Kuşkayası (Turkish for Bird's rock) is a roadside monument just outside the town of Amasra, in Bartın Province, in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It was erected in the Roman Imperial age.
The landmark lies in a dense forest, situated to the south of the road connecting Amasra to Bartın at 41.7183°N 32.3636°W. At a distance of about 4km (02miles) from Amasra, it overlooks a part of the town as well as the Black Sea. The altitude of the monument is about 350m (1,150feet) above sea level. It can be reached by a staircase from the road.
The Kuşkayası road monument is a unique structure in Turkey. It was built by Gaius Julius Aquila, procurator of Bithynia et Pontus, in honor of Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius Germanicus (AD 41–54). The monument includes a statue of a now headless human figure, the Roman eagle (also headless) and a bilingual inscription,[1] all carved into the mountain. The 260cm (100inches) human figure may represent either the Emperor or the Governor. In the original monument there was also a fountain (which no longer exists).[2]
The inscription is in Latin and Greek translations, which allow lacunae in one to be supplemented by the surviving text of the other.