Roman Archaeology in a South Anatolian Landscape – The Via Sebaste, The Mansio in the Döseme Bogazi, and Regional Transhumance in Pamphylia and Pisidi

An investigation of a Roman road-station in its archaeological and geographical context that provides a new perspective on the historical landscape of southern Anatolia. 

This study is based on fieldwork carried out during the 1990s in southwest Turkey in the modern vilayets of Burdur and Antalya, and it focuses on the settlements associated with a Roman mansio located in the Döseme Bogazi, the pass that linked Pisidia with the coastal region of Pamphylia. The course of the road and the structures that emerged along it were defined not by the evolution of Pisidia’s Hellenized indigenous culture but by the priorities of Roman rule, especially during late antiquity. Furthermore, the study of the road where the mansio was located raises fundamental questions about the role played by this mountain pass in the movement of people and animals between the lowlands and highlands of South-west Anatolia.