Turkey’s ancient landscape is dotted with remarkable ruins that span millennia of human civilization, from Hittite strongholds to Roman provincial capitals. Many of these archaeological wonders remain off the typical tourist trail, offering visitors a chance to explore history without the crowds. These forgotten cities stand as silent witnesses to once-thriving societies, their weathered stones and crumbled columns telling stories that transport visitors back in time.
Here is a list of 20 forgotten ancient cities in Turkey that will make you feel like you’ve stepped onto a real-life movie set.
Aphrodisias
Dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, this ancient city boasts some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in Turkey, including a stunning stadium that once held 30,000 spectators. The site’s remarkable marble sculptures showcase the extraordinary craftsmanship of the Aphrodisian sculptors who were famous throughout the Roman Empire.
Visitors can wander through the well-preserved Tetrapylon, the temple of Aphrodite, and the impressive baths complex while imagining the city in its 1st century BCE heyday.
Sagalassos
Perched high in the Western Taurus Mountains at 5,250 feet above sea level, Sagalassos offers breathtaking panoramic views alongside its magnificent ruins. Its remote mountain location helped preserve this Pisidian city from looting and destruction that befell many other ancient sites.
The centerpiece is the remarkably intact Antonine Fountain, whose restored facade now flows with water just as it did nearly 1,800 years ago.
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Laodikeia
Situated near modern-day Denizli, Laodikeia was once a wealthy commercial center mentioned in the Bible’s Book of Revelation as one of the Seven Churches of Asia. The city’s extensive ruins include massive theaters, temples, a stadium, and a complex water distribution system demonstrating Roman engineering prowess.
Recent excavations have uncovered an ancient church believed to be one of the earliest in Anatolia, providing crucial insights into early Christian architecture.
Aizanoi
Aizanoi is home to one of the best-preserved Roman temples in Turkey. The magnificent Temple of Zeus remains almost completely intact after nearly 2,000 years. The city’s unusual stadium-theater complex combines two distinct entertainment venues into a single structure unique to the ancient world.
Visitors can also examine the remains of a macellum (market building), where archaeologists discovered the ancient world’s first known price edict, establishing maximum prices for goods throughout the Roman Empire.
Priene
Built on a series of terraces against Mount Mycale, Priene represents one of the finest examples of Hellenistic city planning, with its grid-patterned streets and rational urban layout. Alexander the Great personally financed the city’s Temple of Athena, whose name was inscribed on one of its columns.
Priene’s remarkably well-preserved theater offers architectural splendor and acoustics so perfect that modern visitors can hear a whisper from the stage while standing in the top row.
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Patara
As the birthplace of St. Nicholas (the original Santa Claus), Patara combines historical significance with one of Turkey’s longest and most beautiful beaches. The city served as the major port for the Lycian League and features the world’s oldest discovered lighthouse alongside a remarkably preserved multi-tiered parliament building.
Recent excavations have uncovered an ancient mail delivery system and the main avenue lined with shops that once buzzed with commercial activity from ships across the Mediterranean.
Sardis
Once the capital of the wealthy Lydian Empire, where King Croesus first minted standardized gold coins, Sardis features an impressive array of ruins spanning multiple civilizations. The massive Temple of Artemis is one of the largest Ionic temples ever constructed in the ancient world.
The city’s restored gymnasium complex and magnificent synagogue, with intricate mosaic floors, demonstrate how Roman and Jewish cultures coexisted in this cosmopolitan center.
Perge
Famous for its exceptionally complete stadium and dramatic theater, Perge flourished as a major city in Pamphylia during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Its colonnaded main street features an innovative central water channel with cascading pools, which provides practical water distribution and cooling aesthetics during hot summers.
Statues discovered at Perge, many depicting Greek gods and emperors in exquisite detail, now form the centerpiece collection of Antalya’s archaeological museum.
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Ani
Standing hauntingly empty on Turkey’s eastern border with Armenia, Ani was once known as ‘The City of 1,001 Churches’ and served as the magnificent capital of the medieval Armenian Kingdom. Its red and black volcanic stone churches and cathedrals showcase a stunning architectural style that influenced building design throughout the region.
Visitors today can wander through the windswept ruins overlooking a dramatic gorge, where only the ghostly outlines of streets and buildings hint at a city that once housed over 100,000 residents.
Olympos
Nestled in a secluded valley where mountains meet the Mediterranean, Olympos offers an unusual combination of ancient ruins interspersed among lush forests and stunning beach landscapes. The city was notorious as a base for pirates before being conquered by the Romans, who left behind temples, baths, and tombs now partially reclaimed by nature.
Nearby eternal flames known as the Chimaera, where natural gas seeps from the mountain and spontaneously ignites, likely inspired ancient Greek myths and continue to burn today just as they did thousands of years ago.
Termessos
Perched dramatically at 3,400 feet within Güllük Mountain National Park, Termessos was never conquered due to its nearly impregnable mountain location that even Alexander the Great deemed too difficult to attack. Its remarkably preserved theater clings to a steep mountainside, offering spectacular views across the Mediterranean coastline while creating a vertigo-inducing seating arrangement for ancient audiences.
The necropolis features massive sarcophagi scattered across the mountainside, many still in the exact positions where they were toppled by earthquakes centuries ago.
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Nysa
Built across three hills connected by bridges, Nysa features an unusual split-level design that creates one of the ancient world’s most dramatically situated theaters. The city was an important educational center specializing in medicine and was the hometown of the renowned geographer Strabo, who described the region in detail.
Visitors can still see the remains of a unique library complex and a well-preserved gymnasium where students once combined physical and intellectual education.
Stratonikeia
Known as the ‘City of Gladiators’ due to the high number of gladiator tombstones discovered there, Stratonikeia offers the unique experience of ancient ruins interspersed with an abandoned 19th-century Ottoman village. The site features an impressive gymnasium with a capacity of 12,000 people and one of the largest ancient theaters in Anatolia.
Unlike many ancient cities, Stratonikeia remained continuously inhabited from the Hellenistic period through the Ottoman era until the 20th century, creating an archaeological site that spans over 2,000 years of continuous settlement.
Knidos
Set on a stunning peninsula where the Aegean and Mediterranean seas meet, Knidos was famous throughout the ancient world for housing the first nude statue of Aphrodite, created by the celebrated sculptor Praxiteles. The city’s unique double harbor allowed it to control maritime traffic, generating immense wealth that funded magnificent public buildings and temples.
Excavations have revealed a circular temple to Aphrodite, multiple theaters built to capture sea views and a medical school where Hippocratic physicians practiced and taught.
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Letoon
As the religious sanctuary for nearby Xanthos, Letoon contains three temples dedicated to Leto and her divine twins Apollo and Artemis, forming one of antiquity’s most important religious complexes. Excavations uncovered a remarkable trilingual inscription in Lycian, Greek, and Aramaic that proved crucial for deciphering the mysterious Lycian language.
The site’s sacred spring, which still bubbles up today, was believed to have healing powers and formed the center of religious ceremonies for centuries.
Kaunos
Kaunos feature rock-cut tombs carved into cliff faces resembling temple facades above the ancient harbor on the border between ancient Lycia and Caria. The 5,000-seat theater offers spectacular views over the silted-up harbor, which once connected Kaunos to the Mediterranean but now forms the Dalyan Delta’s reed-filled wetlands.
Visitors can also explore an unusually well-preserved measuring table from the marketplace, where officials once verified standard weights to prevent merchant fraud.
Tlos
Perched dramatically on a rocky outcrop in the Xanthos Valley, Tlos contains an acropolis crowned with a crusader castle built atop earlier Lycian and Roman structures, creating a fascinating archaeological layer cake. The city’s rock-cut tombs include the famous ‘Tomb of Bellerophon,’ featuring a relief of the mythical hero riding Pegasus while fighting the Chimera.
Massive Roman baths and a surprisingly large theater demonstrate how this seemingly remote mountain city maintained sophisticated urban amenities deep in Lycia’s rugged interior.
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Arycanda
Built on five massive terraces carved into a mountainside, Arycanda has been called ‘Turkey’s Machu Picchu’ for its dramatic setting and remarkable state of preservation. The city features distinct districts for athletics, governance, and commerce, all connected by monumental staircases that create one of antiquity’s most impressive examples of adapting urban planning to challenging terrain.
Historical records suggest Arycanda’s citizens were notorious for their extravagant lifestyle and love of celebrations, evidenced by the city’s unusually large baths, stadium, and theater relative to its population.
Laodicea ad Lycum
Situated at the crossroads of major trade routes, Laodicea grew enormously wealthy from its textile industry, particularly its soft black wool from specially bred sheep found only in this region. The city was home to an important medical school that developed revolutionary eye salve treatments, which are mentioned in the Bible’s Book of Revelation.
Recent excavations have uncovered one of the ancient world’s largest water distribution terminals, featuring massive stone pipes that supplied the entire city with fresh water from mountains over five miles away.
Hierapolis
Built atop the spectacular white travertine terraces of Pamukkale, Hierapolis was renowned as a healing center where thousands visited the mineral-rich thermal springs believed to cure various ailments. The city’s necropolis, with over 1,200 tombs ranging from simple sarcophagi to elaborate family mausoleums, stands as one of the Mediterranean’s largest and best-preserved ancient cemeteries.
Visitors can still bathe in the mineral-rich Antique Pool among toppled marble columns, swimming in the same healing waters that attracted Roman emperors and ancient celebrities.
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Timeless Witnesses to Human Ingenuity
These forgotten cities remind us that history isn’t confined to museums and textbooks but exists in physical spaces where we can walk the same streets as people who lived thousands of years ago. Each site represents architectural accomplishments and communities with hopes, struggles, and daily lives not so different from our own.
As modern visitors explore these remarkable ruins, they become part of an unbroken human chain connecting past civilizations to present-day observers, all wandering among the same stones in shared wonder.
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