Here’s what you’ll learn as you read this story:
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Excavations of the ancient city of Juliopolis have revealed evidence that it was an important power-centre for centuries.
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The city, located in modern Turkey, is now mostly submerged beneath the dam’s reservoir.
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Recent archaeological finds at Juliopolis include evidence of wine production in an ancient mountain monastery.
A little more than 2,000 years ago, in what is now western Turkey, a robber king named Cleon named the city of his birth Juliopolis in honor of his new friend, Gaius Julius Caesar, who shortly thereafter became Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire. Cleon treacherously switched sides to help Augustus defeat his arch-rivals Antony and Cleopatra in a massive civil war that divided Rome at the height of its power. Being on the right side of history, a small act of flattery would prove effective when the robber-king named his city Juliopolis, as the once modest city prospered and became a powerful urban center for centuries afterward.
Today, most of the old city of Juliopolis is submerged beneath a reservoir built in the late 1950s by the Turkish government’s Sariyar Dam project. Yet in recent years, archaeological discoveries have consistently revealed that Juliopolis was a major power player in the region during the Roman and early Byzantine eras, a period spanning from the 4th century to the 9th century AD.
In a new study published in Journal of Management and Economic Studies, A team from Turkey’s Karabuk University and the Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilization analyzed structures and artifacts excavated from Juliopolis between 2009 and 2025. Together, the findings paint a picture of the now-submerged ancient city as a strategically powerful nerve center.
“Collectively, these findings confirm that Juliopolis was a thriving city characterized by local production, extensive trade, and powerful religious authority,” the authors wrote, “and that it was strategically located on an important transportation route.”
The most prominent discoveries came in 2022, when archaeologists discovered the city’s mortar and stone larder. The larder—a cold storage area—shows the organized storage of liquid food, reflecting the focus of the local economy on agriculture. A cross on one of the five large clay pithoi jars – they were preserved on the floor of the larder and hadn’t moved for over 1,000 years, at one point storing grain, olive oil, or wine – shows the different relationship between the vineyard of the local church monastery and the produce of the city. The larder complex may also belong to a church, the study authors hypothesized.
“The use of pithoi “suggests that the city was self-sufficient in grain-raising and other agricultural products to store liquid foodstuffs,” the authors wrote, adding that “the religious structure of the city was at the center of social and economic life.” Notably, Juliopolis was the seat of a Christian bishop throughout the Byzantine period. Located on a historically valuable pilgrimage road connecting Iznik and Ankara, the city’s industrial-scale agricultural production, especially tannery and grain cultivation, was likely part of its trade economy.
Along with Pithoi, excavations uncovered African red slip ware ceramics, evidence that Juliopolis was integrated into the Mediterranean trade network for luxury goods, similar to Ankara and the surrounding major cities. Researchers believe that Juliopolis may have had its own skilled craftsmen, with recent finds including the remains of a spindle whorl and an iron axe.
Chemical analysis of hair samples from the necropolis shows compounds found in red wine and others related to mint, ginger, and watermelon, providing evidence that the diet of the people of Juliopolis corresponded to that of high-class cities.
The inhabitants of Juliopolis were apt to recycle the city’s Roman-era remains, from marble columns to altars, for its new status under Byzantine rule. “Such use of materials may be due to both economic necessity and a desire to remove remnants of an old belief system,” the authors wrote.
One of the best examples of reuse was a dolphin-shaped bronze handle from a Roman-era ceremonial piece for liquid offerings to pagan gods. The dolphin was found in a larder, which had been repurposed for the more common practice of transferring goods from one vessel to another.
“Although Juliopolis is described as a small and unremarkable city, its geographical location and its function on a main Roman road allowed it to retain its importance throughout history,” the authors wrote. “The city was not merely a military or transportation post, but rather an important center where religious institutions organized economic life, local production and crafts were active, trade relations with distant regions were established, and a complex social structure sustained advanced urban life.”
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