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Roman Temple of Augustus, Ankara - Things to Do at Roman Temple of Augustus

Things to Do at Roman Temple of Augustus

Complete Guide to Roman Temple of Augustus in Ankara

About Roman Temple of Augustus

The Temple of Augustus squats in Ankara's old Ulus quarter like a time bomb. Two millennia press against cream limestone. Surviving Corinthian columns, pitted and wind-scoured, tilt overhead and give straight-up vertigo. Finished around 25 BC by Roman Ancyra, it is rated the best-preserved imperial Roman temple in Anatolia. Scholars keep returning for the walls, not the columns. Inside the cella, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti runs on and on, Augustus's first-person brag sheet, longest inscription of its kind, carved in Latin and Greek. The letters are half-erased yet intimate, like reading someone else's diary through a keyhole. Byzantine hands turned the building into a church after the 4th century. You can still see their apse punched through the east wall. Later it became a mosque. Civilisations stack here like sediment. Ankara absorbs, never erases.

What to See & Do

The Res Gestae Inscription

The inscription is the magnet. Latin marches along the north wall, Greek along the south, both cut after Augustus died in 14 AD. Whole clauses remain razor-sharp. Lean in; the stone is cold, the air smells of old rock. This Ankara copy is the most complete version of the text that once went up across the empire.

Corinthian Column Forest

Sixteen columns once ringed the exterior; a few still stand tall, stumps included. Afternoon light throws acanthus shadows across pale stone. You can touch the fluting, feel Roman precision. Byzantine masonry butts against it, rougher, faster. Two voices, one conversation.

The Byzantine Apse

At the east end the Byzantines hacked a semicircular apse through Roman fabric. The stonework is cruder, the join visible to anyone who looks. Pause here. Five centuries of upheaval fit into one seam.

Hacı Bayram Camii (The Adjacent Mosque)

A 15th-century mosque shares the courtyard. Ottoman builders leaned it against the Roman wall. On Friday afternoons the call to prayer ricochets off limestone fifteen centuries older. Inside, pale blue and green tiles hush the senses. Sharp shift.

The Surrounding Ulus District

The temple anchors old Ankara. Narrow lanes circle it. Roasting chestnuts scent winter air. Tea houses, fabric shops, women with pomegranate baskets keep real neighbourhood life alive. Newer districts have lost this.

Practical Information

Opening Hours

The site opens daylight hours, roughly 8am to dusk. The Hacı Bayram Mosque keeps prayer hours. Visitors enter between services.

Tickets & Pricing

Entry costs nothing. Walk straight in from the shared courtyard. No tickets, no queues.

Best Time to Visit

Arrive early on a weekday. Cool light, empty courtyard, inscriptions all yours. Midday crowds stay thin except summer weekends. Skip Friday prayers unless you want the sonic experience of faith against Roman stone.

Suggested Duration

Budget 45 minutes to read and roam. Add 90 if you're the annotating type. Link it with the mosque and the Citadel uphill. Half a day disappears fast.

Getting There

Ulus district is metro-friendly. Ulus station on the M1 line leaves a 10-minute walk through the grid. Taxis from Kızılay are cheap. From the Citadel, wander downhill through antique stalls. The city layers develop underfoot.

Things to Do Nearby

Ankara Citadel (Ankara Kalesi)
Climb 10 minutes uphill to the Byzantine citadel. Ramparts give a full sweep: modern city south, old roofs below. Orientation gold. Inside the walls, village quiet feels impossible inside a capital. Worth the calf burn.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
Occupying a restored 15th-century Ottoman bedesten at the base of the citadel, this museum ranks among the finest archaeological collections in Turkey. The Hittite galleries alone merit the climb. Link them with what you absorbed at the temple and the full sweep of Anatolian history, from prehistory to the Roman period, clicks into place without overload.
Column of Julian
Three short blocks from the Temple of Augustus, a lone 4th-century Roman column remembers Emperor Julian's swing through Ankara in 362 AD. Drama is minimal; a single shaft rises from a modest plaza. Give it ten minutes if you're nearby. Locals have loafed in its shade for 1,700 years. The wear shows.
Cengelhan Rahmi M. Koç Museum
Inside the citadel walls, an old caravanserai now shelters the industrial history museum. Expect vintage cars, model ships, brass scientific instruments. The mix is quirky, good for travel partners who glaze over ancient inscriptions. The courtyard café brews one of the better teas in the old quarter.

Tips & Advice

Pack a pocket torch or fire up your phone. A quick beam across the shadowed cella walls makes the Latin and Greek texts jump.
Summer sun hits the temple precinct by mid-morning and the courtyard offers zero shade. Arrive early. Beat both the tour buses and the heat.
Mosque and temple share the same stone courtyard. Shoulders covered, shoes off. The interior rewards the effort.
Weekend mornings turn the Ulus antique market into a hive. Genuine pieces mingle with tourist trinkets at the foot of the citadel. Plan to browse on your way down after the temple.

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