Ancient Cities of Lycian Civilization

The Ancient Cities of Lycian Civilization comprise the remains of 7 major cities from the Lycian League, a kind of ‘United Arab Emirates’ from the 1st century BC – ‘democratic’ but with some cities having more votes than others. It includes the already inscribed Xanthos, so it should be considered as an extension although the Site description does not explicitly say so. ‘Lycian’ in this period refers to a regional identity: they lived nominally under Persian, Hellenistic and Roman rule but were granted a lot of autonomy in their affairs.

I focused my visit on Tlos, arguably the best among the 6 additional ones and in some respects even better than Xanthos (although it lacks the historically important inscriptions in the Lycian language of the latter). On the approach I knew already that it would be a worthwhile visit: the location of Tlos, amidst steep hills and canyons, is stunning. The excavated area is compact, with the Acropolis and rock-cut tombs to the right, the stadium in the middle and the theatre and baths to the left.

The site facilities are still on a basic level, in line with the relatively low 40 TL entrance fee. Parking is done just somewhere by the side of the road. The trails up to the rock-cut tombs are very slippery with loose stones. There is no signposted itinerary either. Part of the fun is to discover the various elements by yourself. There were a fair number of foreign tourists …

I visited this tWHS in Spring 2021 focusing mainly on Patara apart from the already inscribed Xanthos. My thumbs down is not for the quality of the proposed sites, but because ideally this would be an extension of the already inscribed Xanthos-Letoon.

Patara is a perfect site to combine with a day at the beach. Several turtles use this beach as their nesting ground at night so when I visited I could see several signs and numbered posts indicating the numerous places on the beach where turtles had already laid their eggs. I parked just before the beach and hiked leftwards from the car park behind the sand dunes covered with vegetation following Google Maps to the ancient Roman lighthouse remains. It was easier for us as there was a crane at the site since a huge reconstruction project was launched in 2020, nicknamed the Year of Patara. For the time being only the huge three stepped base and a few huge stones of the 2,500 original ones are in place. The rest have been numbered and sorted around the base. It was great to be able to look out for the ones with Latin inscriptions on them (bottom right photo). The ancient lighthouse was devastated in 1481 due to an earthquake in Rhodes and a subsequent tsunami in the Mediterranean. The reconstruction project will use artificial intelligence to determine the original placement of the original stones and reconstruct the structure. More information and a computer generated photo is …

I visited 4 of the currently proposed 6 Lycian cities on my trip from Xanthos to Antalya.

Xanthos

Already inscribed as a WHS, this is probably the town most travellers will visit. The site is already covered by the several Xanthos-Letoon reviews.

Patara

Patara served as the Lycian capital and the archaeological site stretches over a large area. After passing the tollbooth to pay the entrance fee, the road leads more than 1km into the site until you reach the parking lot. The area includes a rather well preserved theatre, a heavily reconstructed parliament hall and several remains of other buildings such as baths and temples. If you hike up the hill behind the theatre, you will find a tomb and a view point. I covered the northern part by parking my car near the ancient main gate. From there you can visit the Harbour Bath.

Myra

Myra is located at the northern border of the city of Demre. It can easily be combined with the St. Nicholas Church TWHS in the city center. The site is very small, but very scenic. It consists of a very nice and big theatre and countless tombs built into the rock behind the town. I spent around 40 mins on site and would not know how to extend it much further.

Phaselis

Phaselis is only one hour drive from Antalya. This site by far attracts the most …