18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Theater of Perinthos Ancient City to be unearthed

The theater area in the Ancient City of Perinthos, whose history dates back to 600 BC, will be unearthed during excavations.

Perinthos Ancient City is located in the Marmaraereğlisi district of Tekirdağ.

Professor Zeynep Koçel Erdem of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University’s archaeology department, together with archaeologists and professionals in the area, will conduct the excavations. Excavations are expected to last about a year.

Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Ahmet Hacıoğlu told the state-run Anadolu Agency that the Perinthos Basilica was discovered during earlier digs in the ancient city.

Hacıoğlu stated that significant work will be done in the region this year, saying, “Our biggest goal in these excavations is to reveal the largest theater area of Thrace in the ancient city. In addition, history will be revealed during the excavations to be made in the acropolis.”

According to Hacıoğlu, the area of Marmaraereğlisi will become the most significant historical and cultural attraction in Tekirdağ as a result of the excavations.

A general view from the theater area in the ancient city of Perinthos, Tekirdağ, northwestern Turkey. (AA Photo)
A general view from the theater area in the ancient city of Perinthos, Tekirdağ, northwestern Turkey. (AA Photo)

Hacıoğlu described the excavations as “nearly like digging a well with a needle,” adding, “It is something that takes a lot of patience. “I believe that this theater will be the biggest theater center of Thrace at the end of the excavations. Tekirdağ has all kinds of routes in terms of tourism, but there is no route in terms of history and cultural tourism. Tekirdağ will be a very important historical and cultural destination with the excavations to be made in the Perinthos ancient city and the places to be unearthed during the Heraion-Teikhos ancient city excavations later,”  he said.

Professor Zeynep Koçel Erdem stated that it is accepted in the scientific literature that Perinthos was founded by colonists from Samos around 600 B.C.

Erdem stated that excavations in the ancient city will begin shortly, adding, “This year, we will start working with a limited number of teams considering the epidemic conditions. We plan to work with more teams in different areas of the ancient city in the coming years.”

The ancient city has a mostly contemporary settlement, according to Erdem, who adds, “Luckily, the acropolis section has never been touched. The places of large public structures such as temples and theaters are untouched. We will start the excavations in these areas. After the excavations, the people of the city and visitors should be offered something when they come to visit this place. This will be done with various plates and animated pictures. A walking path will be created here.”

Perinthos was a large and prosperous ancient Thrace town on the Propontis. On a little peninsula of the bay that bears its name, it was built like an amphitheater on the declivity of a hill 22 miles west of Selymbria and 56 miles west of Byzantium. It was discovered near the current modern Marmara Ereğlisi, in Turkey.

Related Articles

New stone ram heads unearthed in Luxor, Egypt

15 October 2021

15 October 2021

Mustafa al-Waziri, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), recently announced the discovery of new stone ram heads...

More evidence shows Vikings came to North America before Columbus

22 May 2023

22 May 2023

Although the discovery of North America is synonymous with Christopher Columbus, new research reveals that Viking sailors landed on the...

The first ivory work of art recovered from the World Heritage cave Hohle Fels was believed to be a horse – until archaeologists made a new discovery-

30 July 2023

30 July 2023

For more than 20 years, the first ivory work of art recovered from the World Heritage cave Hohle Fels was...

Malaysian rock art found to depict Ruling class and Indigenous tribes conflict

23 August 2023

23 August 2023

Researchers discovered that two anthropomorphic figures of indigenous warriors were created amid geopolitical tensions with the ruling class and other...

Tanzania’s mysterious footprints were made by early humans, not bears

6 December 2021

6 December 2021

The prehistoric footprints discovered by archaeologists caused confusion because scientists looked at them again to determine whether they were left...

The Temple of Persian Water Goddess Anahita Discovered in Iraqi Kurdistan

8 March 2024

8 March 2024

Archaeologists excavating the Rabana-Merquly mountain fortress in what is present-day Iraqi Kurdistan suggest that it may also have served as...

The impressive Statue of young Hercules unearthed in Philippi, Northern Greece

24 September 2022

24 September 2022

A larger-than-life youthful Hercules statue dating to the 2nd century A.D. have been found in the ancient city of Philippi...

Headless skeletons discovered in Prehistoric mass grave

14 January 2023

14 January 2023

Archaeologists have found a mass grave site containing 38 decapitated burials at a Neolithic settlement in Vráble, Slovakia. The remains...

This summer, a 2,000-year-old “thermopolium” fast-food restaurant in Pompeii will reopen to the public

8 August 2021

8 August 2021

Archaeologists excavated a 2000-year-old fast food and drink counter “termopolium” on the streets of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii...

Ancient settlements that challenge traditional thinking “Karahantepe and Taş Tepeler”

5 December 2021

5 December 2021

After Göbeklitepe in Şanlıurfa, which sheds light on 12,000 years ago in human history and is considered one of the...

Synchrotron Technique Reveals Mysterious Portrait Underneath Renaissance Painting

16 April 2023

16 April 2023

Conservators and curators from the Art Gallery of New South Wales used the Australian Synchrotron’s advanced imaging technique to learn...

One-of-a-kind 1000- years-old gold earring found in Denmark

13 December 2021

13 December 2021

A metal detectorist in Denmark uncovered a one-of-a-kind piece of 11th-century gold jewelry that had never been seen in Scandinavia...

1,600-year-old steelyard weight found in Turkey’s ancient city of Hadrianopolis

1 December 2021

1 December 2021

Archeologists have discovered a 1,600-year-old steelyard weight during excavations in the ancient city of Hadrianopolis, located in the Eskipazar district...

A Medieval ‘Vampire’ Grave Found in Croatia

1 February 2025

1 February 2025

Research at the Rašaška (or Račeša) site, located in the eastern part of Croatia, revealed a grave with an unusual...

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

30 October 2021

30 October 2021

The statue heads of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Dionysus, the god of wine, were unearthed in...