An archaeologist's model brings history to life
By Simon de Bruxelles. The Times, Wednesday October 16, 2002
A LOST city described by the Greek historian Herodotus has been identified by a British archaeologist in central Turkey.
Geoffrey Summers has identified the vast mountain site as Pteria, the western capital of the Medes. The discovery may finally end the debate among scholars about the veracity of Herodotus’ account.
Dr Summers’s work has provided the first concrete evidence of the long-forgotten Medean empire. Using the latest archaeological surveying techniques and computer graphics Dr Summers and his team have begun to reconstruct a “virtual reality” model of the ancient city which, according to Herodotus, was looted and burnt to the ground by the army of the Lydian King Croesus.
In 1975, Dr Summers, 52, became fascinated by the fortified iron age city on the side of a granite mountain called Kerkenes Dag. The 2.5 sq km site is still surrounded by a 7km defensive wall with seven gates that can be seen from space.
Beneath a 2,600-year-old shroud of soil everything is exactly as it was left when the inhabitants of Pteria were reputedly marched off into slavery. Because of the size of the site, conventional archaeological techniques could provide only limited information about the development of the city which, in its heyday in the fifth century BC, was home to 10,000 to 20,000 people.
Dr Summers and his wife Françoise have spent the past ten years surveying the site using everything from aerial photography from a hot air balloon to ground-penetrating radar and GPS to map the ancient structures to an accuracy of 10cm. It is the first time such a large archaeological site in Turkey has been mapped in such detail.
It was evidence of a great fire that convinced Mr Summers that he had found Pteria, the western capital of the Medes, who emerged from Ancient Persia in the sixth century BC to occupy what is now Eastern Anatolia.
Although there are a few references to the Medes in later Greek and Assyrian records, there is little contemporary evidence of their existence, although the Kurds are widely thought to be their modern descendants. According to Herodotus, the war between the Medes and the Lydians culminated in the Battle of the Eclipse. As the battle raged, an eclipse blacked out the sun and the combatants laid down their arms and withdrew. The eclipse has allowed the battle to be dated to May 28, 585BC, when the city surveyed by Mr Summers would have been at its height.
Within a generation Pteria had been sacked by Croesus and the site abandoned and forgotten. Dr Summers has uncovered evidence that it was looted and its fortifications toppled to prevent it being re-occupied. The archaeological account ties in precisely with that of Herodotus.
Dr Summers said: “At the time we began studying the site there was a view that Herodotus’ account was at best inaccurate or at worst made up. There were even doubts about the Medean empire itself.
“Archaeologically, we know nothing about the Medes. This project puts them on the map and it supports Herodotus’ accounts.”
Dr Summers, who was born in London but has taught at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara for 18 years, said: “The size and complexity of the city are astonishing. It was built when the Greek city states were colonising the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, so it fills a gap in the history of city planning.”
This week Dr Summers became the only British recipient of the bi-annual Rolex Awards for Enterprise. He will be presented with a cheque for $35,000 (£22,500) at a ceremony at the Royal Insitution in London on November 6. Dr Summers will use the money to rebuild the city’s main gates, which stand 5m high, and to excavate more of the palace complex. Norman Hammond, The Times archaeological correspondent, said Dr Summers’ identification of the city was important because it would shed light on the Medeans and allow artefacts to be dated to within ten years.
Words of the 'legend'
“Croesus, when he had crossed (the Halys River) with his army, came into Cappadocian territory, to what is called Pteria. Pteria is the strongest part of all that country and lies in a line with the city of Sinope, on the Euxine Sea. There he encamped, destroying the farms of the Syrians and he captured the city of the Pterians and made slaves of the people, and he captured all the neighbouring towns; moreover, he drove the Syrians from their homes, though they had done him no manner of harm.
Cyrus, on his side, gathered his own army, and took on, as well, all the peoples who lived between him and Croesus (before he set out to march at all, he sent heralds to the Ionians and tried to make them desert Croesus. But the Ionians would not listen to him). So when Cyrus came and encamped over against Croesus, then and there in that land of Pteria they fought against one another with might and main.
The battle was fierce, and many fell on both sides. At last they broke off at the onset of night, without either having the victory, so hard did the two armies fight.”