Belkıs/ZeugmaThere are many features that make it stand out among many ancient cities in Anatolia. One of these features is the school of sculpture that has its own characteristics.

Belkıs/ZeugmaIt is possible to see many examples of this school, which can be seen in the sculptures, reliefs and funerary stelae found in Turkey, and in various museums around the world.

The "bullas" unearthed during the Zeugma excavations, which set a "world record" in this field for Gaziantep and Turkey, are among the features that make Belkıs/Zeugma unique. Bulla means seal impression. In other words, when a letter, a decree, or a package needs to be sent to other places, it means a special seal that is closed and affixed on it. This is considered to be the traces of Zeugma's state archive that remain today. The number of seal impressions in this important collection exhibited at the Gaziantep Archaeological Museum reaches 100,000, including those found in October. Archaeological experts state that this figure is "the largest number of bullae found in a museum's records in the world." These bullae made of terracotta, with their extremely rich depictions, allow us to obtain unique information about Belkıs/Zeugma's relations with other ancient cities and the economic, social and religious life of the period.

Another event that makes Zeugma different among important ancient cities is the presence of the Scythian Legion, which was based during the Roman Empire and consisted mostly of Anatolian soldiers, in this city. This legion was one of the 4 most important cities of the Roman Empire. Sources state that this garrison later took on a Roman structure and took on the task of protecting the banks of the Euphrates under the name "IV. Legion".

The real importance of Zeugma is the Roman Villas, only a small part of which can be unearthed during excavations, and the mosaics decorating the floors of these villas. These hillside villas, the likes of which are seen only in the ancient city of Ephesus within the borders of Turkey, are of great archaeological importance. The area of the mosaics unearthed only during the excavations in Area A was 1000 square meters, revealing that Zeugma was truly a mosaic city. As a result of the research, experts say that with the completion of the excavations in Zeugma, the Gaziantep Museum will become the largest mosaic museum in the world. Being located at the intersection of roads and being a trade and garrison city made Zeugma attractive in the eyes of artists. Even retired officers started to settle in the city. The best artists of the period began to flock to Zeugma, which was a safe and rich city. Thus, artists left mosaics, frescoes and sculptures in the city that create events today. While Zeugma became richer in a way that the rulers of our age do not know why, it also continued its development in culture and fine arts. The city of Apameia, located right on the opposite shore of the city and now already under water, was abandoned after the Hellenistic age when it could not withstand the competition of Zeugma in every field. In the 2nd century AD, there was a wooden bridge consisting of rafts made of tree logs, connecting Zeugma to Apameia. Villa-type settlements in Zeugma started from the Euphrates bank of this bridge and reached the foothills of the Acropolis on the Belkıs Hill, which is approximately 300-350 meters high, in the west direction. The southern and western parts of the slopes were the necropolis (cemetery), the eastern and northeastern parts were the neighborhoods, and the northern part was the administrative sections and the legion area. On the Acropolis was the Temple of Tykhe (goddess of fortune and fate), which is frequently seen on Zeugma coins. The general topographic structure of Zeugma looked like a hillside city. According to the villa tradition that started in the Hellenistic period, high and scenic areas were chosen. As for the Roman period, sitting in high places was considered a preference and privilege specific to the nobility. For this reason, the city and its villas were located on terraces opened towards the hills behind.

Many different materials need to be used in a mosaic panel. However, when considered within the development process, we see that the decoration material on the surface has undergone radical changes. In the mosaic, firstly, pebbles of different colors and mostly black and white were used as decorative elements. We witness that pebbles are painted in various colors over time. Trimmed examples of pebbles were also found during this period. However, the technique called "Tesserae", the actual shaving of stones, first appeared in ancient Greek and later in Roman mosaics. In this technique, stones are pre-cut and prepared in the form of cubic, quadrangular and triangular prisms. Then it was processed on the mosaic panel. It is thought that the discovery of tesserae arose from the desire to make mosaics in a pictorial style. The most important mosaics of ancient times were made of pebbles and glass and were produced from Tesserae. After stone, the most important mosaic decoration material is glass. For the first time in 3rd B.C. It was seen in the Hellenistic era between the 1st and 1st centuries BC and gave artists the opportunity to use unlimited colors. Apart from these two main materials, marble, tile pieces, ceramic tesserae, terracotta pieces and finally gold and silver were used. These last two were first practiced by the Romans. The first examples of Golden Tesserae from the Roman period are found in the Antakya floor mosaics, B.C. We see it after 300. During the Young Christian and Byzantine mosaics, gold Tesserae were used to depict God and Jesus, while silver was used to depict secondary important people. In addition to the technique and materials, the mortar itself was also of great importance. In the Roman period, the mortar was laid on the surface in two or three layers and the Tesserae were laid to support the surface. In order to prevent the first layer of mortar from sinking to the bottom, the mortar dough was placed on densely laid stones to prevent cracks. The same application was carefully prepared for wall mosaics as well as floor mosaics, and in all cases a waterproof resin or tar layer was applied before the mortar. This was followed by the second layer of mortar, which was made of two rows of coarse grain and reinforced with nails at the joints of the wall. The third layer is prepared quite darkly. And as an adhesive, it contained marble dust and hammered brick in its composition. Roman mosaics can be divided into two types according to their construction. The first is the style called Opustesselatum, which is made of small cubes placed side by side. The pattern, made of rectangular and prismatic cubes, was painted in different colors when the work was completed. The second technique was called Opusvermicilatum or miniature mosaic. In this technique, the natural colors of the stones were preserved and small mosaic pieces were arranged according to the course of the painting. However, due to this arrangement, the stones would extend like a worm. Opusvermicilatum also means this.

Another important find found in Zeugma is a 1.50 m tall bronze statue of Mars from the Roman period. Mars is the Roman equivalent of Ares, the god of war in ancient Greece. According to archaeologist Fatma Bulgan, who did the first cleaning and maintenance of the statue, “Mars is a very important god in Rome. It symbolizes abundance and power. As it is known, Mars is a warrior god and this decision suits the city very well. Additionally, it is a city built on fertile lands on the banks of the Euphrates. For this reason, we think that Mars is very important for Zeugma. The bronze statue, which remained underground for approximately 1800 years, was covered by a hard layer of limestone. This is quite difficult to clean. Because doing this cleaning without damaging the original bronze structure of the work and without activating oxidation requires expert and meticulous work. There is also a burn mark on the Mars statue. Archaeologists think that these are traces of the Parthians' capture and destruction of Zeugma in 252 AD.

Mehmet ÖNAL (Gaziantep Museum Archaeologist)
Zeugma seal impressions constitute the largest collection of sealing art (Glyptic) of the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Imperial periods and provide information about the political, economic, cultural, ethnography, fauna and flora of the period. Belkıs villagers after the rain in Zeugma İskeleüstü “red eyebrow” (Seal impression-Bulla) and since a few seal impressions were found in the surface survey conducted here, it was decided to carry out a rescue excavation in this location, some of which will remain under the Birecik Dam lake. In order to identify the settlement floor where the seal prints were found, to reveal the architecture of the building they were in, and to determine the types of the figures on their fronts, emergency rescue excavations were started in the Zeugma İskeleüstü location, within the borders of Belkıs Village, Nizip District, Gaziantep province, with the permission of the Ministry of Culture, under the direction of the Gaziantep Museum Directorate. The seal impressions unearthed during these excavations were 35 thousand in 1998, 30 thousand in 1999, and a total of 35 thousand in 1999, including those found in the room adjacent to the east of the archive room in the rescue excavations carried out with the organization of GAP this year. 100.000It has reached (one hundred thousand) units. This number is the largest number discovered to date, and Gaziantep Museum owns the world's largest seal printing collection. Since it is very difficult to see and find seal impressions in the soil, the soil of the study area was passed through coarse and fine mesh sieves. The seal impressions are 3.60m from the top of the wall to the bottom. It was chosen among the rubble stones and lime mortar plaster pieces mixed with the ashy soil in the deep room. Seal prints were found in temples, agoras, private houses, cellars and sarcophagi in other ancient cities. During the rescue excavations we carried out in Zeugma this year, we found shops opening onto a stone-paved road to the east and north-east of the archive room, and it was determined that the Zeugma seal impressions were preserved in the archive room inside the agora. Additionally, thousands of them are sealed with fingerprints. This can be attributed to the daily sealing of the shops in the agora.
FUNCTION OF SEAL PRINTINGS
In ancient times, seal impressions were used for multi-purpose purposes such as sealing papyrus, wooden tablets and wax tablets, money bags, postal items such as packages, food and drink containers, wooden boxes, room doors containing valuable goods, customs goods, inheritance and waiver documents. Thus, it had a wide range of uses, starting from document security to preventing documents and objects from mixing with each other. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, clay mud, wax and a small number of lead seals were used to seal postal documents by the Kingdom and Imperial postal services. In documents sealed with clay mud, it was impossible for anyone other than the owner to read the document without opening the seal impressions. However, it was possible to open wax seals and reseal the same seal. For example, the false prophet Alexander and his assistant loosened the wax seal on the Oracle letters with a hot needle, opened the letters and read them. Then they wrote a new letter as they wished. They resealed the letters they replaced with the wax seal they had removed, and gave these letters, which looked as if they had never been opened, to their owners. Documents prepared to be sent somewhere were sealed by stamping a ring stone, official seal or fingerprint on clay in the presence of notary officials and witnesses. For papyrus documents to be mailed, the papyrus fibers were first deposited in clay mud and tied to the document scroll, the clay was pressed on top of it to seal it, and then the fiber was wrapped around the document scroll. In addition to being attached to documents, seal impressions were also described in the document to which they were sent. The letter owner would sometimes make a document in the letter he sealed or in the belongings he sent with it. In this way, his ring seal was considered valid in cases of theft or robbery.
HOW WERE SEAL PRINTINGS MADE?
As a result of stamping the seal and ring stones with descriptions, names or signs on them into the clay mud, the negative depictions on them emerged as positive, and the positive depictions as negative, resulting in seal impressions. The pictures on the seal or ring stone appeared in the sealed clay mud. While Zeugma seal prints depict gods, goddesses, kings, mythological figures consisting of mixed creatures, mythological animals, double, triple and quintuple masks, Roman Emperors and empresses, thinkers, masks, busts of private individuals, temples, inscriptions, herbal and various symbols and animals. On the back side, you can see the traces of documents such as papyrus (Figure 1), linen, or wooden tablets and fabric bags, which will be bound together and sent or entrusted. There is a horizontal rope hole that shows that the seal impressions are tied to the document or item with a rope. Clay pastes are brown, black, red, gray and bluish in color. Their forms are triangular, flat and scarves-shaped, and they have circular, flat and oval stamps. They are generally printed with seal and ring stones (Gem) with incised depictions. Those stamped with a relief depicted ring stone (Cameo) are few in number. Bulla sizes are generally between 3-30 mm. Large sized ones (15-30mm) generally depict the heads of the god Zeus and the Roman Emperor Augustus. The smaller ones are fingerprints. In addition to official ones, there are also special seal impressions. Both the seal impressions unearthed in the Zeugma excavation and the seal impressions belonging to the Dülük archive, which were brought to the Gaziantep Museum through purchase, were all baked. The fact that the seal impressions were baked is attributed to the fact that the postal items were burned and destroyed together with the seal after being read, and the seal was taken to the archive as proof that it was received and opened. In parallel with this, the seal impressions of the doors of important places and valuable items such as chests, jars and bags should have been baked and placed in the official archive room. During the Zeugma rescue excavations, it was understood that the find site of the seal impressions was not limited to the archive room and its surroundings, but spread throughout the city. Because, when the soil of the place where the coin hoards were found during the mentioned excavations was sifted, seal impressions were also found. Thus, it was understood that money bags were also sealed with clay mud in this city.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SEAL PRINTINGS AT ZEUGMA
The ninety thousand seal impressions found in Zeugma reveal the intensity of this city in trade and communication. The reason for this is that the silk road from Antakya to China passed through Zeugma and the existing customs and trade of the city were quite developed. Many of the seal impressions unearthed in Zeugma have images of gods and goddesses related to trade. These are Tykhe, Fortuna, and Hermes, the god of merchants, travelers, and messengers. The temple of Tykhe, the goddess of luck, luck and fortune, which we know from the pictures on the back of Zeugma city coins, is located on the Belkıs Hill, and with its majesty visible from tens of kilometers away, it must have given confidence to the merchants and travelers passing by with caravans. In addition, IV, which accommodated five thousand soldiers. The deployment of the legion camp here further increased this confidence, strengthened the city economically and increased postal communication. The fact that there are over ten thousand of the Zeugma seal prints with images of Augustus shows that the official documents were mostly for military purposes. As its name suggests, Zeugma was the customs gate of the east opening to the west. The traveler coming from the east, trembling from the majesty of the acropolis hill standing like an eagle with its wings spread, would step foot slowly and with timid eyes from the bridge over the Euphrates, watching the stamped customs bales with stamped customs bales, and set foot in Zeugma, that is, the west, in the place known today as Kelekağzı and İskeleüstü locations.

Zeugma Ancient City is 10 km away from Nizip District of Gaziantep. The distance of the Ancient City from the city center is 50 km.
TRANSPORTATION TO GAZİANTEP 
Gaziantep railway connects the Narlı station of the Adana-Malatya railway to the Carchemish, Cerablus station of the Aleppo-Baghdad railway, and the Aleppo expressway passing through Fevzi Pasha enters Syrian territory from the border gate of Gaziantep's Islahiye district. Gaziantep, via road connection, to Adana and Mersin via Osmaniye, to Şanlıurfa via Birecik bridge, to Kahramanmaraş via Narlı, to Antakya via Fevzipaşa, to Haleb via Kilis, to Antakya via Hassa via Kilis and It is connected to Adıyaman via Besni. Gaziantep, which forms an important junction with these roads, is like a node in terms of road transportation. There are daily scheduled flights from Gaziantep International Airport. There are direct scheduled flights from Gaziantep to Ankara and Istanbul every day. In addition, there are flights connecting to Ankara to other provinces, and non-scheduled flights also benefit from the area.