Archaeologists have uncovered a wall nearly 250 metres long around the North Temple at Blaundos, the ancient Greek city in Uşak’s Ulubey district in western Türkiye.
The team dates the wall to the Hellenistic period, earlier than the temple itself, which is about 1,900 years old. Documented at the end of September 2026, it is the temenos wall that enclosed the sanctuary. Excavators also found water lines that supplied the temple, and Roman coins in the temple area, linked to offerings left in the foundations.
Blaundos stands on a hill above the Ulubey Canyon, with deep valleys on three sides and a single entrance from the north. It was founded by Macedonians who settled there after Alexander the Great’s campaign in Anatolia, and the inhabitants later called themselves Macedonian Blaundians. The site is often described as a garrison city.
Four hundred rock-cut tombs
The same city is already known for a large necropolis. Turkish archaeologists led by Birol Can of Uşak University have documented about 400 rock-cut chamber tombs in the canyon slopes. Reported in 2021, the tombs were used intensively from the second century AD as family graves. Many have several rooms, arched sarcophagi and wall paintings of vines, grapes, flowers and mythological figures, including Hermes, Eros and Medusa.
Together, the temple wall and the tombs trace how a Hellenistic Greek foundation later grew into a Roman city, with a fortified sanctuary at the entrance and one of the region’s largest rock-cut burial grounds below it.
Related Turkish archaeologists discover 400 tombs from Ancient Greek city of Blaundus
