| Narlıkuyu Museum | |
| Native Name: | Narlıkuyu Müzesi |
| Native Name Lang: | Turkish |
| Map Type: | Turkey |
| Coordinates: | 36.4439°N 34.1136°W |
| Type: | Mosaic |
| Owner: | Ministry of Culture |
Narlıkuyu Mosaic Museum is a small museum in Narlıkuyu, Turkey that encompasses a Roman bath with a mosaic tile floor. The mosaic depicts the Three Graces.
See main article: Narlıkuyu.
Narlıkuyu is a town in Silifke ilçe (district) of Mersin Province. Narlıkuyu is from Silifke and from Mersin. It is situated in a small Mediterranean bay which is fed by freshwater. The museum is actually a closed area of mosaic and it is situated just at the back of the restaurants at 36.4439°N 34.1136°W.
During the Roman Empire, Narlıkuyu was called Porto Calamie. In the 4th century A.D., Poimenios, the Roman governor of nearby Corycus, (modern Kızkalesi) commissioned a bath and baptism complex in Porto Calamie. The source of the bath water was an underground stream from the sinkhole Cennet, which is in the Taurus Mountains, northwest of Porto Calamie. The bath survives and, in 1976, a 65.28m2 building was constructed to house the bath. The building is now under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture as a free-of-charge museum.[1]
An inscription at the entrance of the bath reads:
The emperors mentioned were probably Arcadius (378-408) and Honorius (384-423). The holy islands are the Princes' Islands of Marmara.
The bath floor is a mosaic. The mosaic depicts three Graces, Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia, and a couple of partridges and doves. The local name of the mosaic is Üç Güzeller (English: Three beauties) The mosaic refers to the mythological story of the baptism of Aphrodite.[2]