AncientPages.com - A 1,700-year-old Roman-era underground Mithras temple has been discovered at the at the Zerzevan Castle located in Diyarbakır's Çınar district of Turkey.
Earlier, archaeologists also unearthed an underground church, an underground shelter that could accommodate 400 people, ruins of ancient homes, secret passages, grain and weapon storage facilities and water channels.
The vast space where the temple is located also includes a church building, administrative buildings, ruins of ancient homes, grain and weapon storage facilities, an underground temple, underground shelters, rock tombs and water channels. Image via Daily Sabah (Anadolu Agency (AA))
Ancient city of Diyarbakır has a great history because this was a place of a fusion of several different cultures of Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and Arabs have lived together for millennia.
The Zerzevan Castle - located on a 124-meter-high rocky hill - once served as military premises, is situated on a 55,200-square-meter area surrounded with walls stretching 12 to 15 meters high and 1,200 meters long, along with a 21-meter high watchtower and guard castle. The castle walls that witnessed the clashes between Romans and Sassanians, were repaired at the time of Anastasios (491-518 A.D.) and Justinianos (527-565 A.D.) and some parts have been completely reconstructed.
The recent discovery is a temple belonging to the Mithras religion, which was lost after the adoption of Christianity in the fourth century, has also been unearthed.
Diyarbakir - ancient city walls
Archaeologists believe that the temple is the only Mithras temple on the eastern border of the Roman Empire and is, therefore, of crucial importance. Assistant professor Aytaç Coşkun, a faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at Dicle University, said that the religion of Mithras was a religion of mystery widely popular among Roman soldiers.
"The followers of this religion are from a closed community because their religious ceremonies are completely secret and no information was leaked to outsiders. Mithras represents both the sun god and also "consensus."
"Their temples were usually built underground. There are three niches on the eastern part of the temple. A very thoroughly constructed one is in the water basin. There is also a pool. We believe water was very widely used in Mithras ceremonies and about 40 people attended ceremonies held here," Coşkun explained.
With the arrival of Christianity, the religion of Mithras lost its importance and the recently discovered temple is from the peak times of this religion. The temple - rather small because these structures were usually built underground - is 35 square-meters wide and reaches a height of 2.5 meters.
"The excavations at the castle are important for shedding light on the ancient Roman area and will have a tremendous impact on the history and tourism in the region, archaeologists say.
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