Archaeologists uncover library steps in ancient Roman city

Excavations at Nysa, an education and culture city of the Roman period known as the “two-banked” city because it was built over a valley with two sides, are being carried out under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Serdar Hakan Öztaner from the Department of Archaeology at Ankara University’s Faculty of Languages, History and Geography.

Rising among olive trees, the city with a history of 2,300 years stands out for its gymnasium, theatre, stadium, agora, council building, wide streets, the Temple of Akharaka, and one of the best-preserved libraries in western Anatolia, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

Prof. Dr. Öztaner told Anadolu Agency that the ancient geographer Strabo received his education in Nysa and referred to it as a “two-banked” city.

Explaining that last year they excavated the main street on the western side of the city, stretching from the central bridge toward Akharaka within the scope of the “Heritage for the Future Project,” Öztaner said:

“In 2025, our excavation work on this street progressed, and when we reached the axis of the library, we uncovered the stairway providing access from the street to the library. These steps were very important for us because we did not know how the library was connected to the street or how the two-meter difference in elevation was overcome. Revealing this was an important and exciting discovery for us. This year, we uncovered the access steps to the library structure, which we date to about 1,800 years ago.”

“Five steps lead to a marble-paved courtyard”

Öztaner noted that the library was built in AD 130 and that the street and road system had existed since the reign of the Roman ruler Augustus.

“We believe that in the 2nd century, the access steps to the library were constructed along the existing main street. With five steps, one reaches a marble-paved courtyard. The steps are located at the very center of the block on which the library stands and provide access to the marble courtyard in front of the library,” he said.

As reported by CE Report, emphasizing that the Nysa Library was built after the Library of Celsus in Ephesus and is one of the best-preserved libraries in western Anatolia, Öztaner added: “With its 16 book niches, this library—admired by visitors to Nysa—was a structure that housed important manuscripts of the ancient world, as mentioned in ancient sources.”