Roman-period altar stone found at Ottoman site in Kocaeli
KOCAELİ
A nearly 1,800-year-old altar stone discovered inside the 500-year-old Çoban Mustafa Pasha Complex in the northwestern province of Kocaeli’s Gebze district is shedding light on the region’s layered Roman and Ottoman past.
The complex was commissioned in 1523 by Çoban Mustafa Pasha, a prominent Ottoman statesman who served under Yavuz Sultan Selim and Suleiman the Magnificent. The stone, embedded within the site, has been examined by specialists from the Istanbul Archaeological Museums and Istanbul University’s Department of Latin Language and Literature, who date it to around the early third century A.D.
The inscription on the altar is interpreted as a dedication expressing gratitude to a deity for military victory and dominion, reflecting Roman-era religious practices in Anatolia.
