Ancient town of Stratonikeia is a gem waiting to be discovered in the Muğla region of Turkey on the road to Yatağan. It comprises of an ancient site with artefacts from Hellenistic, Roman, Hittite and other eras and an old Turkish village. The village is still home to a few families who greet the visitors and offer gozleme( a hot snack similar to a burrito) and tea. The houses are mostly ramshackle stone buildings. The exact time of when they were built is unknown. There is also Turkish baths dating back to the 15th or 14th centuries and an unusual mosque from the 19th century, both restored. The ancient sites include the largest gymnasium in Anatolia, a theater, a shrine, a Roman bouleuterion( where city political meetings took place). The walls of the bouleuterion were used to display the prices of goods coming into the town in ancient times. You can also find remnants of hammams, agoras, city gates, fountains and cemeteries. The name Stratonikeia comes from the wife of the Syrian king Seleukhos who lived in the 2nd century BC. The city was known as the city of gladiators due to the its large gymnasium.

This is one of the few places in Turkey where ancient and more recent remains of settlements are found simultaneously.



