Colored, stereoscopic images of the ancient city of Zeugma, located near Belkıs in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, will be featured on the Internet.

Kutalmış Görkay, head of the team excavating Zeugma, told the Anatolia news agency that the entire ancient site was scanned by laser. "In short, we immortalize the actual layout of the ancient city. Even after many years, people will be able to see the ancient city's current layout," he said.

"We will also use the colored and stereoscopic images in restoration work. It will also be possible to use the images to publicize the existence of Zeugma," he added.

The ancient city of Zeugma will become an archaeological park through restoration. The study to realize the project started on Aug. 1 and will end on Oct. 30. Scientists from France, the United States and Sweden are taking part in the project.

Zeugma was founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals, Seleucia Nicator, and prospered during the Roman period as part of a trade route stretching east across Asia to China.

The city's wealth was reflected in the homes of its inhabitants. Rich merchants and Roman noblemen and officers vied with one another to adorn their houses with the world's loveliest mosaics, ceramics, statues, and frescoes.

Zeugma has been dubbed the "second Pompeii" in international literature.

The people of Zeugma enjoyed a magnificent lifestyle in their city on the banks of the Euphrates River until the Sassanid invasion in A.D. 256, when the city was burnt and destroyed. A violent earthquake a few years later turned the city, which had extended over an area of 2,100 hectares, to rubble.