The ancient settlement area of Doliche was located on Keber Tepe, a natural, saddle-shaped elevation that juts out into the fertile plain of Nizip Çay opposite the village of Dülük. The hill is undeveloped and is used for agriculture. Only a few traces of ancient buildings were visible above ground before the excavations began. However, dense concentrations of pottery and roof tiles revealed the extent of the ancient urban area. In addition, work on rock edges and individual walls showed the orientation of the ancient buildings
The Mithrae of Doliche
In the 1st century AD, a mystery cult developed around the figure of the originally Iranian god Mithras, which became very popular throughout the Roman Empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and is well known to us through numerous monuments from the imperial period, especially in Italy and the Danube provinces. At the center of the Mithras Mysteries is the killing of the bull, symbol of earthly life, from whose blood new life is born. In the myth, the god of light and ruler of the world becomes the creator god by killing the sacred bull. Mithras, who was born from the rock, was worshipped in so-called mithrae, which imitated caves or grottoes. Just as in the myth Mithras and the sun god Sol consume the flesh of the bull, the followers of Mithras also celebrate the meal together in their places of worship in order to reach the eternal light and thus attain immortality for their souls.
The Mithraeums of Doliche were discovered in 1997 and 1998 below the ancient settlement mound of Doliche. They were erected in an abandoned underground quarry. Two cult reliefs show the well-known depiction of the bull-slaying Mithras despite heavy destruction. The existence of two mithras standing next to each other indicates a large number of followers of the Mithras Mysteries in Doliche. It can be assumed that they were erected by members of the Roman military in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. Today, the mithraeums give the impression of large halls due to their dimensions and are among the largest known mithraeums in existence. However, it can be assumed that they were reduced in size due to installations. Apart from the cult reliefs, there is little evidence today of the use of the rock galleries as Mithraic shrines. The excavations carried out between 1998 and 2000 also yielded no evidence of cult activities.
Until the discovery of the mithraeums, only a 1m x 1m entrance allowed access to mithraeum 1; mithraeum 2 was still completely sealed. This was the result of centuries of erosion. Earth and stones slid down from the slope above the caves, raising the ground level in front of the entrance to the mithraeums by up to 6 m over the course of time. Today, a path through this rubble provides access. In ancient times, the entire area around the entrance was much lower. The cave complex was therefore much more open and the mithraeums must have been closed off from the outside by walls.
The Doliche Quarry
To the southwest of the modern village lies the Doliche quarry with its imposing backdrop. Easy-to-work limestone was quarried here from ancient times to modern times. In the imposing, steeply sloping main quarry face, you can see access shafts to a Roman water pipe tunnel that carried water to Keber Tepe. The water pipe tunnel has been preserved for several hundred meters and is partially accessible.
The Rock Necropolis of Doliche
The ancient necropolis of Doliche is located opposite the ancient city on the Çimşit Tepe hill. Parts of the necropolis are now covered by the modern village of Dülük, whose houses often use the underground burial chambers as utility rooms. Well over 100 graves have been located in the city necropolis to date, but many of them have fallen victim to increasing urbanization.
These are almost exclusively rock chamber graves, which are laid out as family graves and can sometimes contain a very large number of burials. They consist of one or more burial chambers with different floor plans. The dead were usually buried in niches in the side walls (arcosolias), in corridors or in simple shaft tombs in the floor of the chambers. As well as the number of burials and the layout, the tombs also differ in terms of the type and amount of decoration. While some graves are unadorned and the burial niches are designed as simple boxes, others are richly decorated. The burial niches are often designed like sarcophagi and decorated with garlands, bull heads or rosettes. Reliefs and inscriptions, on the other hand, are rare.
Doliche in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
In the 4th century AD, Christianity prevailed in Doliche, as in the entire Roman Empire. Doliche became a bishop’s see and remained so until the 11th century A.D. As an important fortress in the contested border region between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab dominions in Syria, the city also played an important role during this period. It is a fortress city of regional importance in the Byzantine-Arab border wars. Doliche became part of the border district of al-Awashim, which was established by Harun al-Rashid. After the reconquest by Byzantium in 962 by Nikephoros Phokas, Doliche/Teluch became the capital of an administrative district of the same name in the 10th and 11th centuries. Even during the Crusader rule, Doliche remained a regional center that probably belonged to the county of Edessa. During this time, Doliche became the seat of the Latin archbishop of Hierapolis, as the city was not under Latin rule. The end of Doliche as an urban settlement and fortress finally came with the conquest and destruction by Nūr al-Dīn in the 50s of the 12th century, after which the place sank to a village dependent on Aintab (Gaziantep).
In addition to the excavation results, two rock churches bear witness to Christian Doliche. They are located to the west of the quarries outside the city area on the edge of the urban necropolis. Both churches were originally rock chamber tombs that were rebuilt into three-aisled churches, whereby several construction phases can be traced in each case. Both churches were probably built between the 10th and 11th centuries AD. The church, which is called Basmaklı Magara (stepped cave) because of the two staircases flanking the entrance, is still particularly impressive today. It is richly decorated and the building inscription in Syriac has been preserved.
Another church existed in the area of the Dülük railroad station, where mosaics were discovered during construction work and are now in the Gaziantep Museum.
Research into the late antique and medieval city is one of the focal points of the city excavations that began in 2015. The excavations on the southern slope in particular offer the opportunity to explore late antique urbanism. Here, in addition to residential buildings from the early Byzantine period, a church building dating back to the late 4th century AD was also discovered.
The Priests’ Necropolis
About 1 km west of the sanctuary of Jupiter Dolichenus on Dülük Baba Tepesi lies the so-called Priests’ Necropolis. More than 20 rock chamber tombs have been discovered here so far, which differ in size and layout. What they all have in common, however, is the very high quality of the furnishings. Some of the burial niches are elaborately crafted as sarcophagi. The roll stones used to close the entrance to the tombs have often been preserved. Unfortunately, all the tombs had already been looted by the time they were discovered. The forecourt of one of the graves is decorated with a relief of a standing man. An inscription gives the name of one of the buried, Apollonis. The inscription on another grave refers to the buried man as a priest of Iuppiter Dolichenus. This and the proximity to the sanctuary suggest that the priests of the temple and their families found their final resting place in the necropolis.
