This project intends to produce an interdisciplinary study that will be fundamental for the understanding of the history and archaeology of the frontier region between Phrygia and Lydia, which is as yet practically unstudied.  The principal object of the study is the city and royal residence of Kelainai/Apamea Kibotos, modern Dinar (Turkey). Despite its historical importance, the city has never been the object of an in-depth archaeological study. Our project, cofinanced by the ANR and the DFG since 2008, represents the first attempt at a systematic study of its ancient remains.

One of the goals of the project is to study the process of urbanisation in this region of western Phrygia. This study will provide us with important data not only concerning the Achaemenido-Phrygian urban culture, but equally concerning the development of new Hellenistic foundations in Asia Minor. As Kelainai is the only known royal residence of the Achaemenids in Anatolia, its study is of great importance for the history of the whole of Asia Minor. This project also offers us the possibility of understanding the relations between the local culture of western Phrygia and the Persian and Greek culture in the context of the Achaemenid Empire and the Hellenistic kingdoms: to what extent did the urbanisation of Kelainai contain a character foreign to the region and bear a Persian and Greek imprint, and in what measure did local traditions find expression here? Finally, the development of this major cultural and economic centre in the Roman and Byzantine periods equally represents one of our foremost areas of interest.