Among the collapsed stones of a monumental gateway in southern Turkey, archaeologists have recovered a marble sculpture that survived roughly 1,800 years underground largely intact. The figure represents Asklepios, the ancient deity associated with medicine and healing, standing beside the small child-god Telesphoros, and Turkish officials announced the find in early August 2026 as one of the season’s most striking discoveries at the ruins of Aspendos.
A healing god unearthed at Aspendos
Aspendos, in Turkey’s southern Antalya region, is best known for a remarkably preserved Roman theater, but the surrounding city has continued to yield new finds. The newly excavated sculpture group stands about 2.2 meters tall, or roughly seven feet, and was announced on August 6, 2026, by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. Specialists date the work to the final quarter of the second century A.D., during the Roman Imperial period, placing its creation about 1,800 years ago.
According to reporting from the Archaeology & Arts news service, the sculpture was found among the collapsed remains of a monumental gate on the western side of an area known as the East Square, along a route excavators call Theatre Street. That the piece emerged so complete, after the structure around it had fallen, is part of what makes the discovery notable.
The symbolism carved in marble
Asklepios is depicted in the traditional manner: a mature, bearded man draped in a himation, the heavy cloak worn over one shoulder in Greek and Roman art. His right arm, now missing, would originally have rested on a staff entwined by a serpent, the enduring symbol of medicine that still appears on modern emblems of the healing professions. The imagery would have been instantly recognizable to ancient viewers as a marker of health and recovery.
At the god’s feet stands the diminutive figure of Telesphoros, described in ancient tradition as a son and companion of Asklepios and typically rendered as a small hooded child. In the Aspendos group the little figure’s head has not been preserved, but its placement beside the larger deity follows a familiar pattern in ancient depictions of healing worship, where Telesphoros represented convalescence and the return to health.
What the find reveals about ancient civic life
Beyond its artistic quality, the sculpture offers evidence about the role of healing cults in the daily religious and civic life of the city. The presence of a carefully worked monument to Asklepios in a prominent public space suggests that appeals for health and recovery were woven into the routines of ordinary residents, not confined to a distant sanctuary. Cults of the healing god were widespread across the Roman world, often centered on temples where the sick sought cures, and the Aspendos figures add a concrete example from this part of Anatolia.
The condition of the marble also matters to researchers. A largely complete sculpture allows specialists to study proportions, carving technique and stylistic details that fragmentary pieces cannot fully convey, helping to situate the workshop that produced it within the broader currents of Roman-era art in the region.
A second discovery days later
The healing gods were not the only find of the season. Days after the marble group came to light, excavators at the same ancient city uncovered a tomb, roughly 2,400 years old, that is believed to have belonged to a wrestler. The pairing of a Roman Imperial sculpture with a considerably older burial underscores how long Aspendos remained an inhabited and active settlement, layering centuries of history within the same archaeological footprint.
Turkish cultural authorities have framed the discoveries as part of a broader, ongoing program of excavation and restoration at the site, which draws visitors primarily for its theater but holds far more beneath the surface. Each season of digging has the potential to expand the record of how the city’s residents lived, worshiped and buried their dead.
Conservation and what comes next
Finds of this scale require careful handling. Marble that has spent centuries buried can be fragile once exposed, and conservators typically stabilize such pieces before any cleaning, study or eventual display. Turkish museum and heritage teams are expected to document, conserve and analyze the sculpture group, work that can take months or longer before the figures are ready for public exhibition.
As reported by Daily Sabah, the announcement placed the discovery within Turkey’s wider effort to promote its archaeological heritage, and researchers say further study of the statue’s context along Theatre Street may clarify how the gateway and surrounding square functioned within the ancient city. For now, the recovery of an intact healing god and his young companion stands as a reminder of how much remains preserved beneath even a well-known ruin, waiting for the right dig season to bring it back into the light.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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