Euromos Temple of Zeus

The temple at Euromos was built in the second century CE under Hadrian, on the site of an older Carian sanctuary, and sixteen of its Corinthian columns are still standing with their architrave in place across several of them - which makes it one of the most complete Roman temples left in Turkey. It was never finished: some columns are fluted and others left plain, and inscriptions on several record the families who paid for them, so the building is also a record of who in the town could afford a column and who ran out of money. It stands in an olive grove a few hundred metres off the main road, with almost nothing else around it - some walls, a small theatre and an agora in the fields nearby, mostly unexcavated. It takes forty-five minutes, it costs very little, and it is the kind of site that in most countries would have a car park and a coach queue and here has neither.

What's there

• The sixteen columns - standing with architrave in place.
• The unfinished shafts - fluted and plain columns side by side.
• The donor inscriptions - names cut into the columns paid for.
• The olive grove - the temple standing among the trees.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Late afternoon gives the best light through the columns; the grove offers a little shade at the edges.

Things to know

There is only the temple - the rest of the city is unexcavated fields. Facilities are a ticket hut. It is right beside a busy road, and a car is needed to reach it.

Nearby

Labraunda is up the mountain from Milas; Herakleia and Lake Bafa are north.

Key facts