Aslantaş ve Yılantaş

Aslantaş (also Arslantaş, Turkish lion stone) and Yılantaş (snake stone) are two Phrygian rock-cut chamber tombs in the Phrygian Valley, about 40 kilometres north of Afyon in the district of İhsaniye of the Central Turkish province of Afyonkarahisar.

Aslantaş was discovered in 1882 by the Scottish archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay. It is carved into a ten‑metre‑high rock block. The burial chamber is located at mid‑height, guarded on both sides by two standing lion figures. At the level of the chamber there are two further, smaller, lying lion figures, which are difficult to discern because of their poor state of preservation. The Turkish archaeologist Ekrem Akurgal recognises Ionic influences in them and therefore dates the monument to the 6th century BC.

A few hundred metres away lies Yılantaş, a collapsed example of the same type. The name derives from the fact that the local farmers took the fallen lion paws for snake representations.

Not far away lies the also Phrygian cult façade Maltaş