Patara Ancient City is located in today’s Gelemis village, between Fethiye and Kalkan. It is one of the most important and oldest cities of Lycia. Since it is the only place in the Xanthos Valley that can be opened to the sea, it has continued to be an important city throughout history in all ages. The name of the city is mentioned as Patar in Hittite texts from the 13th century BC. It is seen as Patara in inscriptions and coins in Lycian language. The history of the city dates back to before the Iron Age.
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Patara came under Ptolemaic rule in the 3rd century BC and became the leading city of Lycia. When Lycia began to be controlled by the Seleucid Kingdom at the beginning of the 2nd century BC, Patara was accepted as the capital of Lycia. This situation became official in 167-168 BC, when Patara gained its autonomy against Rome and independence against Rhodos, and Patara became the capital of the Lycian Union. Monumental buildings such as the parliament building and the theater built in the Hellenistic period in the capital parallel this historical process. Patara, which did not lose its importance after coming under Roman rule, maintained its importance as a center where Roman governorships handled their judicial affairs, as well as a naval base through which Rome connected with the eastern provinces. In 43 AD, Lycia became a Roman province; In 74 AD, Lycia and Pamphylia were merged into a single state. Patara’s capital status continued during this period.
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Patara, which is famous as the birthplace of the God Apollo and the “center of prophecy”, is also a port where the grains transported from Anatolia to Rome are stored and kept. The city, which continued its importance during the Byzantine period, also became an important center for Christians. Saint Nicholas, known as “Santa Claus”, is from Patara. Additionally, St. Paul boarded a ship from Patara to go to Rome. The fact that Bishop Eudemos, the sole signatory of Lycia at the Iznik Council in 325 AD presided over by Emperor Constantine, was the Bishop of Patara is proof that the city was also popular in this period. Patara, which maintained its importance throughout the Middle Ages, has survived to the present day as an important center with the arrival of the Turks.
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Excavations have been continuing in the city since 1988. The entrance to the ruins, where the ruins of the ancient city are located today, is made through the magnificent and well-preserved Roman Triumphal Arch (City Gate). It is understood from the inscriptions that it was built in the name of the regional governor around 100 AD. On the slopes of the hill to the west of the gate, lies the cemetery area with Lycian type sarcophagi. It is understood from the inscriptions that the theater, leaning on Kurşunlu Hill at the southernmost end of the city, was damaged after an earthquake and was rebuilt in 147 AD. To the north of the theater is the parliament building, which also hosted the meetings of the Lycian League. To the west of the parliament building is the world’s oldest lighthouse, which was built by the Roman Emperor Nero and has been rebuilt today. The first wireless telegraph station of Anatolia, dating back to the Ottoman period and also used as a post office, is also in Patara.
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Kurşunlu Hill, where the theater leans, is the most beautiful corner from which to watch the general view of the city. Other ruins of the city, the Vespasian Baths, the Corinthian Temple, the main street, the port and the granary can be easily viewed from here. The granary (granarium) behind the swamp in the northwest of the hill is one of the important monumental structures of Patara that has survived to the present day, and was built by Emperor Hadrian and his wife Sabina in the 2nd century AD. The city’s water was brought from the rocks on the Kızıltepe slope, located approximately twenty kilometers northeast. The section called Delik Kemer, located between the source and the city, to the north of Fırnaz pier, is the most monumental section of the waterways.
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Right next to Patara Ancient City, there is the magnificent twelve-kilometer Patara Beach. This is one of the rare beaches where Mediterranean turtles, Caretta carettas, have laid eggs and hatched for millions of years.
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Patara is among the “Ancient Cities of the Lycian Civilization” (2009) recommended to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Source: Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.
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Source: Antalya Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate
