Abstract
The Roman monument locally known as Kuşkayası Yol Anıtı (literally bird rock road monument) in Turkish is an arresting site carved in relief on a mountainside. Its decapitated figures have hewn limbs, and dynamite has blasted out large chunks of the monument. Though scholars have tangentially touched upon Kuşkayası, there is little analysis of its visual symbolism and the mutilated human figure’s identity and destruction have been mysteries. This paper will analyse the monument and explicate its noteworthy blend of Roman Imperial and local iconography, a syncretistic design which participates in the Romanization of Bithynia et Pontus and legitimizes the monument’s builder Gaius Julius Aquila. Next, this paper will argue that the mysterious beheaded figure likely represents Aquila rather than Emperor Claudius. Finally, this paper will forward that Kuşkayası was the victim of Christian mutilation in Late Antiquity during its initial phase of destruction, and treasure hunters in its most recent phase. Kuşkayası represents an innovative symbolic composition and speaks both to the syncretistic public art tradition and the history of the destruction of antiquities on the Black Sea coast.
Highlights
Kuşkayası Yol Anıtı is a striking Roman monument carved in relief into the mountainside along an ancient road on the Black Sea coast of northern Anatolia (Fig. 1).1 Gaius Julius Aquila, who built the monument, was the permanent High Priest of Divus Augustus.2 Many different scholars have tangentially touched upon the monument, but Chingyuan Wu has written the most thorough treatment of the monument to date.3 Wu provides an overview of the monument’s elements focusing on their religious import for the cult of Divus Augustus, and discusses the site’s evidence of Aquila’s priesthood, and whether it was a position of regional significance
The Roman monument locally known as Kuşkayası Yol Anıtı in Turkish is an arresting site carved in relief on a mountainside
Composition and condition of the monument Kuşkayası is located in the ancient province of Bithynia et Pontus on the road that ran from Tieion to Sinope, approximately 4 km southwest of the ancient city of Amastris on the Black Sea coast (Fig. 2)
Summary
Kuşkayası Yol Anıtı (literally bird rock road monument in Turkish) is a striking Roman monument carved in relief into the mountainside along an ancient road on the Black Sea coast of northern Anatolia (Fig. 1).1 Gaius Julius Aquila, who built the monument, was the permanent High Priest of Divus Augustus (perpetuus Sacerdos Divi Augusti).2 Many different scholars have tangentially touched upon the monument, but Chingyuan Wu has written the most thorough treatment of the monument to date.3 Wu provides an overview of the monument’s elements focusing on their religious import for the cult of Divus Augustus, and discusses the site’s evidence of Aquila’s priesthood, and whether it was a position of regional significance.
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