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Rich in ancient ruins and carrying a historical legacy of almost 2,500 years, Zeugma seems to have been left to its fate with the completion of the dam in December, 1999. The Birecik Dam, located on the boundary of Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa provinces in Southeastern Turkey, was built to provide the area with electricity as well as water for irrigation. The dam and its reservoir were subjects of great debate ever since the first announcement of the project 10 years ago. The waters of the dam are situated over much of the site of Zeugma on both sides of the Euphrates.
The city of Zeugma is of particular interest to historians and archaeologists, and many excavations and survey work have been carried out there. With the onset of the dam project, archaeologists called attention to the danger that the dam would present to surrounding areas, the site of a rich historical mosaic of countless civilizations and human development.
Over the 10 years since the beginning of the Birecik dam project, domestic newspapers and international sources have made numerous references to the plight of the ancient city and have issued serious warnings about salvaging Zeugma from the menace that modern society inevitably creates for lost civilizations over the course of history. It appears that nothing substantial has so far been done to save Zeugma from flooding over and being buried in the waters of eternal obscurity. The question remains: whose responsibility is it to protect and preserve our environment and the historical treasures that it contains? The necessities of technological and scientific progress, it is expected, should be accompanied with an awareness of what came before. It is hoped that Zeugma will be allowed to impart its historical heritage to posterity.
THE ANCIENT CITY OF ZEUGMA
Zeugma, on the Euphrates River, was a link between Anatolia and Mesopotamia from earliest times. It was first used to bring timber from the Taurus Mountains to the urban civilizations of Southern Mesopotamia and was also a location where Assyrian traders used to stop on their way back and forth from Central Anatolia.
The city actually comprised two cities on both sides of the river — Seleuceia and Apamea. Zeugma, meaning “link” or “bridge” in Greek, was founded in 300 B.C. by one of Alexander the Great’s generals to protect the communication links of the Seleucid Empire, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to India.
Zeugma fell under the rule of Rome in the second and first centuries B.C. but the Parthian kingdom in the East became a rival for control of the area and the two powers entered into conflict during the first centuries A.D.
Zeugma became an important military base, home of one of the legions on the Eastern frontier and was also a trading city on the “Silk Route.” The city lost its importance when the Roman Empire was extended to include Mesopotamia. The frontier was unstable during the Roman period but even after the Sassanian Empire pushed back the Byzantines into Anatolia, Zeugma remained the seat of a bishopric. The wealth of the city finally diminished as a result of the Arab victories over Byzantium and Sassanid Persia.
In succeeding centuries, Arabs, Turks, Armenians, Mamluks, Crusaders and Kurds all fought over this area. Zeugma was forgotten when the main crossing over the Euphrates moved to Birecik in the Middle Ages.
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Stolen mosaic retrieved
