Antalya & The Mediterranean Region

At the end of the First World War, during the time when Antalya was under the Italian military occupation, Italian archeologists started to remove the archeological treasures that had been found in the center or the surroundings to the Italian Embassy, which they claimed to do in the name of civilization. To prevent these initiatives, Suleyman Fikri Bey, the Sultani teacher, applied to the Antalya post and jurisdiction of the provincial Governor in 1919 and had himself appointed as voluntary officer of antiquities and first tried to establish the Antalya Museum by collecting what remained in the center.
The museum at first operated in the Alaeddin Mosque in 1922, then in Yivli Mosque beginning from 1937, and then moved to its present building in 1972. It was closed to visitors for a wide range of modifications and restorations in 1982. It was reorganized according to a modern approach for a museum and opened to the public in April 1985, after the restorations and display arrangements made by the General Directorate of Ancient Objects and Museums.
The museum contains 13 display halls, a children’s section and open galleries. The objects only belonging to the region are generally presented chronologically and according to their subjects.

To the east of Antalya at about 20 minutes drive. The city was originally settled by the Hittites around 1500 B.C. Perge later flourished under the Selecuid kings when the city was fortified for the first time; the towers of that period remain standing at almost their original height today. Most of today’s Perge, however, belongs to the period of Pax Romana.
Also, St. Paul preached of his first sermons here.

Another 28 kilometers from Perge to the east is the second Pamhylian city of Aspendos. Its theater, the best preserved theater of antiquity, with a seating of 15000, is still in use today.

Lycia covers the wide peninsula between Antalya and Fethiye.
The Lycians are believed to have come to Anatolia from across the sea around the second half of the 15th century B.C. In Hittite records they were known as the Lukkas, and in the tablets found in Egypt they were mentioned as sea raiders.
The Lycians had prosperous cities such as Xanthos, Patara, Letoon, Thelmessos and many others which they defended fiercely against invaders; the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, for they valued freedom more than life.

Further to the west of Kemer is one of the most charming ancient ports of Lycia, Phaselis. It has three beaches as well as ruins of the Roman and Byzantine periods.

The ancient Phoenicus, is famous throughout Turkey as one of the country’s orange growing capitals.
The site of the “Battle of the Masts” in A.D. 655, the first major naval victory of the Muslim Arabs over the Byzantines.

Some of the finest examples of Lycian funerary architecture (rock tombs) are to be found here. The site includes a vast Roman theater in good repair.

It is located in the center of Demre. St. Nicholas was born in Patara around AD 300 and was bishop of Myra, where he died.

Kekova is an island as well as the name of a whole ensemble of picturesque islands, numerous bays and ancient cities. These bays provide natural harbours in all seasons, and yachtsmen particularly enjoy exploring the unspoilt landscape. Along the northern shore of Kekova Island at Appollonia, earthquakes have disturbed the land causing some of the ancient buildings to sink under the water creating “a sunken city.”

An attractive little town with an alluring harbor, some good restaurants, souvenir shops, artisans displaying their goods.
The ancient Antiphellus began to develop in Hellenistic times and by the Roman period was the leading city of the region.

A lovely small hilltop town that overlooks a tiny bay. It has become increasingly popular and its harbor attracts many yachts.

A principal harbor of ancient Lycia. According to mythology Apollo was born here. The theater, dating from the second century B.C., is intact but has been virtually filled by sand that have drifted in and invaded much of the site. The most important of the other buildings in the area, is the granary of Hadrian, a vast building standing to its full height safe for its roof.

The ancient Lycian capital, remained independent until the Persian invasion of 545 B.C. which Herodotus relates as : “…Penned in to their city they (Lycian) collected wives, children, slaves and property on the acropolis, then set fire to the whole and burned it to the ground. After which they issued forth and perished fighting to the last man. Of the present Lycians who all claim to be Xanthians, nearly all, apart from eighty families, are foreigners. These eighty families were away at the time and thus survived ….”

The site was virtually intact in 1838 when British explorer Sir Charles Fellows arrived here. He was inspired to return four years later in Her Majesty’s ship “Beacon”, whose sailors spent two months carting away the monuments in one of the great archaeological rapes of the 19th century…

Letoon is the sanctuary city of ancient Lycia built for Leto and her children, Apollo and Artemis.
According to the legend Leto was loved by Zeus to whom she bore two children; Artemis and Apollo. She had to flee because of Hera’s anger (Zeus’ wife) and seek refuge by the river Xanthos. Here she was chased by local shepherds which she transformed in to frogs…
Today one can visit the remnants of three temples, a basilica, and a monumental nyphaeum which consisted of two buildings separated by a pool.

Fethiye gives its name to the large Gulf where a great many islands, inlets and bays surrounded by magnificent landscape offers perfect cruising.
Thelmessos was part of the Lycian confederation and one of its six most important cities.
Today nothing remains of the ancient settlement except for some rock tombs. These are the best examples of the kind and the most famous one is the Tomb of King Amyntas with its two columns between pilasters and stud decoration built around the 4th century B.C.

Caunos is an ancient Carian city on the river Köycağiz at the border with Lycia. It used to be a port but today it stands three kilometers away from the sea.
The ruins of Caunos is reached through the village of Dalyan in a 20 minutes boat ride through a marshy area. Rock tombs can be seen from the boat when crossing the river. There are two kinds of tombs here; temple tombs known as such because of their temple like construction, with two columns, a dental frieze and a crowning decoration. The others are simple chamber tombs with square doors.
The Caunians claimed to be the descendants of immigrants from Crete, but Herodotus believed they were indigenous to the region, neither Carians nor Lycians speaking a language similar to Carian.
Caunos was founded in 129 B.C. and was one of the cities of the province of Asia which later joined Lycia. During the Roman empire the city flourished economically and the main commerce was salt and slaves.