Dust of Time
Entrance to the Labyrinth
If the first glance at Lamos is stone-bound magic and emptiness, the second is an attempt to put things on the shelves: history, walls, sarcophagi. But as soon as you try to arrange the facts, they crumble again, like limestone under your fingers.
Past Empires
Lamos (also Lamus, also Adanda) stood on the border of three worlds — Cilicia, Isauria, and Lycia. A city everyone tried to claim, but no one ever truly tamed.
1st century AD — a temple is built here in honor of the Roman emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. A cult of power carved into stone.
3rd century — the city flourishes under Emperor Gallienus. Lamos becomes the capital of the Lamotis region. Fortress walls, towers, agoras, necropoleis — everything breathes the sense of “we are eternal.”
Byzantium — the city turns into an episcopal residence. Here, in the mountains, peace is concluded with the Arabs in 965.
12th century — the Armenians seize Lamos. Until the 13th century it holds on as both a church and military center, then dissolves into history.
All these epochs leave only one layer upon another. The stones hold more memory than books ever could.
Shards of Now
Today archaeologists point out several key fragments:
Walls and towers. Especially striking are the eastern gates with their monumental tower.
The Acropolis. Preserved monolithic sarcophagi — like ships carved from solid stone, ready to depart for other worlds.
The Agora. The marketplace around which life once revolved. Now — overgrown.
Temples. Two known temples, dedicated to gods and emperors.
Baths. Remains of vaulted rooms with stone reservoirs.
The Necropolis. Burials carved into the rock, where rest became more tangible than in any sacred text.
And above it all — the view of mountains, valleys, and the sea.
Shadows at the Edge of the Mind
Lamos curiously unites three eternities: the eternity of nature, the eternity of stone, and the eternity of human vanity.
Empires came and went, but the rock remained. The city decays more slowly than we do.
Perhaps that is why it draws us in — because we want to try on its tempo of decomposition.
How Did We Get Here
You can reach it from Gazipaşa (15 km). The village of Adanda is the last outpost of civilization. From there you can still drive further, up to the thickets where the agora and other city structures once stood. After that — on foot. In summer it’s scorching, in winter — fog.
Practical advice:
trekking shoes,
water is essential,
expect no cell coverage,
go with a map or a local guide.
Echo in the Void
Facts, chronicles, archaeology — in Lamos they all feel like crutches. They help to explain what we are seeing. But if you linger for a couple of hours, the facts lose their weight.
You just sit by a sarcophagus, look down — and realize that this place is history itself. Without dates, without names, without annotations. Pure presence of the past.
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