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Lagina is an ancient cult site of
important archaeological and touristic value dating from the Carian
period and extended under the Seleucid kings that is situated in
southwestern Turkey (adjacent to Turgut, a municipality in the Muğla
Province) and which is famous for its Hekate Sanctuary. The site is
situated at 9 kilometers distance from the Yatağan-Milas highway,
served by an asphalt road bifurcating shortly after the Yatağan
Power Plant when coming from Yatağan.
The small town of Turgut itself was until recently named Leyne, a
name that is still used among the locals and in the region, thus
echoing its name in antiquity.
Recent studies have shown that the site had been inhabited and/or
employed in an unintterupted manner during a time span stretching
back to the Bronze Age. Seleucid kings have conducted a considerable
reconstruction effort in the sacred ground of Lagina and have
transformed it into a foremost religious center of its time, with
the nearby (at a distance of 11 kilometers) site of Stratonikeia
becoming the administrative center. The two sites (Lagina and
Stratonkeia) were connected to each other in antiquity by a holy
path.
The archaeological research conducted in Lagina also presents a
particularity in that they were the first to have been done by a
Turkish scientific team, under the direction of Osman Hamdi Bey and
Halit Ethem Bey. In 1993, excavation and restoration work have been
resumed under the guidance of Muğla Museum, by an international team
advised by Professor Dr.Ahmet Adil Tırpan.
The friezes of the Hekate Sanctuary are currently being displayed in
İstanbul Archaeology Museum. Four different themes have been
depicted in these friezes. These are; on the eastern frieze; scenes
from the life of Zeus; on the western frieze; a battle between gods
and giants; on the southern frieze; a gathering of Carian gods
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