Eflatun Pınar
Eflatun Pınar (Turkish: Eflatunpınar, "Plato's Spring") is the name given to a spring which rises up from the ground, and the stone-built pool monument built at the time of the Hittite Empire. The spring lies 80 miles west of Konya, and drains into Lake Beyşehir in Anatolian peninsula at ancient Pisidia region. During the Late Bronze Age a sacred pool monument was built here in trachyte ashlar masonry dedicated to the sacred spring cult of ancient Hittites. The monument was interpreted as a shrine to Plato during the medieval (Seljuk) period.
Overview
Eflatun Pınar's location near the lake shore corresponds to an almost exact level with other important ruins on the opposite shore, those of Kubadabad Palace, which are Seljuk.
Eflatun Pınar was briefly examined by the University of Oxford archaeologist Dr. Lucia Nixon in her paper on Çatalhöyük, and she makes use of F.W.Hasluck's early-20th century work. The site remains largely unexplored to date. Unfortunately it is currently (spring 2012) being systematically destroyed by Turkish "restoration" work.
References
- Dr. Lucia Nixon, University of Oxford (2001). "Eflatunpınar, Çatalhöyük and the uses of the past (Conference on Anthropology, Archaeology and Heritage in the Balkans and Anatolia)". Swansea University.
External links
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