Uzuncaburç holds the most important and best preserved ancient remains in Mersin province, thirty kilometres north of Silifke. In the Hellenistic period this was the sanctuary of the kingdom of Olba, whose centre lay four kilometres to the east at Ura. In the Roman period it was separated from Olba, in AD 72 under Vespasian, and made an autonomous city in its own right under the name Diocaesarea, the city of the god-emperor, with the right to strike its own coinage.
The remains divide neatly between the two periods. From the Seleucid, that is Hellenistic, phase come the temple of Zeus, the tower that gives the village its modern name, and the monumental tomb with the pyramidal roof. From the Roman period come the colonnaded street, the theatre, the ceremonial gate, the fountain, the temple of Tyche and the triumphal arch. The MuzeKart is valid for Turkish citizens.
Visiting hours
- Visiting hours
- 08:15 - 17:00, ticket office closing at 16:45, open every day
When to go
- Climate
- Across Mersin as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 10.4 °C in January to 28.5 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, October and November; rainfall is heaviest in December (137 mm) and lightest in August (7 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
