Category Genel

Kibyra Ancient City

The ancient city of Kibyra, Gölhisar, Burdur

Located in the Gölhisar district of Burdur, Kibyra Ancient City is one of the most warrior-like and economically powerful metropolises of the ancient period, with its title "City of Gladiators" and an industry based on metallurgy, leatherworking, and horse breeding. With its magnificent Opus Sectile Medusa mosaic—the only one of its kind in the world—its Odeon standing as one of the most intact parliament buildings in Anatolia, its 12,000-capacity stadium, and its leadership of the Tetrapolis, it is a unique cultural treasure inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Karmylassos Ancient City

kayakoy oren yeri genel gorunum

The Karmylassos Ancient City, upon which Kayaköy (known as the "Ghost Village" in Fethiye) rises, is a multi-layered and melancholic cultural heritage extending from ancient roots to recent history. With its 500 stone houses built in an order that does not block each other's light, the Taksiyarhis Church famous for its black-and-white floor mosaics, and the Livissi fabric bearing the traces of the 1923 population exchange, it is one of the most impressive time-defying settlements of the Land of Light, Lycia.

Kadyanda Ancient City

The theater of Kadyanda Ancient City and pine forests, Fethiye.

Located at an altitude of 915 meters on the ridges of Fethiye’s Üzümlü Town, Kadyanda Ancient City (Kadawanti) is a magnificent Lycian mountain fortress standing out with its sports culture and military ingenuity. With its unique stadium that continues to host festival races today, its famous "Rider Tomb" (Hector Relief) hidden among the pines, massive retaining terraces, and panoramic views commanding the Gulf of Fethiye, it is one of the most original living heritages of the Land of Light.

Istlada Ancient City

Image of the necropolis of Istlada Ancient City.

Rising on a hill overlooking the deep blue Gökkaya Bay between Kaş and Demre, Istlada Ancient City is a boutique Lycian settlement where nature and history integrate. Monitoring ancient mariners and port trade, this fortress-city reflects the aesthetic and military ingenuity of western Lycia with its grand tomb structure known as the "Hoyran Monument," rock tombs famous for their rooster and pigeon reliefs, and smart water channels carved into the rocks.

Isinda Ancient City

Isinda Ancient City, Belenli Village

Rising on a strategic hill on the ridges of Kaş’s Belenli Village, Isinda Ancient City is a historical gem reflecting the boutique principality centers and local administrative structures of Lycia. Included in the political union (Sympoliteia) led by Aperlai, the city offers the mountainous Lycian fabric in its purest form with its famous house-type tombs featuring Lycian inscriptions that replicate ancient wooden civil architecture in stone, its limestone fortifications, cisterns, and the story of its population's migration to Antiphellos (Kaş) over time.

Idebessos Ancient City

The sarcophagi of Idebessos Ancient City, Kumluca.

Located at an altitude of 1,050 meters on the foothills of the Akdağlar, Idebessos Ancient City is a strategic Lycian crossroads connecting mountain paths to the coast. Standing out with its political union (Sympoliteia) formed with Akalissos and Kormos alongside its position on the Miliarium Lyciae, the city is a mystical mountain settlement hidden in the heart of nature, featuring unique sarcophagi instead of typical rock tombs, a rare triconch-plan Byzantine church, and the famous bronze statuettes of the rider god Kakasbos displayed in the Antalya Museum.

Gagai Ancient City

The acropolis hill of Gagai Ancient City and the Kumluca coastal view.

Controlling the intersection of sea and land routes in Kumluca, Gagai Ancient City is one of the most strategic fortresses of eastern Lycia, with its name meaning "Earth City" in the Hellenic language. Having gained shared representative power in the Lycian League thanks to the strong political alliance it established with Korydalla and Rhodiapolis, the city carries the deeply rooted defense history of the region with its coins minted in the name of its protective goddess Athena, fortifications reinforced against Arab raids, and plain views.

Dolichiste Ancient City

Ancient city of Dolichiste, sunken city of Kekova Island, underwater stairs.

Located on the northern coast of Kekova Island and submerged by earthquakes in the 2nd century A.S. (A.D.), Dolichiste Ancient City is a fascinating underwater heritage known as the "Sunken City" in the archaeological world. As a member of the four-city league led by Aperlai, the city offers a melancholic silhouette of a marine town where time has stood still, featuring stairs, shop thresholds, and port structures discernible beneath the clear Mediterranean waters under a special environmental protection status.

Daedala Ancient City

Rock tombs of the ancient city of Daedala and İnlice Asarı Hill, Fethiye.

Controlling the Gulf of Fethiye from above and hidden among pine forests, Daedala Ancient City (İnlice Asarı) formed the sharp border between the Lycian League and the territories under Rhodian rule in antiquity. With its nature matching its name meaning "Little Pine Forest" in the Luwian language, its geopolitical importance in the notes of Strabo of Amasya, its acropolis walls, and rock tombs, it stands as a silent border guardian of western Lycia.

Choma Ancient City

Mound of the ancient city of Choma, Lycian ruins in the Elmalı Plain

Located at the center of the fertile Elmalı Plain, Choma Ancient City (Hacımusalar Mound) is one of the most deeply rooted memory centers of the Lycian geography with its 5,000 years of uninterrupted settlement layers. With its broad chronology extending from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period, ingenious mudbrick defense systems, rare ceiling mosaics, and frescoes, it is a magnificent mound settlement that stands apart from classical stone cities and controls the plain.