I have never been a fan of the reconstruction of ancient cities, for me much of their history is not just in the ruins themselves but in the earthquakes, battles and other disasters that have befallen these sites. The mysteries hidden in the ruins, the broken fragments of times gone by. For example, the column that once stood so majestically at the temple of Apollo in Didyma, now lays in an aesthetic, concertinaed pattern behind the sanctuary. One can almost feel the earth shaking and imagine the mighty columns swaying before they fell. You can almost hear the reverberating, thunderous noise they made as they toppled to earth. It must have been a terrifying experience, had anyone witnessed it. The ruins tell their own story, so I believe it would be a travesty to reconstruct them and to destroy this part of their history.

I visited Stratonikea, with trepidation. I had heard a variety of opinions from some of my friends who share my interest in archaeology. So, what would the city of eternal love and gladiators hold for me?

My first feeling was one of delight and pleasure as we walked on the cobblestoned streets through the old Ottoman village square, Eskihisar, with-its newly built Saban Aga mosque, coffee houses, and shops, including a bakery, tailors, blacksmiths to name a few. The 200-year-old sycamore trees add to the atmosphere of the village. Some of the agha houses (1876 -1940) were being restored and rebuilt in a sympathetic style to echo the feeling of a bygone era.

I was in awe of the artistry of the stonework and at how the new buildings reflected the old. I understood the restoration as the village is still inhabited, in fact what makes Stratonikea unique is that it has been continuously inhabited for centuries. According to Strabo, Stratonikea, was an important city in ancient Caria and was founded in 281-261 BCE.

The legacy for the future project

There is much ongoing work being carried out in the city, excavations and restoration, my friends who visit every year commented about how much has changed.

The first sight upon entering the city itself is the Roman bath complex. The columns stand with new white marble sections between the original grey ones, my first thought was it looked as if it had been bandaged up to hold it all together. This marble city was one of the biggest in its heyday, how wonderful it must have looked with gleaming white marble columns, although it looks wrong now in time it will fade.

The Roman baths themselves have been excavated and renovated, and the pool refilled, using its original water channel, with the water flowing for the first time in 1,900 years, displaying the engineering skills of the ancient world.

The Byzantine church with its intricate coloured marble floor that has also been excavated and reconstructed really caught my attention. I had not seen a floor like this on any other site I had visited in recent years. It had a variety of colours and patterns divided into squares, some made up of octagonal shaped tiles, others with squares used to form various designs.

I had tried to ignore the mirrors, but as they were strewn around the entire site, it wasn’t possible, I consider them to be completely ill-fitting, why a mirror in an ancient city? The fact they advertise a luxury resort some 1.5 hours drive makes it all even more ridiculous. It's sacrilege, I certainly would not book a room in a hotel that thinks it is OK to use an ancient city as an advertising campaign, whatever next, billboards on the columns?

The gymnasium was the largest ever built in antiquity, showing its dedication to sports. So far, there is no restoration work being done here. This was also the city where the gladiators trained, did demonstrations and spent their lives after retirement. 12 gladiator graves 3,500 years old were unearthed during excavations and are being exhibited as you enter the city. The team working on the project even discovered what their names were!

I was delighted when my friend showed me a mosaic floor towards the back of the site. It looked quite well-preserved, with intricate patterns consisting of tiny pieces of coloured stone. We suspected there were others covered for preservation; it would be wonderful to see them too.

This was a city that had so many surprises that despite some of the unsympathetic restoration and the mirrors, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt as if I was walking through an historical time tunnel of civilisations, there were also inscriptions in Greek, Latin, and Ottoman. A living, breathing city with many wonderful layers to it.