Limyra is another area of
ruins some 9 kilometers from Finike. The ancient city, which
is located in Torunlar between Turunçova and Kumluca, was set
up on the lower parts of a 1,216-meter high hill. Limyra was
one of the oldest cities in Lycia and its old name was Zemuri.
The city existed in the fifth century B.C. and it had rich lands
which grew even
richer over
time. Pericles of Lycia used Limyra as a capital to establish
the Lycian Union against the Persians, and he lighted the
eternal flame of freedom of Lycia in this city. In the fourth
and fifth century B.C., Lycia and Anatolia were under Persian
rule. Anatolia was ruled by general governors who were called
satraps. Alexander the Great put an end to this Persian sovereignty
in 333 B.C. After he took control of this region, Limyra was
ruled by Governor Nearkhos.
After Alexander’s death, this region
of the empire went under shared control. First Antigonaos
and later in 301 B.C Lysimakhos took control of the
city. Later, the Egyptian Ptolemies ruled the city.
This way, the city was ruled for short periods by various
of Alexander’s generals. The city was ruled by the Ptolemies
until 197 B.C. In that year, Limyra was taken by the
Syrian king Antiochus III and became part of the Syrian
Kingdom.
When Antiochus was defeated in the
Magnesia War, Limyra was given to the Kingdom of Rhodes
Kingdom under the Apemaia Agreement. However, the Lycian
people were not very happy with rule from Rhodes. They
staged many uprisings and so managed to draw Rome’s
attention to this city. Finally, the Romans captured
the region from the Kingdom of Rhodes in 167 B.C.
Limyra, which was in the Lycian Union in the second
century B.C., had enough status to print their own money.
The period between the first and second century B.C.
was the second brightest period for Limyra after Pericles’
time. These good days came to an end in 141 A.D with
a disastrous earthquake which greatly damaged the city.
Opramoas, one of the rich people living in the area,
helped to rebuild the city after this calamity. He also
had theater rebuilt.
Limyra enjoyed prosperity also in the
Byzantine era when it became center of the episcopacy.
However, starting in the ninth century, the city fell
into oblivion due to Arab raids.
On the side of the road, there is theater of Limyra.
The building was destroyed by a powerful earthquake
in 141 A.D. and it was rebuilt by Opramoas. Today the
skene of theater with a double diazoma and vaults has
been demolished. Across from theater, there are city
walls built in Roman and Byzantine times.
The walls curve up to the north and
there is the palace of Pericles here. You can reach
here more easily if you walk among the walls. The main
avenue of the city was flooded by a creek, and this
made the road look quite dramatic.
A tomb that rests above theater is believed, judging
from the inscription on it, to belong to Katabura. The
body of the tomb is decorated with reliefs and it bears
the date 350 B.C. Katabura is either the brother or
one of the relatives of King Pericles of Limyra.
There is another tomb built in the ninth century B.C.
on the eastern necropolis. The tomb, which has Ionic
columns, is carved into rocks. Near Limyra, in Çavdir
there is another interesting-looking sarcophagus dated
back to the fourth century B.C.. On one side of this
tomb, there is a figure of a father, and on the other
side, there are figures of a mother and child.
On the way from Finike to Elmali, there is a hill on
the northeastern side of the road. There is a group
of rock tombs adorning this hill.
