2,000-year-old summer castle of the Roman emperor

The nearly 2,000-year-old summer castle of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius left many traces on the mountains of Turkey.

Archaeologists found the summer castle of a Roman emperor in Kibyratis, located in the mountains of Turkey, according to Haaretz. This mansion in the countryside belongs to the emperor Marcus Aurelius family , ruled from 161 to 180, the research group at the Austrian Institute of Archeology said.

Ruins of 2,000-year-old summer castle.(Photo: University of Vienna).

The Kibyratis area has very few archaeological excavations, although the researchers know that the great palaces from the Roman era were there. Large-scale surveys have just begun in 2008, helping to find more large sites belonging to royal families.

The ruins of the palace were badly damaged, but historians successfully assembled the murals, earth plumbing and marble wall decorations. The Roman Emperor had contracts to export wine and ceramics from the eastern provinces and there was evidence of wine production from the marble presses used in grape growing.

The team also unearthed a poem to engrave a poem about a hunting party, one of the most popular pastimes of Roman aristocrats. The inscription speaks of Marcus Calpurnius Longus of the Calpurnii family, describing Longus killing a mountain goat during a hunting trip and offering booty to the gods to beg them to protect wealth and land.

For some reason, the Calpurnii family lost the Kibyratis mansion in the late 2nd century. One of the castle's new owners is Annia Cornifica Faustina , the sister of Marcus Aurelius.