The Dead Cities

A ruin of a villa in the Dead City of Serjilla. Serjilla is one of the best preserved of all the Dead Cities.

There are many Dead Cities from Turkey to Aleppo to Lattakia- a triangle that contains a different ruin every 2 miles. What is a Dead City, you ask? Well, let me try to tell you.

These cities were developed during the 4th Century AD. Though they were quite small by our modern standards, they were cities, or big villages. They were Christian originally, had churches, and beautiful villas- or big homes with gardens. Grapes and olives were abundant, so wine and olive oil were too.
Not much went into the protection of the cities so they were easily taken over by invaders of the Muslim and Crusader type. Too much wining and dining, I guess.

This is one of the olive oil production areas. The tools and containers were cut right into the rock. Here is the stone and press(in the bottom right), the two first filters(top left, with water), and the secondary collection tank(top right).







The remains of a very large villa- possibly the mayor's house, or something. All the buildings are built with limestone which is a soft rock. Therefore there were many beautiful carvings in the pillars and throughout the city. And the limestone quarry could always be turned into a bath house, or a mousaleum, or other such 'thing'.
Gotta love a city based around wine and olive oil- wait a minute, that sounds like the country of Italy. What a country! Let's toast.