Byzantine Era

330 CE – 1453 CE · 50 sites

All sites in this period

Troy

3000 BCE – 500 CE

The legendary city of Homer's Iliad, located at Hisarlık in northwestern Türkiye. Multiple settlement layers spanning over 4,000 years make it one of the most storied archaeological sites in the world.

Iron AgeClassicalRoman

The domed exterior of Hagia Sophia with its Ottoman minarets, Istanbul, Turkey

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Country Record

Oldest Monument in Türkiye

Hagia Sophia

532 CE – 1453 CE

The supreme achievement of Byzantine architecture — a vast domed basilica built by the emperor Justinian in Constantinople in just five years and completed in 537 CE, its 31-metre dome seeming to float on a ring of windows. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest enclosed space and greatest cathedral in the Christian world, before becoming a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.

Late AntiqueByzantineOttoman

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Ephesus

1000 BCE – 700 CE

One of the greatest cities of the ancient Mediterranean world. Home to the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders), the Library of Celsus, and a theatre seating 25,000.

RomanClassicalHellenistic

Country Record

Oldest Complex in Türkiye

Derinkuyu

800 BCE – 1923 CE

The deepest known underground city in the world, extending 85 meters below the surface with 18 levels. It could shelter approximately 20,000 people along with livestock and food stores.

Iron AgeClassicalByzantine

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Ani

500 CE – 1400 CE

A medieval Armenian capital on the Turkish-Armenian border, once home to over 100,000 people. Its ruins include magnificent churches, mosques, and fortifications spanning centuries of multicultural history.

ByzantineMedieval

Panoramic view of ancient Antakya from the hills

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Antioch (Antakya)

300 BCE – 1268 CE

One of the four great cities of the ancient world and a cradle of early Christianity. Antioch's extraordinary mosaics rival those of Pompeii, and its layered history spans Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic civilizations.

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

Pergamon

800 BCE – 700 CE

A major Hellenistic capital perched on a dramatic acropolis, renowned for its Great Altar, its library rivaling Alexandria, and the Asclepion healing center.

RomanClassicalHellenistic

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Bursa

200 BCE – 1400 CE

The first capital of the Ottoman Empire, where the dynasty's founding sultans are buried, home to the Green Mosque and Ulu Cami, and gateway to Mount Olympus of Mysia (Uludağ).

HellenisticRomanByzantine

The colonnaded Oval Forum at Jerash (Gerasa), Jordan

Country Record

Longest Continuously Occupied Site in Jordan

Jerash

170 BCE – 749 CE

One of the best-preserved Roman provincial cities anywhere — a Greco-Roman town in the hills of northern Jordan with a colonnaded main street, a unique oval forum ringed by columns, two grand theatres, hilltop temples to Zeus and Artemis, and triumphal arches, all buried by earthquake and sand and recovered in remarkable completeness.

HellenisticRomanByzantine

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Hierapolis

190 BCE – 1354 CE

A Greco-Roman spa city perched above the famous white travertine terraces of Pamukkale. One of the best-preserved ancient cities in Turkey, with a vast necropolis, theatre, and the Plutonium — a gate to the underworld.

HellenisticRomanByzantine

The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon with its 13th-century Byzantine frescoes

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Trabzon (Trapezus)

756 BCE – 1461 CE

Capital of the Empire of Trebizond — the last Greek empire to fall to the Ottomans — home to a stunning Hagia Sophia church and a 2,700-year history as the gateway between the Mediterranean and the Silk Road.

ClassicalRomanByzantine

The Roman Agora of Smyrna with reconstructed colonnade in modern İzmir

Smyrna (İzmir)

3000 BCE – 700 CE

One of the great cities of the ancient Aegean world — claimant to being Homer's birthplace, one of the Seven Churches of Revelation, and home to a spectacular Roman agora excavated in the heart of modern İzmir.

Bronze AgeClassicalHellenistic