When you are driving on
the new road parallel to the coast that offers you all the beauties
of the Mediterranean, if you turn to Phaselis 35 kilometers
before Antalya, this road in the woods will take you to Phaselis
in the village of Tekirova. Although the nearly Beldibi Cave
was labeled a prehistoric site, the establishment of the city
of Phaselis doesn’t go
earlier than
the seventh century B.C. Phaselis was founded in 690 B.C.
as a colony of Rhodes. It had three ports and was close to
rich forests. In the sixth and seventh centuries B.C., the
sea was the only source of income for Phaselis. At that time
the Persians took control of Anatolia, and later Alexander
defeated the Persians and conquered Phaselis.
The people of Phaselis opened their
doors to Alexander and made him their guest. Alexander
received several ambassadors of from Pamphlia cities
here in this city. He also conquered all the cities
on the coast one-by-one and went on the way to Gordion.
After the death of Alexander, from 309 to 197 B.C ,
the city was ruled by the Ptolemies of Egypt. It was
later given to the Kingdom of Rhodes like other Lycian
cities in the peace of Apamia. Phaselis stayed under
the rule of Rhodes from 190 to
160. After 160 B.C., the city joined
the Lycian Union under Roman sovereignty. Phaselis was
attacked by pirates in first century B.C.. The city
was ruled by a pirate named Zenekites for some time
before the Romans defeated him.
In 42 B.C. Brutus and the Romans took possession of
the city. During the Byzantine era, Phaselis became
the center of the episcopate. Because of its good ports,
the city was attacked again by the third century B.C.,
and after that it lost its importance. It became even
poorer with Arab raids. By the 11th century B.C., Phaselis
could no longer survive. It was forgotten totally when
the Seljuks came to value the ports of Alanya and Antalya
more.
In its early years, the city met its
water needs with wells and cisterns. In Roman times,
it brought water to the city via aqueducts from faraway
places. They transported water from a spring to the
north to a hill behind the Hadrian Agora and from here
they distributed it to the city through channels. The
main ruins of the city are found on two sides of the
main avenue that connects the military port with the
south port.
There are three steps on the sidewalks
on two sides of the avenue which is 125 meters long
and 20-25 meters wide. The avenue forms a square in
the middle and leads to the south port. The avenue is
paved with regular stones and has sewage and drainage
systems underneath it.
