Hellenistic-Roman City Fortifications in Asia Minor

The East Gate of Side is part of an elaborate fortification system, consisting of a land wall, a sea wall, the Main Gate and the East Gate. The construction at first appears to have been conceived in a very unified and compact fashion, so that its dating to the Hellenistic period, determined by its first excavator, Arif Müfid Mansel, was never doubted by subsequent scholars. The Institute for Archaeology of the University of Graz, under the on-site direction by the project applicant, has carried out excavations at the East Gate of Side since 2011. The results of the excavations have shown that the dating proposed by Mansel for the visible gate structure cannot be supported; instead, a construction date in the Augustan period, at the latest, must be reckoned with. The later dating to the Roman period thus requires a revised opinion of the entire fortification system of Side. Whether the entire defensive system was constructed at the same time needs to be examined. Furthermore, the processing of the stratigraphic excavations at the East Gate, as well as the working out of the history of usage of the East Gate with regard to the urban history of Side, will also constitute important research goals. An additional point of emphasis is the integration of the East Gate into the sequence of known Hoftore, and, subsequently, the creation of a revised chronology and typology of the so-called Hellenistic Hoftore and later developments. Remarkable in is the transformation in the usage of the gate, which apparently mutated from being a structure in the public realm to a building for private usage. Precisely how this transformation should be evaluated with regard to an alteration in the entire urban fabric, and the consequences that arose thereby, also form part of the research investigation. The presentation of the findings should also be able to be incorporated as a basis for further, in-depth research for the neighbouring sites in the region as well. The significance of the East Gate beyond Side itself lies in the fact that, by means of the identification of a precise chronology and of the individual building phases, it will be possible to evaluate the position of the Gate within the architectural landscape of Asia Minor. This set of questions will be pursued by means of the treatment of the excavation finds, a detailed building analysis and the processing of the finds in cooperation with specialists for small finds and coins.

Hellenistic-Roman City Fortifications in Asia Minor. Trends of development and function change in view of stratigraphic evidence at the East Gate of Side Ute Lohner -Urban The East Gate of Side in the southern part of Turkey is part of an elaborate fortification system, which consists of a land wall, a sea wall, the Main Gate and the East Gate. It is a monumental city gate - a courtyard gate according to the common terminology, of which the walls and vaults have been preserved up to a height of 6-10 m. For that reason it was very appropriate to make a 3D model and to digitize the walls and vaults with structure from motion. The construction at first appears to have been conceived in a very unified and compact fa shion and has been compared to monumental courtyard gates from the Classical-Hellenistic period, so that its dating to the Hellenistic period, determined by its first excavator, Arif Müfid Mansel, was never doubted by subsequent scholars. The archaeologica l investigations on the fortification system of Side have been ongoing since 2011. Excavations at the eastern city gate or East Gate and the landwall of Side did not reveal any evidence of a Hellenistic dating. After a precise evaluation of the finds, a construction can be expected from the 1st century AD. This means that the construction of the landwall and the East Gate are directly related to the expansion of the city of Side during the Flavian period. This is also indicated by the use of arched architecture, vaults and the use of cornices to structure the facade, which are reflected in late Republican and early imperial architecture in Italy. According to its urbanistic context the further importance of the East Gate is finally manifested in the monumental rebuilding work of the building-complex during the 4th / 5th c. AD. This process can be associated with the construction of the episcopal palace of Side, with which the East Gate also forms an orthogonal ensemble. The processing of the so-called Cypriot Sigillata, which emerged in a representative amount during the excavations, was essential for the initial dating of the building complex. Frequently occurring vessel shapes could be subdivided according to different fabrics. Since these ceramic fragments could be assigned to the stratigraphic units, the building complex was initially dated to the 1st century AD.