The Roman Theatre of Aspendos, Pamphylia (Anatolia)

The arresting Roman theatre of the ancient city of Aspendus, which lay in the ancient region of Pamphylia (southern Anatolia), was likely built in the 160s AD during the reign of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and today shapes the best preserved ancient theatre worldwide.

For purposes of economy, the best part of the cavea (seating sections) was carved out of the eastern slope of the hill that accommodated the citadel (acropolis) and it could entertain as many as even 8500 spectators.

The stands around are very much evenly divided into two tiers, lining up 20 (bottom) and 21 (top) rows of seats made of marble, by a passage while the façade of the structure measures a good hundred metres wide and 22m high, with the Scaenae frons (architectural background) of the stage having stood the test of time almost intact.

Under the rule of the Seljuqs (Seljuk Turks), it was repaired over time and employed as a caravanserai (roadside inn for travellers) whilst later converted into a palace of the Sultanate of Rum (Sultanate of the Romans) in the 13th century.

Incidentally, the theatre was designed by local architect Zenon and commissioned as a gift to the city by brothers Crispius Crispinus and Crispius Auspicatus while it finds itself in the province of Antalya in southwestern Turkey in the modern world.

The Nymphaeum of Kestros, Perga (Anatolia)

The Nymphaeum of Kestros (or Caystros), consecrated to the Lydian namesake river-god, is a monumental fountain that lies at the colonnaded end of the main street in the ancient city of Perga (Parha in Hittite) in southeast Anatolia (Minor Asia).

It was fashioned during the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian (second century AD) when the city had come under Roman rule.

The name Kestros apparently comes out of the Hittite Kastaraya for the river as it appears in a treaty between the Hittite King Tudḫaliya IV and his vassal king of Tarḫuntašša in the second half of the 13th century BC.