Oenoanda in the heartland of Lycia

Oenoanda or Oinoanda lies only some 60 kilometers from Fethiye, right next to the modern village of İncealiler. It is one of those untouched sites, clearly off the beaten path of which there are many in Turkey. Such places are always very rewarding to be discovered and to be explored. It is so remote that even a seasoned archaeologist like Cevdet Bayburtluoglu strongly recommends not to venture there by yourself but to take a caretaker or a villager with you to be safe from sheepdogs. These dogs are fiercely defending and protecting the flock of sheep and goats they are supposed to guard and they readily attack any intruder. No kidding!

The climb up from İncealiler to Oenoanda takes about an hour over rough terrain. It seems that, apart from a few days in 1997, the Turkish authorities never allowed the city to be excavated. Yet, that does not make the site less exciting because one can discover it as we walk on.

[Picture: Ansgar Bovet, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

The most striking feature in the landscape is, as always, the theater that sits higher up the hill overlooking the valley below and offers a dramatic view of the Taurus Mountains. It has been cut out of the rock and its plan closely resembles that of Myra or Phaselis, for instance.

Inside the city walls, of which many stretches are easily spotted, we find the remains of the ancient city. Unfortunately, these have not been properly documented and only the most striking features catch the eye.

A well-recognizable avenue leads from the theater to the Agora. It has been compared to Harbor Street at Phaselis as it is bordered by two steps on either side. The Agora, which is entirely paved with marble, is another prominent feature. The surrounding buildings have not been identified although we may presume based on the broken columns and stones that there was at least one temple erected alongside as is customary. A series of three distinct arches has been identified as belonging to a Library.

Otherwise, bits of columns, capitals, architraves, cornices, pedestals and stones of all sizes with or without inscriptions are scattered around in great numbers. Another recognizable element in the rubble is the broken pipes and remains of an aqueduct that must have run all the way to the Baths in the northeastern corner of Oenoanda.

The origins of Oenoanda are rather obscure but based on its name which contains the letters “-nd” the foundation could go back as far as the 2^nd millennium BC. In any case, it has been documented that Oenoanda was part of a tetrapolis annexed to Lycia. Together with Kibyra, Oenoanda became part of the Lycian League which was formed in the early 2^nd century BC and they acquired two votes each. The six main cities: Xanthos, Pinara, Tlos, Patara, Myra, and Olympos were the administrative, judicial, military, financial, and religious centers and each received three votes in the meetings of the League.

Pending serious excavations, no evidence has been found about the pre-Hellenistic Era of Oenoanda.

The city gained importance it seems, after the severe earthquake of 144 AD, when they received 10,000 denarii from Opramoas of Rhodiapolis (see: Opramoas of Rhodiapolis) to construct a Bath. It may sound strange because its own citizen, Licinius Langus of Oenoanda donated 10,000 denarii to Myra in order to rebuild their theater and its portico. He could have invested in the reconstruction of his home tome in the first place, no?

Another famous citizen of Oenoanda was the wealthy philosopher Diogenes, who spent his entire fortune on an Epicurean inscription. He had found peace of mind in the teachings of Epicurus and in order to show the people in Oenoanda the road to happiness, he commissioned an inscription 80 meters long and more than 3 meters high which set out Epicurean doctrines in about 25,000 words.  The huge inscription was placed in the agora and its large inscribed letters were painted - nobody could miss seeing them. At that time, in 120 AD, it would have been the largest ancient inscription ever found. The text included a number of instructions, letters, and epitomes defining the basic principles of Epicuraeism. In other words, a guide to happiness.

Unfortunately, the wall disappeared. It may have been deliberately destroyed or hit by an earthquake, but the scattered blocks were mostly reused as building material elsewhere. The wall with whatever remained of Oenoanda fell into oblivion, probably during the 9^th century AD.

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, many fragments of this precious inscription were found, analyzed and partially put back together like a giant puzzle. That is a gigantic task that is still ongoing.

Oenoanda is surrounded by necropolises on all sides. Rock graves typically appear on both the east and west sides of the city and from the road between İncealiler and Oenoanda many sarcophagi, mostly of the Lycian type, are easily spotted in the landscape.

Andriake’s Museum has opened

The opening of this museum in Andriake, inside the walls of Hadrian’s Granary (131 AD), was announced a while ago (see: Time to revisit Andriake, the harbor of Myra) and is now a fact.

It has been baptized as The Lycian Civilizations Museum as it not only contains local finds from Myra and Andriake but from the entire region of Lycia, roughly situated at the southern coast of Turkey between Fethiye and Finike. Except for the coastal cities, Lycia has been very little explored but offers a great number of sites that flourished when they joined hands in the Lycian League founded in the early days of the 2nd century BC. The League had a Parliament of its own, the first ever in history, that was located at Patara. This kind of government may well have inspired modern democracy.

More than one thousand artifacts excavated in cities like Myra, Andriake, Patara, Xanthos, Tlos, Arykanda, Pinara, Antiphellos, and Olympos have found a home in one of the seven rooms of this former Granary. Among the exhibits are statues, vessels, other kitchenware, glassware, and jewelry.

The site of Andriake itself has been cleared further and has become part of the open-air museum with its harbor, the agora with an underground water cistern, a Roman bath, and a boat, as well as the remains of several churches and even a Jewish temple.

More information about the Lycian League can be found in my earlier blog: A short history of Lycia.

Xanthus, Travels of Discovery in Turkey by Enid Slatter

Xanthus, Travels of Discovery in Turkey by Enid Slatter (ISBN 0-948695-30-7) is an absolute must for every lover of Greek antiquity and more particularly for those, who like me, fell in love with Lycia in southeastern Turkey.

The title Xanthus, although the main city and once capital of ancient Lycia, may be misleading as the book covers in fact, all of Lycia. The author mainly has reproduced the journals kept by Charles Fellows, who in 1838 and 1840 crisscrossed this unchartered territory looking for architecture worth of filling the newly founded British Museum in London. Occasionally Enid Slatter has added updated information about the whereabouts of certain artifacts.

The journal not only mentions the (generally phonetically spelled) Turkish names of the towns but also the corresponding names from antiquity. The book is further richly illustrated by a huge amount of drawings, some made by Fellows himself, but most of them drawn by young George Scharf, who accompanied him, especially for this purpose.

It gives a great insight into the policy applied by the then-ruling Ottoman government as well as that of the British occupying nearby Rhodes and Malta. The general landscapes with rivers, gorges, scant bridges and fording places are very detailed, but also the overall color pallet of blossoming trees, field flowers, and dresses of the local people. On top of all that, it is quite interesting to learn how Charles Fellows and his entourage traveled from England to Turkey and back, using ferries, carriages, an occasional new train track, steamers, ferries, to continue on horseback or on foot through the pristine Lycian countryside. They suffered from seasickness on many occasions and were thoroughly shaken during the bumpy rides in the stage coaches. In Turkey, they were dependent on the weather and often hit by fierce thunderstorms. The Lycian coast was still infested by swarms of mosquitoes, especially in summer when even the locals moved out en-masse to the inland mountains.

Xanthus was and is, of course, the focal point, but Fellows also put sites like Letoon, Tlos, Pinara, Myra, Limyra, Arykanda, Olympos and Finike on the map, which today are only one flight away for the many tourists.

While during his first trip Charles Fellows aimed to discover as much of Lycia as he could, his second expedition of 1840 was the one that enabled him to crate and ship the magnificent pieces of what is now called the Nereid Monument (or Ionic Monument), the friezes of the Harpy Monument, the entire Payava Tomb (or Horse Tomb), and several other pillar or box tombs now at the British Museum. He also made plaster casts of pertinent reliefs that could not otherwise be moved, which have sadly disappeared since.

The reading is never dull and Fellows’ love for this unique Lycian culture is one of a kind. His journal is truly filled with many exciting details, very much worth discovering.

The world’s first Parliament building - Patara

Only a few people will have heard about the opening of the first-ever Parliament building in the ancient city of Patara, Turkey.

First discovered in 1991, restoration works started in 2010, and it took two full years to complete the project, re-erecting and repairing inside and outside walls, gateways, and the entire seating area. When I visited Patara in 2007, the building was fenced off, but it now shines in full splendor. It may feel somewhat overdone, too well reconstructed, but, on the other hand, this is the closest one can get to tasting what it is like to sit inside a Council House – and this one is regarded as being the world’s first democratic Parliament (to use modern words).

[Picture from The Hurriyet Daily News]

The Lycian League, for which this Council House was built, has always fascinated me. The very idea matured in the early 2nd century BC after Lycia came under the control of Rhodes, with the influence of Rome. Yet Rhodes did not give the Lycians fair treatment, and after many complaints, Rome judged it only fair to grant them their freedom. Finally, the Lycian cities all agreed it was time to unite, and the Lycian League, as dreamed of by King  Pericles several centuries earlier, now became a reality. The six main cities: Xanthos, Pınara, Tlos, Patara, Myra, and Olympos were the administrative, judicial, military, financial, and religious centers, and each received three votes in the meetings of the League. Most of the other cities had one single vote each, while some very small cities shared one vote (for instance, Istlada, Apollonia, and Aperlai). Besides, some cities and small federal states were allowed to mint their own coins, provided they bore the inscription ΛΥΚΙΩΝ ΚΟΙΝΩΝ. This must have been an enormous boost to the Lycians’ pride and eventually to their prosperity.

The building we see here in Patara was, however, built in the first century AD and served for five hundred years. It could seat 400 representatives coming from all the member cities of the Lycian League, squeezing inside the walls of this 43-meter-long and 30-meter-wide Council House. When the Lycian League was at last dissolved, the building was still used as a theater.

Like Patara’s theater, the Council House had been swallowed and hidden under the moving sand dunes for centuries, which, in a way, helped to preserve the stones, making them look like new.

Ancient Myra from Finike

Today I decided to drive to nearby Myra. This is where Santa Claus was buried, not the legend but the real man, Saint Nicolas, of course. His grave is still here although his remains were stolen by Italian merchants in 1087 and taken to Bari, Italy. 

After Finike, the coastal road follows the contours of the landscape with every curve around the capes and inside the bays, offering rewarding views at each and every turn. It feels strange to be driving on this well-maintained road that I seem to know so well, looking at it from the gulet when I sailed these waters last year. It appeared as a horizontal scar in the landscape, now a winding ribbon of asphalt that is not free of danger from falling rocks. But I enjoy every mile of it. Soon enough, I enter the modern town of Demre that fills the entire bay, and I am happy to see that there are plenty of road signs directing me to ancient Myra.

Most of the ancient city lies underneath today’s Demre and is hidden under five meters of alluvial silts from the Demre River. This large plain is now almost entirely covered with greenhouses stuffed with tomatoes – very efficient but not exactly a sight for sore eyes.

Myra was first mentioned in the 1st century BC when it was one of the six leading cities of the Lycian League (with Xanthos, Tlos, Pinara, Patara, and Olympos), but its origins are believed to go back to the 5th century BC. The name was spelled MYRRH, and the Lycian coins bear the abbreviation ΛΥΚΙΩΝ ΜΥ. Myra once had a great Temple of Artemis Eleuthera (a distinctive form of Cybele), said to be Lycia's largest and most splendid building. However, St. Nicolas had the temple completely destroyed. How dared he?!

The ancient city was hit by a terrible earthquake in 141 AD, and our friend Opramoas of Rhodiapolis donated no less than 200,000 denarii for its reconstruction, together with two other benefactors, Licinius Langus of Oenoanda and Jason of Kyaenai. Under Emperor Theodosius II, it became the capital of the Byzantine Eparchy of Lycia. Myra lost one-third of its population to the plague in 542-543 AD, and after subsequent Muslim raids, flooding, and earthquakes, it was mostly abandoned by the 11th century. 

Plainly visible upon arrival is the Graeco-Roman Theater of Myra, chiseled into the rock and said to be the largest in Lycia and the third largest in Turkey. This is where I start. It is indeed quite impressive, and I manage to arrive before the busloads of tourists. I walk between interesting debris of carved stones from the Theater showing theatrical masks and beautiful reliefs of birds, mythological scenes, and, of course, the ever-present Muses. Then I climb all the way to the top, 38 rows above the skene, for a complete overview of the modern town of Demre and to get a feeling of what the theater-goers in early times must have seen looking towards the sea. Several rows lower, I walk the well-preserved diazoma whose face is rich with inscriptions, niches, and reliefs. The holes in the terraces once held wooden posts to which sunshades could be fastened, just like I have seen before in Limyra and Arykanda. A real touch of luxury, and why not? It seems that in the 3rd century AD, the theater was even used as a circus and for water sports!

Left of the Theater, I can’t miss seeing the many Lycian tombs cut out in the face of the rocks, but they are not accessible to visitors; only the ones of the eastern necropolis are. So I set off to that side, but then I didn’t find any path in spite of my repeated attempts through the orange groves and medlar orchards. I see a signpost indicating that the Lycian Way passed here, but I wish the backpacker good luck in finding out where he is going, for I can’t, and honestly, after yesterday’s experience hunting for Rhodiapolis, I lack the energy to investigate much further. An old woman kindly tries to put me back on track, handing me a couple of sweet apples, but in vain! OK, that was that.

[read further in Myra, the city of Saint Nicolas]
[Click here to see all the pictures of Myra]

Tlos in the beautiful Xanthos Valley

I find it quite exciting to read that recent excavations have been carried out in the ancient city of Tlos, not too far from Fethiye in Turkey. To me, Tlos is entirely linked to Alexander the Great, although there is no proof at all that he ever was here. In fact, this is true for the entire Xanthos Valley, which is part of ancient Lycia. All we know is that Alexander crossed Lycia in today’s Southern Turkey after his siege of Halicarnassus in 334 BC. At that point, he sent the newlywed soldiers home to Macedonia for the winter. He split the remaining part of his army up with his general Parmenion, who would take his men to Gordion. Alexander would cross Lycia from west to east to join Parmenion next spring in Gordion.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of having lunch amidst the ruins of Tlos on a most exquisite picnic place: a series of blocks from the bathhouse aligned in its shade with an eagle eye’s view over the historic valley below. This was really something special, to sit there among those ruins savoring the food in a place where Romans, Greeks, Lycians, and earlier civilizations lived in centuries past. The ancients must have spotted this place too, and maybe savored their own snack while watching the same scenery. It always makes me feel very privileged to sit in a place where people from times bygone sat. What were they seeing? What were they thinking? Whom did they talk to? This is beyond imagination, of course.

Inevitably, I pictured Alexander the Great riding his Bucephalus at an easy pace through this luscious Xanthos Valley that produced and still produces a variety of crops. These fertile fields were dotted with a string of cities from Tlos and Pınara in the north to the more familiar Xanthos and Letoon in the south. Somewhere to the northwest of Letoon lies Sidyma, half-buried under and among today’s Dodurga. An abundance of history for the taking!

 [picture from The Hurriyet Daily News]

Turkey is rich in antique sites, some of them being left mostly untouched, but from time to time archaeologists set out for further investigation. This summer, apparently, it was the turn of Tlos, where several Roman statues have been uncovered and moved to the local museum in Fethiye. Time to go back, it seems. From the one picture published with this article in The Hurriyet Daily News in August 2011, one can easily recognize Emperor Hadrian standing in the middle of the group. Other life-sized statues represent Antonius Pius and his daughter Faustina Minor, Marcus Aurelius, and the goddess Isis.

Moreover, other artifacts helped to date Tlos back 10,500 years, while it was previously believed that the site was occupied for the past 2,700 years only. The archaeological team will continue its excavations over the next few months, focusing on the city center, the rock tombs around the Acropolis, the Stadium, the Basilica, and the Theater tower, and investigate Girmeler Cave and Tavabaşı Cave.

Tlos is not very well known and evidently much less than Xanthos or Myra, for instance, but it is definitely worth investigating if ever you are in the area.

When I was there in 2007, archaeologists had been working on the Roman Bath complex, removing much of the soil and rubble from the Solarium, where apparently precious mosaics were found, now covered with plastic and dirt to protect them from the elements – and unfortunately, to my view also. The thickness of the layer of soil that has been removed here is remarkable (I would say 1.5 to 2 meters), exposing pure white building stones. The many rooms of this bathhouse had not been mapped yet, but it is too early to establish their function.

Inside the Byzantine Basilica, all the trees and bushes had recently been cut down (the core of the trunks and branches is still whitish). The overall plan now plainly exposes three wide naves with a central row of columns lying just as they have fallen down. There are even a few traces of plaster visible on the walls. This Basilica might be standing on top of an older temple; only time will tell.

The theater is located next to the Basilica. The loose stones have been inventoried, and one day they’ll be moved back to their original place again. Parts of the skene and proscenium are still standing, including a remarkable window to the outside that may have been framed by a column on either side and covered with a protruding roof.

Inside the theater, the lower rows of seats are cleared of rubble and soil. The big blocks are piled up near the skene, and the debris is neatly heaped up in the middle of the orchestra, waiting to find a way to be carried outside. The benches of each row are still neatly aligned, with the lion paws at the corner. All around the top of the theater, high slabs are preventing the visitors from falling down, as the theater’s back is not leaning against the hillside. The original construction is definitely Greek and was adapted to Roman needs, as done in Fethiye and Patara. The bashed and battered VIP seats have been moved to the ambulatorium, meaning that at some point the theater was turned into an arena. The vomitoriums on either side are still filled with fallen stones and rocks. It would be interesting to return someday to see the results of these excavations and restorations, as apparently the archaeological team is working here again in 2011!

On the other side of the modern road, the Stadium has been unearthed, showing several rows of seats over the entire length, leaning against the Boouleuterion wall. The floor itself is being used by the villagers for their promising crop of corn, but the spine of the stadium has been cleared and is plainly visible. From what I saw lately on Turkish TV, diggings have been carried out recently, clearing part of the floor. It is a place that tantalizes your imagination, picturing the races that were held here, something like in the Ben-Hur movie.

The rocky hillside behind the Stadium was obviously the favorite spot for the Lycians to build their tombs, many displaying the early wooden door patterns. I even discovered one tomb that still has its sliding door in place! I tried to move it, but it didn’t budge. Maybe it needs some waxing to make it slide again, I wonder.

I climbed higher up to the Acropolis, past a few typical, very weathered Lycian sarcophagi. The Acropolis proper had little to offer from ancient times, only the 19th-century walls of the fort that Aga Ali, also called Bloody Ali, built here. Yet the view over the Xanthos Valley is breathtaking! One can easily locate the other old cities of Sidyma, Pınara, and Patara further south, with at the far horizon the glittering Mediterranean Sea. This was definitely a very fertile valley, and it still is today with the many prosperous fields and healthy fruit trees.

So, yes, you definitely should include a visit to Tlos whenever you are around Fethiye or the Xanthos Valley!

Lycia, worth to be known

Lycia is located in southern Turkey, roughly the big bulge between Marmaris in the west and Antalya in the east. It is mostly a mountainous knob that is connected to the rest of Turkey by two valleys only, the Xanthos Valley in the west and the Finike Valley in the east. Even today, roads are scarce and follow the same valleys. The main east-west traffic follows the coastal road between Fethiye and Antalya, which is constantly improved but still a lengthy affair, although it offers spectacular views!

To me, this is a true shrine of snowy mountain tops, deep gorges, and a wealth of archaeological sites with an unsurpassed rich history, going way back in time.

The Lycians were referred to as the Luwian people in early eastern and Egyptian inscriptions, i.e., the Luqqu or Luqqa from the 2nd millennium BC. Lycia’s main source of income came from its forests and trade with the ships that navigated along its coastline. Neighboring kings from Caria and Lydia tried but failed to conquer Lycia until the Persians under the Achaemenids managed to impose themselves. Persian rule was fierce and ruthless, and Xanthos resisted heavily, preferring even mass suicide rather than submission to the enemy.

The occupation took a different turn when Mausolos, the King and satrap of Caria, took over, forming a kind of buffer between the Persians and the Lycians. In the 4th century BC, a certain Pericles tried to unite all Lycian cities under one central rule, without success. It was Alexander the Great who put a final end to the Persian occupation; at the same time, he also stopped the use of the Lycian language in favor of Greek. After Alexander’s premature death and the fight of his successors over the territories he conquered, Lycia came under the rule of the Egyptian Ptolemaic in 310 BC, and in 301 BC it was ruled by Lysimachos, King of Syria. But this kingdom would not live long enough either, and finally, by the beginning of the 2nd century BC, Lycia came under the control of Rhodes with the influence of Rome.

Yet Rhodes did not give the Lycians fair treatment, and after many complaints, Rome found it reasonable to grant them their freedom. At this point, the Lycian cities all agreed it was time to unite, and the Lycian League, as dreamed of by Pericles, became a reality. The six main cities: Xanthos, Pınara, Tlos, Patara, Myra, and Olympos, were the administrative, judicial, military, financial, and religious centers, and each received 3 votes in the meetings of the League. Most of the other cities had one vote each, while some very small cities shared 1 vote (for instance, Istlada, Apollonia, and Aperlai). Some cities and small federal states were allowed to mint their own coins, provided they bore the inscription ΛΥΚΙΩΝ ΚΟΙΝΩΝ. This must have been an enormous boost to the Lycians’ pride, leading to their prosperity (see: The World's first parliament building - Patara)

During the 1st century BC, Lycia, with the rest of Anatolia, became a Roman province, but this domination had its good side too, for Rome had the power and the means to protect them against pirates, for instance. When their plundering of commercial ships and coastal cities went beyond limits, Manlius Vulso decided to go after them both by land and sea – and he was successful! The trade routes were open once again, and the economy developed.

But then, in the wake of the murder of Julius Caesar, Brutus arrived in Lycia. Finding no support for his cause, he slaughtered the inhabitants of Xanthos (a repeat of what the Persians had done a few centuries before). A year later, Marc Antony took over, and luckily, he decided to rebuild the cities, especially Xanthos. With the reign of Augustus, peace returned, at last, reaching its heyday under Trajan and Hadrian.

Unfortunately, in 141 AD, Anatolia, including Lycia, was hit by a severe earthquake, destroying many cities. Thanks to the contributions of rich citizens like Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, every single city between Phaselis in the east and Telmessus in the west was rebuilt, and Lycia continued developing. But then it was hit again by a major earthquake on the 5^th of August 240 AD, and the cities were equally destroyed – yet no money seemed to have been available for their reconstruction, and the entire region slowly fell into decline. By the 5^th century, the Byzantine Empire was crumbling down, and soon afterward, the Arabs invaded the territory.

Each and every site is worth discovering and visiting. One of the most thrilling experiences you can plan is to go out there by boat and explore this mysterious and unforgiving land from the sea. Personally, I have sailed this coast on board the Almira with Peter Sommer Travels, an experience that will last forever. Time truly comes to a standstill, and I easily pictured how the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the merchants, and the pirates navigated along this coastline. It is no surprise either to hear that the oldest shipwreck (1350 BC) has been found near Uluburun, approximately in the middle of the bulge. The entire cargo has been rescued and is now on display at the Museum of Bodrum – a true revelation!

But not only are the coastal cities and sites worth a visit, Lycia has lots of hidden treasures off the beaten tracks of tourists and/or further inland. Although I have mentioned a few cities above, it is utterly impossible to draw an exhaustive list. Maybe I’ll add just a few names like Rhodiapolis, Limyra, Arykanda, Chimera, Phellos, or Letoon …

Farewell to the Lycian Coast 16

Today is set aside for sailing, swimming, and relaxing, and that is exactly what we do. After breakfast, I stroll around the gulet. Our captain is trying to get enough wind to hoist our sails, but we are not very lucky this morning. We stop for a swim in a private cove that makes me feel we are the first visitors ever, while on the other hand, it emanates that kind of old wisdom that so many have been here before us.

After lunch, we set out again in Fethiye Bay, and this time, the weather gods are with us. All the sails are out, the motor is silenced, and the comforting sounds of wind and water take over. I have nestled myself in a solitary spot at the bow, savoring my front row seating and panoramic view. The deep ink ink-blue sea is dotted with paper-like sailboats. On the port side, the mainland of Fethiye is shrouded in a haze, and I wonder if this is dust or pollution? It is an unforgettable sensation to be at the mercy of the winds, billowing the sails and pushing us towards our next and final destination, Göçek.

All too soon, the spell is broken. This is where it all ends. Our gulet is moored among hundreds of other boats. The town’s noises of music, people talking and laughing, and merchants selling their knick-knacks mingle with the smell of food. Our trip has come to an end. We all find it hard to return to reality, and we are glad that our poet has found the right words to summarize the impressions we all share. He wrote them down in the ship’s log, but he personally read them to us after our last dinner on board:

L Y C I A N    D A Y S

Warm thanks to the crew of Almira
And Peter, our eloquent guide,
And the skills of our undaunted drivers
On many a hair-raising drive.

We’ve trekked over pine-scented hillsides,
And swum in a wine-dark lagoon,
And relished fine dishes of mezes
Under a pale crescent moon.

We’ve visited hill towns and harbours,
Where the ancient Lycians arose,
Who buried their dead in stone boxes,
And sat in stone theatres for shows.

The oracle temple at Sura,
Where fishy predictions were granted,
And the Ottoman castle at Kale,
By the glow of the sunset enchanted.

The grand council hall at Patara,
New revealed by the deep-delving spade,
Sidyma, Tlos and Pinara –
Of these names are rich memories made.

John Onley October 2007

Click on the Label Lycian Coast to read my full travel story

Unexpected visit to Tlos - Lycian Coast 15

Because of the storm earlier on our trip (see: Sheltering for a storm like in antiquity), our entire program has been pulled one day forward. As a result, we wind up with an extra day at the end of our tour, and Peter is giving us a choice: either take a two-hour walk behind Fethiye or visit the archaeological site of Tlos. We all agree on Tlos, which makes me personally very happy indeed!

First, we go to Fethiye, which is after a quick dip in the sea for my companions. Our bus pulls up around 10.30 a.m. to take us there, as our boat will join us later on. We will have about 1 ½ hours in town for shopping, and I set off straight to the Archaeological Museum (where else?). It is a small museum, a little old-fashioned, but it shows a couple of items that make it worthwhile for me. For instance, this is where I can find the mosaic from the Temple of Apollo in Letoon (4th century BC) and the stele with the law inscription of Pixodarus, satrap of Caria, in Greek, Lycian, and Aramaic, dating back to the time of Artaxerxes – both originals that I have seen in Letoon earlier this Spring. A smaller stele from Tlos, unique in its way, mentions how its citizens paid for the city's repairs after being hit by an earthquake. There are, of course, the usual and more common items like glassware, pottery, coins from different times and in different metals, golden jewelry, and parts of statues, mostly Roman. As always, I’m happy to see these items with my own eyes. After this most pleasant visit, I have time left for a Turkish coffee, and I find a kind of Konditorei that serves it with pistachio baklava on the side, right on the main street. Great! Just what I needed!

Fethiye stands on the site of the ancient Lycian city of Telmessus, whose remains include spectacular rock tombs and sarcophagi dating from the 5th-4th century BC. Other landmarks include the remains of a Byzantine fortress on top of a nearby hill, but somehow I missed noticing it. Much of the town is new, however, having been rebuilt after the terrible earthquake of 1958. There seems to be a Lycian sarcophagus well worth visiting, the so-called Tomb of Amyntas, dating from the 4th century BC, built in Doric style. So I’ll have to come back to Fethiye also.

Our meeting point is in front of the Roman Theater at the far end of the main road – easy to find, and I am there early enough to make my inspection tour. Fethiye’s theater was excavated from 1992 to 1995, but it still looks very confusing and overgrown. Built in the 2nd century AD, it was modified in Roman times and even converted into an arena with high walls around the orchestra to protect the audience from wild animals’ attacks. Part of the skene and proscenium has also survived, but it all looks very neglected. It provides, however, a sweeping view over the harbor, separated from the sea by a tranquil park where an oversized bronze pilot stares up at the sky. This is Fethi Bey, Turkey’s first aviation martyr, who crashed near Damascus in 1914 in an attempt to fly non-stop from Istanbul to Cairo. In honor of his heroic exploit, the city changed its original name from Meğri to Fethiye.

The Bay of Fethiye is very wide and large, and it seems to be a favorite spot for tourists and fishing boats alike. I spot the Almira with her green trimmings in the middle of the harbor, and moments later, I see our zodiac approaching with Peter on board. He carries our lunch for today, and it is about 1 p.m. when we set out for Tlos. This is a pleasant drive land inwards and I am all excited to enter the Xanthos Valley again, for this is Alexander territory.

Tlos, known as Tlava or Tlave in the Lycian language, goes back four thousand years, and it seems that even the Hittites referred to Tlos as Dalawa in the land of Luqqa. Tlos was one of the six cities that had three votes in the Lycian League, remember? The devastating earthquake of 141 AD hit the city severely, and once again, we have to thank our friend Opramoas of Rhodiapolis as well as Licinius Langus of Oenoanda, another rich Lycian, for the denarii they donated for the reconstruction. After being a diocese in Byzantine times, nothing major happened here until Ali Aga ruled over this region in the 19th century and built his stronghold right on top of the old Acropolis, where it still stands.

We park on a narrow local road and Peter and Ivşak carry our lunches into ancient Tlos, where we find the most exquisite picnic place: a series of blocks from the bathhouse that have been aligned in its shade with an eagle eye’s view over the historic valley below. We spread out the food on a table and helped ourselves. This is really something special, sitting here among those ruins, savoring the food in a place where Romans, Greeks, Lycians, and earlier civilizations lived centuries ago. The ancients must have spotted this place also and maybe savored their own snack while watching the scenery. It always makes me feel very privileged to sit in a place where people from times bygone have done so before. What were they seeing? What were they thinking? Whom did they talk to? This is beyond imagination, of course.

After clearing our tables, we take a closer look at this Roman Bath complex. We pass the Byzantine Basilica, which might be standing on top of an older temple; only time will tell.

Nearby is the theater. The original construction is definitely Greek and adapted to Roman needs in later times, as they did in Fethiye and in Patara. It will be interesting to return here in a couple of years to see the results of these excavations and restorations.

There is a group of Germans in the theater, and the guide is reciting the history of Lycia for the world to hear. We find this very disturbing and huddle together at one end of the seating rows, hoping that he’ll cut his oration short. He doesn’t and goes on and on about Chimaera and the Hittites and the Persians; where or when Tlos or this theater is fitting in his story remains an open question. Peter whispers a few facts and figures about this theater, and we are all very much relieved when the German group finally moves out. The poet in our group has decided it is time for a proper performance and treats us to some lines of Brutus from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Wow! That is something else! We all watch and listen in awe. A lonely tourist taking detailed pictures stops in his tracks and watches him with respect. When, at the end, we all applaud, he shares our enthusiasm and claps with a broad smile on his face. Wonderful!

On the other side of the modern road, the Stadium has been unearthed, showing several rows of seats over the entire length, leaning against the Bouleuterion wall. 

The rocky hillside behind the Stadium was obviously a favorite spot for the Lycians to build their tombs. I'm very excited to discover one tomb that still has its sliding door in place! 

We climb higher up to the Acropolis, past a few typical, very weathered Lycian sarcophagi. The Acropolis itself has little to offer except the breathtaking view over the Xanthos Valley! We can easily locate the old cities we visited on earlier trips: Sidyma, Pınara, and Patara further south, with at the far horizon the glittering Mediterranean Sea. 

Well, so much for Tlos. We return to Fethiye, and at the foot of the Roman Theater, we say our goodbyes to Ivşak. Our poet has composed a short but warm thank-you poem, and Ivşak is rather moved by the entire event. I guess he did not expect such honor! Well, if you have a poem written especially for you and read to you in public, you would be moved too, wouldn’t you?

We return aboard the Almira and leave Fethiye harbor for a more remote and quieter anchor place, just a little further north. By the time we get there, darkness has already set in.

Click on the Label Lycian Coast to read my full story