Sebastopolis: The Roman City Under Sulusaray

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1. What is Sebastopolis?
2. How do you get to Sebastopolis?
3. When is the best time to visit Sebastopolis?
4. What is the history of Sebastopolis?
5. What is Sebastopolis famous for?
6. What can you see at Sebastopolis?
7. Frequently asked questions about Sebastopolis
8. What do the official records say about Sebastopolis?

What is Sebastopolis?

Sebastopolis is the ancient city beneath Sulusaray, a small district town southwest of Tokat. The town has grown over the ruins, so the ancient city is seen in pieces: columns, capitals and sarcophagi set out in an open-air display, mosaics shown under cover, and walls and buildings exposed in excavation trenches.

The 2002 inventory explains the name: Sebastopolis is Latin, from sebasto, great, exalted, majestic, and polis, city, so “the great, majestic city”. Some sources call it Herakleopolis, the city of Herakles, the demigod who stood for strength in Greek and Roman myth, which carries the same meaning.

How do you get to Sebastopolis?

Sulusaray is about 68 km southwest of Tokat. It is reached by road from Tokat, and district minibuses also run from the city. The ruins and displays are in and around the town centre, and the hot spring is just outside it.

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When is the best time to visit Sebastopolis?

Spring and autumn are best for walking around the site. In summer, start early and finish at the thermal spring; in winter the plateau is cold but the spring is at its most welcome. The inventory notes that the spa area offers seasonal guesthouses and camping places.

What is the history of Sebastopolis?

The mound under the town was occupied long before the Roman city. The inventory records pottery showing settlement in the Early Bronze Age (around 3000 BC), the Hittite period (around 2000 BC) and under the Phrygians (around 1000 BC); the finds are in the Tokat Museum.

The city’s foundation is not known exactly. Some sources date it to the 1st century BC. Under the emperor Trajan (98–117) it was separated from the provinces of Pontus Galaticus and Polemoniacus and joined to Cappadocia; an inscription recording this was set up by the city’s leading men and people in honour of Arrian, the governor of Cappadocia.

Rescue and test excavations by the Tokat Museum Directorate in 1987, together with architectural pieces found earlier, showed that the city was an important settlement in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Finds from surface surveys at Comana Pontica, the ancient city near Tokat, closely resemble those from Sebastopolis, which shows that the two were contemporary cities with close ties. The provincial directorate notes that Sebastopolis lay on major Roman trade routes and that only a very small part of it has been uncovered.

What is Sebastopolis famous for?

• Mosaics. About 3 km south of the town, near Ilıca village, a building with a mosaic floor was uncovered; it was probably an Asklepion, a healing sanctuary. The mosaics are displayed in a covered hall in Sulusaray.
• The hot spring. The inventory calls the Sulusaray spring, rising among the ancient ruins, the most important in the province and region, at 55°C.
• The open-air museum. Columns, sarcophagi and other stones from the site are displayed in the town.

What can you see at Sebastopolis?

The excavated city. The inventory records that test trenches revealed the city walls, the remains of a church, a bath, and a health centre with mosaic floors.

The mosaic hall. The floor mosaics from the health building, shown under cover in Sulusaray.

The open-air display. Columns, capitals and sarcophagi set out in the town as an open-air museum.

The spring. The inventory notes that the first analysis of the water was made in 1933, measuring 55°C, and classifies it by its minerals as a salty, sulphate-rich, slightly bitter water used for rheumatic complaints. Modern facilities were built after 1962, with pools and private baths. The inventory adds that, under a specialist doctor’s supervision, the water was expected to be useful for rehabilitation and for metabolic, liver, gall-bladder, kidney, stomach, intestinal and gynaecological complaints.

Finds in Tokat. The Bronze Age, Hittite and Phrygian pottery from the mound, and other finds from the site, are in the Tokat Museum in the Arastalı Bedesten. Visiting the museum before or after Sulusaray makes the scattered remains much easier to read.

The landscape. Sulusaray sits on an open upland of fields; the remains are scattered through the town rather than fenced into one site.

Frequently asked questions about Sebastopolis

What do the official records say about Sebastopolis?

Sulusaray is 68 km southwest of Tokat. It has been established from the terracotta works brought to light in excavations that the mound was settled in the Early Bronze Age around 3000 BC, in the Hittite period around 2000 BC and in the time of the Phrygians around 1000 BC; these works are exhibited in the Tokat Museum. In addition, test excavations in the ancient city established the existence of the city walls, the remains of a church, a bath and a health centre whose floor was covered with mosaics. These mosaics are exhibited in a closed hall in Sulusaray. Columns, sarcophagi and other works found here are also displayed in the district in the form of an open-air museum. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Tokat Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)