Rhodiapolis

Lycian cities and their location in today's Turkey

Rhodiapolis was an ancient city in Lycia (now Turkey ) that has been documented to exist from the fourth century BC to the seventh century AD. Rhodiapolis is located on a small hill 3 km northwest of the city center of Kumluca ( Antalya Province ), which offers a beautiful view of the bay of Kumluca and Finike .

history

Drachm from Rhodiapolis, Apollo's head, slightly decentered, after 168 BC Chr.

Back of the drachm from Rhodiapolis, lyre in quadratum incusum

With the exception of a stone grave with a Lycian inscription, the city shows little evidence of settlement before the fourth century BC. Chr. On. Presumably, like the cities of Gagai , Olympos , Phaselis and Korydalla, it was founded by settlers from Rhodes . Two rock tombs with Lycian inscriptions date from the 4th century. The army of Alexander the Great made a stop here before setting up the winter camp at Phaselis in 333 BC. Reached. In the Hellenistic period, Rhodiapolis belonged to the Lycian League and minted its own coins, as it did again during the Roman Empire under Gordian III. In late antiquity, the city was the seat of a bishop who was subordinate to the Metropolitan of Myra .

investment

General view, in the background Kumluca

The excavations in the area of ​​the city continue to this day. At the top of the hill are the remains of an observation tower that was probably built in Ptolemaic times. Immediately below is the well-preserved theater , which was built between the first century BC. And the beginning of the first century AD. It was damaged and repaired in the severe earthquake in AD 141. The grave monument of the Opramoas of Rhodiapolis in front of the theater shows in a long inscription his euergetic benefits in numerous cities of Lycia. In particular, he had the damage caused by the earthquake in 141 repaired with large sums of money.

Below the theater there is a boulevard, next to it a Roman bath. The city was supplied with water from the northwest by an aqueduct . The necropolis with many Roman tombs is located north, northeast and east of the city. In early Byzantine times, some buildings and underground cisterns were built. From the seventh century onwards there are no traces of settlement; it is not known why the city was abandoned.

• 

  Lycian sarcophagus.

• 

  The Rhodiapolis Theater.

• 

  The Rhodiapolis Theater.

• 

  Inscription of the Opramoas of Rhodiapolis.

• 

  Lycian hemidrachm from Rhodiapolis (approx. 167–81 BC).

literature

• George Ewart Bean :  Rhodiapolis, Lycia, Turkey . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
• Cevdet Bayburtluoğlu: Lycia . 2004, ISBN 975-7078-20-4 .

Web links

Commons : Rhodiapolis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Coins of Rhodiapolis (English)

Remarks

1. ^ Tituli Asiae Minoris 2, 3, 905 .

Coordinates: 36 ° 23 '  N , 30 ° 16'  E