Paslı

Paslı (also Papasly or Papazlı) is the Turkish name of a Roman-era town in the district of Silifke of the Turkish province of Mersin. The ancient name of the small town is not known.

Location

Paslı is situated on a mountain spur above the eastern slope of the Yenibahçe Valley (Turkish Yenibahçe Deresi), which runs from the Mediterranean at Atakent northward into the mountainous landscape, passing the village of Yenibahçe. The distance from Atakent is eleven road kilometres, from the district town Silifke ten kilometres as the crow flies. At the eastern exit of Atakent, a road branches off the coastal road D-400 to the north, which goes via Türkmenuşağı to Paslı and from there further, past the Roman ruins of Tekkadın via Keşlitürkmenli to Uzuncaburç (Olba and Diokaisareia). At the ruin site of Paslı another road branches off, leading to the temple tomb Mezgit Kalesi. On the opposite side of the Yenibahçe gorge lies the ruin complex Barakçıkale.

Description

The remains of the ancient small settlement cover an area of about 150 × 200 metres, on which more than 40 houses are distributed without any recognizable pattern. The oldest of them were built in polygonal blocks with bosses and can be dated to the late Hellenistic period. The newest are built in polygonal masonry and large blocks and date from the Roman imperial period. The small-block work typical of the early Byzantine period does not appear, even though crosses can be seen on some door lintels.

A wall running from west to east, probably late Hellenistic, divides the settlement into two sections. It is built in two layers with a core of stone rubble and clay and has a 1.30 meter wide door. Its purpose is not clarified. The larger part of the settlement lies south of it. At the eastern end of the wall a further wall, running southward, joins, which because of its otherwise unknown technique cannot be dated precisely. It rests on small limestone blocks, on which smooth, partly polygonal slabs are placed. At least since Late Antiquity the two walls formed the protection of the site. A tomb house from the Imperial period is worked into the north‑south wall in the form of a projecting tower. The burial chamber has a ceiling resting on three belt arches, the superstructure may have been dismantled already in Roman times. Some houses usually have bell‑shaped cisterns.

Research History

The first to mention and describe the site were Josef Keil and Adolf Wilhelm in their report on monuments from Rough Cilicia of 1931. Semavi Eyice described Paslı in his essay on Some Byzantine Small Towns in Rough Cilicia in a festschrift for the 150th anniversary of the German Archaeological Institute 1981. Hansgerd Hellenkemper and Friedrich Hild visited the site in 1985.