Büyük (Big) Kapıkaya Monument is 6 km southeast of Döğer town in İhsaniye district of Afyonkarahisar and 1.8 km southeast of the Aslankaya Monument. It is on a rock outcrop about 50 m north of Döğer - Üçlerkayası road. The flattened front face of the rock, where the niche is located, is decorated with geometric patterns which can only be seen in suitable light because of weathering. In comparison to other façades, it lacks a pediment but an akroterion is visible above the niche. Due to these decorations on the façade, locally it is called Halılı Kaya (Carpeted Rock). The monument was seriously damaged by treasure hunters in 1996. The goddess relief in the middle of the niche was detonated with dynamite and a large hole was dug into the rock.
There is a 7-step altar about 15 m northwest of the monument, although most of the steps are eroded. The combination of the façade and altar suggests that this place was used as a sacred location. Büyük Kapıkaya monument is dated to the second half of the 6th century BCE; the altar may be older.
Click on the pictures for larger images.
Literature:
Berndt-Ersöz, S. 2006. Phrygian Rock–Cut Shrines. Structure, Function and Cult Practice, Leiden.
Haspels, C. H. E. 1971. The Highlands of Phrygia. Sites and Monuments, Princeton.
Haspels, C. H. E. 2009. I am the Last of the Travellers, Midas City Excavation and Surveys in the Highlands of Phrygia, (Ed. D. Berndt with contributions by H. Çambel), İstanbul.
Tamsü, R. 2004. Phryg Kaya Altarları, (Eskişehir- Afyon-Kütahya İlleri Yüzey Araştırması Işığında), Unpublished MA thesis, Anadolu Üniversitesi, Eskişehir
Tüfekçi-Sivas, T. 1999. Eskişehir-Afyonkarahisar- Kütahya İl Sınırları İçindeki Phryg Kaya Anıtları, Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları No:1156, Eskişehir.
Image sources:
C. H. E. Haspels, 1971
C. H. E. Haspels, 2009
Ben Claasz Coockson, 1993
Bora Bilgin, 2020