Narlıkuyu Museum

Museum Building
The mosaic in Narlıkuyu Museum

Narlıkuyu Mosaic Museum is a small museum in Narlıkuyu, Turkey

Location

Main article: Narlıkuyu

Narlıkuyu is a town in Silifke ilçe (district) of Mersin Province. It is situated by a small Mediterranean bay which is fed by freshwater. Its fishing restaurants by the bay are popular excursion spots for Mersin citizens. The small museum is actually a a closed are of mosaic and it is situated just at the back of the restaurants at 36°26′38″N 34°06′49″E / 36.44389°N 34.11361°E / 36.44389; 34.11361.


History

During the Roman Empire the location was called Porto Calamie. In the 4th century A.D. Poimenios the Roman governor of the nearby Corycus commissioned a bath and baptism complex in Porto Calamie. The water of the bath was an underground source from Cennet sinkhole 1.1 kilometres (0.68 mi) northwest of Porto Calamie. The bath survives and in 1976 a small building was constructed to house the bath. The ground area of the building is 65.28 square metres (702.7 sq ft). The building is now under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. It is a free-of-charge museum.[1]

The mosaic

An inscription at the entrance of the bath reads:

Dear Visitor, if you wonder who has discovered the origin of this miraculous water, know that he is Poimenios, the friend of the emperors and the honest administrator of the holy islands..[2]

Probably the said emprerors were Arcadius (378-408) and Honorius (384-423). The holy islands are the Princes' Islands of Marmara.

The bath floor is a mosaic. The floor mosaic depicts three Graces; Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia, and a couple of partridges and doves. The local name of the mosaic is Üç Güzeller (English: Three beauites) The mosaic refers to the mitological story of baptism of Aphrodite.[3]

References

  1. Silifke Museum page (Turkish)
  2. Mersin web (Turkish)
  3. Mersin Ören yerleri,Kaleleri, Müzeleri ISBN 978-605-4196-07-4 p.199
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