Herakleia on the Latmos, City and Environment

Our Archaeological guides are written by well-know archaeologists in the hope that they might evoke the spirit of these sites for anyone interested in the remains of Anatolian civilizations. Illustrated with beautiful photographs, equipped with helpful plans and drawings, they are essential resources for travellers in Turkey. 'Who crosses the area of the Maeander, is at his east side threatened by the dark zig zag top of the Latmos, a granite mountain created by eruptions.Inhospitable and poor, this mountain, separated from the thoroughfare by a lake, has always been the most desolate area of the region.In the unparalleled wildness of jumbled rocks, the Latmos is one of the greatest nature experiences a traveller can be granted.' (M. Schede,1936).

In this mountain region, which was so aptly described in his time by M. Schede, in the past years numerous, largely unknown settlement traces have been found, which are decisively characterised by the rock landscape of the Latmos. Mount Latmos was one of the sacred mountains of Anatolia; its top was the residence place of the highest god, the Weather God. Among the numerous recent discoveries the Prehistoric rock paintings with their unique imagery are undoubtedly the most important. In the Karadere Cave, presumably the central sanctuary of the Weather God, even the modern visitor becomes aware of the connection between the rock paintings and the mountain top. Dr. Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat, scientific researcher at the German Archaeological Institute- Berlin (DAI), has been the director of the Latmos Project for more than 20 years.