An interesting historical stone work was discovered while excavating the foundations of the Laleli Central Mosque built in 1968 in the Fatsa district of Ordu province, Turkey.
About this Oku.Az Report with reference to Sondakika.com.
It turned out that during the Roman Empire, the stone work, which dates back to 239 AD and had inscriptions, was used as a seat in the mosque courtyard for 56 years.
At that time, citizens who were suspicious of the inscriptions on the stone, but could not get any results as a result of negotiations, decided to place the stone in the courtyard of the mosque and use it as a seat because it is smooth. Since the 1970s, residents have sat and rested on the stone, received guests and conversed here for years without knowing the importance and meaning of the stone.
However, after many years, a literature teacher from the neighborhood residents appealed to the director of culture and public affairs of Fatsa Municipality, Cevat Erbil, regarding the inscriptions on the stone. New research was carried out with the participation of scientists from Ordu University and the Latin text was translated by Professor Huseyin Sami Öztürk, a specialist in ancient Greek and Latin epigraphy, and thus the content of the work became clear.
It was determined that the name and titles of Emperor Gordian III were engraved on the stone. There is also information about Gordian repairing the road and the phrase “second mile” at the end of the text, which contains information about routes in Roman times.
Furthermore, specialist Seçkin Evcim said that the stone found is an important work and that it is difficult to find similar examples in the Black Sea region.
“The stone belongs to the year 239 AD In the Roman Empire, especially in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, they were placed throughout the territory of the empire, and were erected in honor of the emperor who pointed out the roads and routes, and at the same time they built or repaired the road in Anatolia, “in previous investigations we have not found any information about a stone of this type,” he said.
“Information was given that the emperor repaired the Roman road that passes through here and it was mentioned that it belongs to the second mile. This is a distance corresponding to the coasts of Bolaman and Yalıköy. That is, the road that passes through the neighborhood of Lalali was located at the beginning of the Roman roads that continued from the Bolaman coast to central Anatolia. From this point of view, the stone is an important inscription in determining the routes of the Roman era, therefore, this find is from. great importance. Thanks to this, an important work has been added to the cultural history of Fatsa,” said Seçkin Evcim.
After necessary investigations and negotiations, the stone was removed from the mosque courtyard with the help of municipal groups and officials and taken to the Ordu Museum Department for display.
An interesting discovery in Türkiye: the stone on which the inhabitants have been sitting for 56 years is a historical artifact 1800 years old
