CAMBAZLI
Rough Cilicia, Turkey.
A modern
village on an ancient site, some 7 km SE of Olba on the
ancient Roman paved road leading inland from Korykos.
At Cambazll the road forks, one branch leading to Olba,
one apparently SW to the Seleucia-Diocaesarea road and
one roughly E towards the Lamus river crossings and
Lamus on the coast. The site lies on and near a steep-sided rocky promontory on the R bank of the ravine of
an intermittent stream (Çukurbağ Deresi) which emerges
at the coast just W of Elaeussa. The visible remains at
Cambazli are apparently of the Roman and Christian
periods. The ancient name of the site is unknown; it was
probably an outlying town belonging to Olba or Diocaesarea.
By the modern road ca. 1 km NE of the town are
some house (?) remains. More house remains are on the
tip of the promontory which juts into the ravine, and
around the site are cisterns and other building remains.
There are six grave temples or heron. The most outstanding one, which is on the road leading N from the
town, is in the form of a temple distyle in antis, Corinthian, on a high podium. The porch and cella measure
ca. 9.5 x 5.5 m. Most of the roof has fallen, save one
corner of the front pediment, and all but one column.
The staircase to the porch is gone, the flanking walls
remain. A doorway leads from the porch to the cella. The
architrave has three fasciae, the frieze an egg-and-dart
molding, the cornice is denticulated. The base of the
building is hollow, vaulted, divided into two rooms corresponding to the division above, with walled-off graves along each side.
A smaller grave temple SE of the town is well preserved save for the roof and pediment. It is a small temple in antis, ca. 5 x 7 m. The architrave has three fasciae, the frieze is a plain S molding, the cornice is heavy, with
lion head spouts. The ceilings are vaulted; the front pediment is missing, exposing the vault of the porch ceiling.
Both grave, temples are faced with heavy ashlar masonry.
They probably date from the 2d or 3d c. A.D.
A well-preserved and very handsome basilica within a
precinct wall lies outside the town on the road leading
to Korykos.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. T. Bent, “Cilician Symbols,”
CR 4
(1890) 321-22, no. 12; id., “A Journey in Cilicia Trachein,”
JHS 12 (1891) 219; E. L. Hicks, “Inscriptions
from Western Cilicia,”
JHS 12 (1891) 262; J. Keil &
A. Wilhelm,
Denkmäler aus dem Rauhen Kilikien,
MAMA II (1931) 33-43
MPI; T. S. MacKay, “Olba in
Rough Cilicia,” Diss. 1968 (Univ. Microfilm) Appendix
E. T. S. MAC KAY
