Ürgüp- Sobessos Antique City

Ürgüp- Sobessos Antique City

Sobessos antique city is situated on the Ürgüp-Soganli Road, 30 km from Ürgüp, in the village of Sahinefendi. Excavations uncovered a meeting hall and both complex. The meeting hall is about 400 square meters and  consists of three rooms. One of the rooms contains a grave and another is filled with mosaics. The main room is supported by columns, the floor is covered Smith mosaics and the walls are plastered. It is estimated that. the building was constructed during the middle of the 4th century or in the 5th century AD.
The floor of the mosaic room, which is covered with numerous colored stones, has bee completely cleaned. The patterns are geometrical, with swastika, meander and cross shapes that are made in the forms of hair braid. An open-air chapel was constructed on the top of the meeting hall near the east room. It was coarsely built with materials that were supplied from the main hall. Based on the date of a coin that was found during excavation, the chapel is estimated to be from the middle of the 6th century. Third meters north of the building a bath complex with mosaics, a caladium (steam room) and a large section of the cistern that was supported by a semi-circular wall were excavated. It is apparent that the apoditorium had been covered with a ”barrel-vault” roof and was damaged by fire. The bath was built with a hypocaust (hot air heating) system. The floor, with only its hexagon marble remaining, also was uncovered. It had round terracotta ”tondos” supporting it. This building which belonged to the Late Roman Period, was renovated for functional purposes during the Early Christian Period.