the Hattusa Ancient...

For the first time in Turkish history, a gold belt buckle depicted the face of a Göktürk Khagan found

19 December 2023

19 December 2023

A social complex (Külliye) and new artifacts from the Western Gokturk period were discovered in Kazakhstan. Among these items, a...

‘Theodoric the Great’ villa mosaic found near Verona in Italy

17 April 2022

17 April 2022

A section of the ancient Roman mosaic flooring from the 5th century AD villa of Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great...