Daskyleion lies close to the Bird Paradise at the southeastern end of Lake Manyas, two kilometres east of Ergili village and thirty kilometres south of Bandırma. It takes its name from the Lydian king Daskylos, who settled here in the seventh century BC.
Excavation has brought to light archaeological remains from a number of different periods. Among the important architectural elements found are Phrygian and Lydian walls, a processional way thought to have been built in the Achaemenid period, a three-roomed building thought to have had an administrative and religious function, a Lydian-period kitchen, and building remains of the Hellenistic period and the Middle Ages. The movable finds are not on site: they are displayed at the Bandırma Museum.
Getting there
- Access
- Thirty kilometres south of Bandırma, at the south-eastern end of Kuş Gölü and two kilometres east of Ergili village, close to the well-known bird sanctuary. City transport reaches it.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Balıkesir as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 4.9 °C in January to 25.7 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in January (87 mm) and lightest in August (5 mm). Long-term means for 1999-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
