Guide
The Aidesim mosaic basilica lies about 200 metres south-west of Oylum Höyük in the Oylum neighbourhood of central Kilis. Part of it was uncovered in 1999 and most of the rest during excavations in 2004 and 2006. It belongs to the early Christian period and is dated to the 6th century AD.
The plan is a long rectangle, built of black basalt and limestone. The entrance is on the west, and inside, two rows of columns divide the space into three aisles. Excavation produced a large number of Roman and medieval coins, column bases and other archaeological material.
The floor mosaic is what gives the building its name, and it covers roughly 800 square metres. Worked in red, white, brown, grey and black stone, it carries plant motifs together with geometric ornament — intersecting circles, lozenges, squares and zigzags — and interlaced decoration arranged as Maltese crosses, all showing early Byzantine characteristics. The mosaics were found to be in good condition, and to keep them that way work to cover them began in 2015 and was completed in 2017; anyone travelling specifically to see the floor should bear in mind that it has been protected under a covering.
