The Roman villa features remarkably preserved mosaics that offer new clues about the city’s life and history. (AA photo)
Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Adramytteion, nestled in the northwestern province of Balıkesir’s Burhaniye district, have uncovered a Roman villa with remarkably preserved mosaics that offer new clues about the city’s domestic life, trade networks and cultural history.
Excavations at Adramytteion have been ongoing since 2012 under the direction of the Kuva-yı Milliye Museum in Balıkesir with permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry and scientific supervision by Hüseyin Murat Özgen, head of the Adramytteion Research Team at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University’s Department of Archaeology.
Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Özgen said excavations were being carried out in two campaigns across an area of around 9,000 square meters in the Ören neighborhood.
Test excavations revealed multilayered cultural deposits, while the second campaign uncovered one of the city’s Roman-era residential areas.
The structure features a central area known as an atrium, surrounded by three large halls. The halls were decorated with mosaic floors, frescoed walls and figurative and geometric motifs.
The northern hall contains 15 panels featuring various birds, a fish and a winged horse. The winged horse was also depicted on coins minted in Adramytteion in the fourth century B.C.
“It is particularly significant that the winged horse appears as an element representing the city in a Roman-era structure around 500 years after the motif was used on coins,” Özgen said.
Pet names preserved in mosaics
The mosaics also feature depictions of cats and dogs, with their names incorporated into inscriptions.
According to Özgen, the cat is depicted with a name meaning “Emerald,” while the dog is named “Okyanos.” He said these details could help researchers draw conclusions about the villa’s owner.
The mosaics also contain Medusa and Gorgon figures, as well as pygmy figures attacking birds. Özgen noted that pygmy motifs are particularly associated with the North African mosaic tradition.
“Adramytteion was a trading city open to the eastern Mediterranean basin through its two ports. This raises the possibility that the structure may have belonged to a merchant with connections to North Africa,” he said.
Decorative elements and finds in the eastern hall indicate that the structure was in use during the second century A.D. and continued to be used in later periods.
Following the destruction of the Roman-era structure, a new hall was added south of the central hall in the fourth or fifth century A.D. This section features geometric and figurative decorative motifs characteristic of the period.
Archaeologists also identified the foundations of a large Hellenistic-period structure on the same plot. Özgen said these foundations were reused during the Roman period, indicating continuity at the site.
“The finds clearly demonstrate the presence of a sophisticated Roman residence here, together with wet rooms and drainage systems,” he said.
Technical infrastructure within the residence also stands out, with archaeologists documenting drainage systems, terracotta pipe networks and infrastructure connected to wet rooms.
Özgen said the excavations were helping researchers understand not only the architectural features of the residence but also daily life in the ancient city, its commercial connections and cultural continuity between different periods.
