Myra (Lycia)
Coordinates: 36 ° 16 ' N , 29 ° 59' E
Myra is an ancient city in Lycia . The place is now called Demre (formerly Kale , Turkish for fortress ) and is located in the province of Antalya in Turkey . Myra is known as a place of pilgrimage (especially for the Orthodox Church ) because of Nikolaus von Myra (* 280/286 in Patara in Lycia; † 345/351) , who came from there .
history
Myra was already of some importance in the classical epoch and from the time of Hellenism one of the six largest cities of the Lycian League . After the separation of Lycia from Pamphylia under Emperor Theodosius II (408-450 AD), Myra became the administrative capital and ecclesiastical capital of the province.
The goddess of the hunt Artemis Eleuthera ( Cybele ) owned a cult center in Myra, which was destroyed in an earthquake in 141 AD. An inscription by the Opramoas of Rhodiapolis , who financed the rebuilding of the theater, describes their temple in Myra as the largest and most magnificent in Lycia. This is also reported by a legend that originated in the 6th century about the demolition of the sanctuary by Bishop Nicholas himself.
Myra was a bishopric ; from 300, Nikolaus von Myra officiated as bishop.
In 809 the place was plundered by Arab troops under Hārūn ar-Raschīd and then lost its importance. During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118) Myra was temporarily conquered by the Islamic Seljuks . Italian merchants from Bari used the troubled time to bring the remains of Saint Nicholas to their homeland, where they arrived on May 9, 1087. From then on, Bari became the central pilgrimage site of the St. Nicholas cult.
The city has been buried under the mud of the Demre River over the centuries; its ruins were explored in 1965 and 1968 by the German archaeologist Jürgen Borchhardt .
Attractions
The first St. Nicholas Church was built in the 6th century. Today's three-aisled basilica is essentially from the 8th century. Constantine IX Monomachos (1000-1055) and Empress Zoe renewed the church. A monastery was built in the second half of the 11th century, and the monks were entrusted with the care of the pilgrimage site.
Nicholas' bones were transported to Bari by Italian merchants in 1087 . In doing so, the church did not completely lose its importance; pilgrims went to her later too.
The church, which for centuries had been submerged in the mud of the Demre River, was acquired by the Russians in 1850 under Tsar Alexander II and partially restored. Plans to permanently connect the shrine with the Russian Orthodox Church definitely failed in 1910. In 1963 the eastern and western sides of the church were excavated. Further Turkish excavations have been taking place at the church since the 1990s. Inside there are Byzantine frescoes and architectural sculptures as well as Roman sarcophagi, which were reused as spolia . There is a modern Nicholas monument in front of the church.
On December 6, 2007, the Turkish Minister of Culture Ertuğrul Gunay allowed the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I to celebrate a service according to the Greek Orthodox liturgy in the Church of Demre, consecrated to St. Nicholas. The last service in the basilica took place in 2002. The Patriarchate applied every year but received no approval for five years. In addition, the Minister of Culture made around 25,000 euros available as a donation so that the basilica, which was in poor condition, could be completely restored.
Other sights in the city are the Roman theater and the Lycian rock tombs .
The old port of Myra, Andriake , five kilometers southwest of Demre (today's name: Bay of Çayağzı) , is now silted up. It is an early Hellenistic foundation. The apostle Paul changed ships here in 59 AD on his journey to Rome ( Acts 27.5–6 EU ). The port infrastructure was massively expanded in the middle imperial period . The port flourished in the late antique-early Byzantine period. In addition to the six churches, two bathing facilities were also built during this time. In the early Byzantine period, purple was extracted from the Granarium , as evidenced by an extensive rubbish hill that partially covers the former marketplace. The settlement was probably abandoned in the early Middle Ages, although the reasons for this development are not known; but they may be related to the increasing siltation.
The old granarium, a granary in which up to 6000 cubic meters of grain could be stored, is worth seeing .
Also worth seeing are the nearby village of Ücağız ( Kekova ) and the neighboring village of Kaleköy (Simena). Lycian rock graves and tendril sarcophagi can be seen there - relatively well preserved.
Diving is prohibited in the coastal region, but the area around Kekova is attractive for snorkelers .
literature
- Jürgen Borchhardt (Ed.): Myra. A Lycian metropolis in ancient and Byzantine times ; Istanbul Research, Vol. 30; Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1975. ISBN 3-7861-2209-1
- Nevzat Çevik (Ed.): Arkeolojisinden Doğasına Myra / Demre ve Çevresi . TC Kültür ve Turizm Bakanliğı Yayını, Antalya 2010. ISBN 978-975-17-3517-1 .
Web links
- Official website of Demre
- English language site for Myra
- Virtual tour of the ancient city of Myra
- Description, pictures and plans of Myra in Lycia
- Description, pictures and plans of the Nicholas Church of Myra in Lycia
Individual evidence
- ^ Lora Gerd: Russian Policy in the Orthodox East: The Patriarchate of Constantinople (1878-1914) . De Gruyter Open Ltd, Warsaw / Berlin 2014, 109–116.
- ↑ Mavi Zambak: TURKEY Finally a mass in the church of Saint Nicholas in Myra. May 12, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2017 .