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Found an ancient underground city with a capacity of more than 70,000 people, hiding a great historical secret related to thousands of lives

The underground city was used as a place of worship with its cellar, well, and sewer system.

With its rich historical significance, the Turkish town of Midyat deserves to be called an open-air museum. However, its meaning was raised to a new level when archaeologists found the world’s largest “underground city” under the foundation of this ancient town.

According to Ancient Origins, while cleaning up the bible at the old buildings in the town, archaeologists accidentally discovered a mysterious path leading into the cave. The curious nature of archaeologists pushed them to follow that path until they were led to an amazingly huge architectural complex.

Found an ancient underground city with a capacity of more than 70,000 people, hiding a great historical secret related to thousands of lives - Photo 1.

The underground city was used as a place of worship with its cellar, well, and sewer system.

With dozens of tunnels and 49 rooms discovered so far, this space has been dubbed “Matiate”, which means “city of caves”. During the excavation, the archaeologist found artifacts dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, including cellars, altars and wells. What is even more amazing is that historians believe that the excavated structures cover only 3% of the total area of ​​this huge underground city.

“While the houses above date from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, below is a city that is 1,900 years old.”said Gani Tarkan, director of the Mardin Museum and lead curator of the project.

The rural town of Midyat is located in the southeastern part of Turkey. Humans began to settle here during the Assyrian Empire (circa 900 BC), and were ruled by Arabs, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans respectively.

According to Mr. Tarkan, the newly discovered limestone city beneath this ancient town has likely been unknown for the past 1,900 years. At the same time, he also believes that this vast space was once inhabited by 70,000 people.

Mr. Tarkan outlined his thoughts: “Initially, this city was built as an area of ​​refuge or an escape. As we know, in the 2nd century AD, Christianity was not considered an official religion. Families and followers of Christianity often took refuge in underground cities to escape Roman oppression”.

“It’s possible that Midyat Underground City is one of those living spaces built for that purpose. We estimate that at least 60,000 to 70,000 people used to live in this city.”

Found an ancient underground city with a capacity of more than 70,000 people, hiding a great historical secret related to thousands of lives - Photo 2.

The city was discovered by accident during the cleaning of old buildings and streets in Midyat.

Lozan Bayar, an archaeologist from the Mardin Office of Urban Supervision and Protection, reconfirmed Mr. Tarkan’s hypothesis: “When Christianity first appeared, Rome was under the influence of Paganism. It was not until later that Christianity was officially recognized”.

He shared: “Underground cities like this will provide safety for the people while they perform their prayer rituals. This is also a place for them to escape from the pursuit of other religions, the cisterns, wells and sewers were also formed from that period.

As the excavation continued, Tarkan and his colleagues found additional monuments, wall paintings and tunnels. This underground city will likely surpass the size of the underground city of Derinkuyu discovered in Cappadocia, Turkey that was previously determined to have a capacity of 20,000 people.

At least 40 other underground cities have been discovered across Turkey, but none can compare to Matiate. In addition to the size difference, the Matiate is special in that it sits at the foot of a bustling town.

If Tarkan and other researchers’ estimates of the city’s size are accurate, they still have a lot of work to do. He hopes that the incredible discovery will bring people from all over the world to this huge ancient city.

Source: ATI

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