Zile appears in ancient sources as Zela. Its history includes a sanctuary, Roman regional reorganisation and the battle fought between Caesar and Pharnakes II in 47 BC. Excavation of the theatre on the castle hill adds evidence from stone, terrain and construction to that written history. The Tryphe mosaic has brought an interior from this town into public view.1234

It is easy to let a single event stand for the town: three Latin words can overshadow a much longer history. Zela’s past also concerns the management of land, places of assembly and the settings of everyday life. The mosaic belongs within that wider history.

The sanctuary and its domain

Strabo, the geographer from Amasia, describes the sanctuary of Anaitis at Zela in Book 12 of his Geography. His account extends beyond a temple building: land, revenues, a priest and attendants form a domain around the sacred centre. The people of Pontos made solemn oaths there, indicating its regional importance.5

The term “temple state” describes this combination of sacred authority, land and income. Worship, economic organisation and administration were closely connected. In Strabo’s Zela, belonging to a sanctuary also meant living within a particular social and economic order.56

Strabo also records that Pompey enlarged Zela’s territory and gave it civic status. This does not describe the creation of a settlement on previously empty ground. It records a reorganisation of the sanctuary’s domain under Roman authority. The same place was defined through changing arrangements of power and belonging.5

Looking further back from Anaitis

Anaitis also places Zela within religious connections between Anatolia and the Iranian world. Elsewhere, Strabo mentions Anaitis, Omanos and Anadates together with the Sakaia festival. His alternative accounts of the festival’s origins are revealing: even for an ancient author, the past did not arrive as a single uncontested story.7

Murat Tekin’s 2025 study examines the identification of Hittite Anziliya with Zile and a proposed connection between the goddess Anzili and Anaitis. This asks about continuity across a very long period. Similar names and attributes offer leads, while limited direct archaeological evidence prevents an uninterrupted cult from being treated as established.8

The Tryphe mosaic belongs to a different historical setting. Ideas of fertility at the sanctuary and luxurious life on a pavement may seem related in broad terms. The direct clue to this figure’s identity, however, is the inscription ΤΡΥΦΗ. Calling her Anaitis would discard the specific evidence supplied by the work itself.910

47 BC and the memory of three words

Zela’s best-known episode in Roman history is Caesar’s victory over Pharnakes II of Pontos in 47 BC. The Alexandrian War, transmitted within the Caesarian corpus, describes the heights and the positions of the armies before the battle. Terrain plays an active role in the account. Understanding the location is part of understanding the military narrative.11

Suetonius provides an ancient record of “Veni, vidi, vici”. He describes a placard carrying the three words in the Pontic triumph, emphasising the speed of the achievement. The phrase remains prominent in Zile’s identity today, but it does not date the mosaic or identify its building. The two stories concern the same town; no direct architectural connection between them has been demonstrated.12

Seating cut into the hillside

The 2023 excavation report for Zile Castle Ancient Theatre explains how the structure uses its hillside. The upper and middle seating areas were cut into limestone, while the lower part was constructed in travertine blocks. The cavea, or seating area, combines the existing rock with built masonry. The semicircular orchestra in front was recorded at approximately sixteen metres in diameter.13

Zile Castle Ancient Theatre, general view from the 2023 season report. A separate site from the mosaic rescue excavation. Murat Tekin et al., 2025; Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 44th Excavation Results Meeting, vol. 2, p. 449, Fig. 12; PDF p. 451. source page (opens in a new tab) · Tekin et al. 2025

These details describe a constructed space as well as a surviving monument. The slope supplies part of the structural support; masonry completes what the rock does not provide. Reading the excavation plan alongside the photograph clarifies the form of the seating and the limits reached by the work.3

An ancient town within the living city

The report also notes that modern houses and a road in use limited excavation in places. Archaeology at Zile takes place within a living city. Exposing an ancient building in full has to be considered alongside present housing, roads and safety.14

Plan of the Zile theatre published in the 2023 season report, shown at the source’s original resolution. Murat Tekin et al., 2025; Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, p. 449, Drawing 1; PDF p. 451. source page (opens in a new tab) · Tekin et al. 2025

The theatre represents a place of collective gathering; the newly discovered pavement belongs to a carefully furnished interior. We cannot yet connect them within a detailed ancient town plan. Zela’s history nevertheless comes into view at several scales: a regional sanctuary, a battlefield, rows of seating and the floor of a room. Investigating these different settings brings the town’s past into fuller focus.413

Notes

  1. 1Strabo 12.3.37 (opens in a new tab). Geography 12.3.37 · LacusCurtius · University of Chicago. source record ab
  2. 2Alexandrian War 72–77 (opens in a new tab). Alexandrian War (Bellum Alexandrinum) 72–77 · LacusCurtius · University of Chicago. source record ↩
  3. 3Tekin et al. 2025 (opens in a new tab). 2023 Yılı Zile Kalesi Antik Tiyatrosu Arkeolojik Kazı Çalışmaları · 44th Excavation Results Meeting (Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı), vol. 2 (2025), pp. 439–449. source record abc
  4. 4AA (opens in a new tab). Kaçak kazıda ortaya çıkarılan Roma mozaiği Zile’nin tanıtımına katkı sunacak · Anadolu Agency (AA). source record ab
  5. 5Strabo 12.3.37 (opens in a new tab), 12.3.37. Geography 12.3.37 · LacusCurtius · University of Chicago. source record abc
  6. 6Tekin 2025 (opens in a new tab), pp. 91–96. Antik Çağ Anadolusu’nda Kadim Bir Kült Merkezi: Zela Tapınak Devleti Üzerine Güncel Bir Değerlendirme · Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi 38 (2025), pp. 91–126. source record ↩
  7. 7Strabo 11.8.4–5 (opens in a new tab), 11.8.4–5. Geography 11.8.4–5 · LacusCurtius · University of Chicago. source record ↩
  8. 8Tekin 2025 (opens in a new tab), pp. 91–96, 114–117. Antik Çağ Anadolusu’nda Kadim Bir Kült Merkezi: Zela Tapınak Devleti Üzerine Güncel Bir Değerlendirme · Karadeniz İncelemeleri Dergisi 38 (2025), pp. 91–126. source record ↩
  9. 9DHA (opens in a new tab). Tokat’ta ‘Çingene Kızı’ benzeri mozaik gün yüzüne çıktı · Demirören News Agency (DHA). source record ↩
  10. 10LSJ, τρυφή (opens in a new tab). τρυφή · A Greek–English Lexicon. source record ↩
  11. 11Alexandrian War 72–77 (opens in a new tab), 72–77. Alexandrian War (Bellum Alexandrinum) 72–77 · LacusCurtius · University of Chicago. source record ↩
  12. 12Suetonius, Divus Iulius 37.2 (opens in a new tab), Divus Iulius 37.2. Divus Iulius 37.2 · LacusCurtius · University of Chicago. source record ↩
  13. 13Tekin et al. 2025 (opens in a new tab), pp. 440–443. 2023 Yılı Zile Kalesi Antik Tiyatrosu Arkeolojik Kazı Çalışmaları · 44th Excavation Results Meeting (Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı), vol. 2 (2025), pp. 439–449. source record ↩
  14. 14Tekin et al. 2025 (opens in a new tab), pp. 442–444. 2023 Yılı Zile Kalesi Antik Tiyatrosu Arkeolojik Kazı Çalışmaları · 44th Excavation Results Meeting (Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı), vol. 2 (2025), pp. 439–449. source record ↩