[MIDDLE EAST / ARCHEOLOGY / ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS] Original 51 gelatin silver photos documenting ruins, buildings and remnants of Olba Kingdom and the Roman Empire around Mersin and Adana cities

ANONYMOUS, 1920s.

Original 51 gelatin silver photographs. All photos: 9x14 cm. A very good photo collection.

This scarce early photograph collection includes the visual documentation of the ruined cities, buildings, and remains of the Olba Kingdom and the Roman Empire around the Cilicia region, today are Mersin and Adana cities. The photographer is not indicated and no captions at all.

The collection focuses on temples, inscriptions (including Greek and Armenian), castles, baths, rock tombs, decorations, reliefs, some geographical features of the region, general views of cities, aqueducts, and many archaeological inventories like Diokaisareia or Diocaesarea (today Uzuncaburç), a part of the Seleucid Empire; Corycus, or Corycos, Korykos (today Kiz Kalesi), an ancient city in Cilicia Trachaea; Mezgitkale, Elaiussa Sebaste, Canbazli ruins, Athena relief, Lamas Aqueduct, Mancinik, and Meydan Castles, etc. These archaeological remnants are located around Mersin and Adana cities in South Anatolia.

The Olba Kingdom was an ancient kingdom in southern Anatolia. It was a vassal of the Seleucid and Roman Empires. The kingdom was a small state situated in Cilicia Trachea, present Mersin and Adana provinces. It was bounded by the Toros Mountains in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the south, the Lamos River in the east, and the river Calycadnus (Göksu) in the west. The archaeologists today call this area Olba Territorium. Its capital was on a plateau named Uguralani, a settlement to the northeast of Uzuncaburç (Diokaisareia).