2,300-year-old scripture found on school’s wall

DATÇA – Demirören News Agency

A scripture dating back 2,300 years was uncovered during road maintenance work in Turkey’s southwestern resort town of Datça.

Okan Özalp, an archeologist, noticed the scripture on the outer wall of a primary school in Datça district of the Muğla province, where he was accompanying the road workers for observations. Experts from the museum in the neighboring district of Marmaris were called to the scene to examine the scripture written in ancient Greek alphabet.

The stone was used in the construction of the outer wall 24 years ago, locals said.

“Most probably it was broken many years ago. It couldn’t be read because the other parts of the scripture are lost. But it is possible to say that it was written on a statue pedestal to honor someone for his service to the city,” Özalp said.

“The exact date of the scripture will be revealed after a detailed examination by the experts at the museum,” he added, estimating that it could be 2,300 years old.

During the Hellenistic period, Carian city of Knidos and a town called Stadia were located on the Datça Peninsula, nowadays Datça district of the Muğla province.