Cybele

In the excavations carried out in and around the ancient city of Bergama, eight new religious sites and many figurines, which date back 2,200 years and are believed to have been used to worship the Anatolian goddess Cybele, have been unearthed.

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Archaeologists have discovered a rare stone delineating the city limits of ancient Rome that dates from the age of Emperor Claudius in 49 A.D. and was found during excavations for a new sewage system.

The world premiere of the play 'Kybele,' adapted from Güngör Dilmen's work 'I am Anadolu,' was held at the Yazılıkaya Open Air Temple of Midas Monument, which was built by the Phrygian civilization 6,000 years ago in the Han district of the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir and is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Works are ongoing to complete the construction of the Afyonkarahisar Museum, which will be the future home of the 1700-year-old Kybele statue.

The "Emre Lake and Phrygian Civilization Garden Project," under construction in the İhsaniye district of the western province of Afyonkarahisar, is expected to revive nature, history and sport tourism in the region when it finishes in 2021.

The Kybele statue, which was smuggled to Israel after being unearthed during a road construction in 1964 in the western province of Afyonkarahisar's Çavdarlı district, has caused great excitement in its hometown after news that it would be brought back to Turkey and be displayed at a museum in the city.

The Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry on Dec. 13 brought back a historical statue of Kybele, pre-historic goddess of fertility, which was smuggled to Israel in 1960s and sold there.

The statue was finally returned after hard work of Turkish authorities after they proved its origins and halted audition process in the U.S.

The statue of "mother goddess" Kybele, which was believed to be the symbol and protector of abundance and fertility in prehistoric times, is set to return to the land where she was born.

Turkish archaelogists have announced a significant discovery in the Kurul Castle in the northern Turkish province of Ordu, hailing that more ancient items, including the sculptures of Dionysus and Pan, have been unearthed at the site where a 2,100-year-old marble mother goddess sculpture of Kybele was found in 2016. Click through for the story in photos...

The Phrygian Way, which passes through four provinces in the Aegean and Central Anatolian regions, has become popular among nature lovers with its 506-kilometer route, the third longest hiking trail in Turkey.