Syria Street

Syria Street is the city's main axis: it runs for about 900 metres from the centre towards the Syrian Gate in the east. Along both sides, colonnaded porticoes stand on platforms one or two steps high, with rows of shops behind them — the shopping street of the ancient city, the counterpart of today's bazaar streets two thousand years ago.

The excavations have re-erected the columns of the street and cleaned its marble paving; walking the street is the liveliest part of a visit to the site. A second colonnaded street running towards the stadium (Stadium Street) joins the main axis.

The city's sewer channel runs beneath the middle of the street — the infrastructural intelligence of Roman town planning can still be read today under the paving. Water was carried to the city from springs to the south through aqueducts and pressurised lines.

In the water distribution structures, terracotta pipes coated inside with a thick layer of lime can be seen — the lime-rich water of the valley, which builds travertine at Pamukkale, was narrowing the pipes here. The lukewarm water behind the 'neither cold nor hot' reading arrived through these lines.