Arykanda – Finike / ANTALYA

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:00:31 +0000

The ruins of Arykanda are on the Elmali-Finike highway, in the village of Arif’s Aykiriçay district, 30 kilometers from Finike. The city was an Anatolian city in the second century B.C., and it was called Anna. But objects unearthed at the site has enabled archaeologists to date the city to as early as the fifth century B.C.. Like other Lycian cities, Arykanda was under Persian rule in the fifth century B.C.. Alexander started ruling the city in 333 B.C. After his death, the city was taken by the Ptolemies followed by Seleucids. After the Apameia Agreement, the city was taken under the sovereignty of Rhodes. After some years, together with a number of other Lycian cities, Arykanda also left the dominion of Rhodes. The cities which gained their freedom formed the Lycian Union. Arykanda also joined the union and printed their own coins. This situation continued until the Emperor Claudius ended the Lycian Union in 43 A.D. After this date, Arykanda was connected to Rome. The city was called Akalanda in the Byzantine era and it existed until the ninth century A.D. After that time, it was moved to an area on the south of the highway.

This is the reason why the Arykanda ruins are spread over such a wide area, starting from Aykiriçay’s spring and continuing all the way to pahinkaya. The ruins become more frequent over the terraces. On top of these terraces in pahinkaya, there is a stadium which is only half as large as normal stadiums and it has seats only on one side. There are niches between the seats. There is a very well-preserved theater of Arykanda in the middle of the terrace below. There are also stairs that lead down to this theater. The seats are placed on a natural slope. Theater was built in the Roman era and it is based on a Greek plan. The top two rows of the 20 rows have Greek writings on them. The city’s odeon lies on the terrace below theater.

Between the bouleterion and the agora, there are the remains of a small Turkish-style bath and a fountain. Below the agora, there are remains of a larger Turkish bath. The first two floors of this structure still stand today. Next to the bath, there is a gymnasium and to the west, there is a house with inscriptions on it.

Above the Turkish-style bath, on the terraces, there is the eastern necropolis of Arykanda. The western necropolis, on the other hand, starts from the cliffs to the west of the city and stretches to the spring of the Aykiriçay River.

There are very few rock tombs in Arykanda. Most of these are near Aykiriçay. Apart from the rock tombs, there are also water channels carved in rocks forming an interesting view. Evidence shows that the people of Arykanda used to get water from the spring of Basgoz. The water channels are connected to two large cisterns (water tanks) to the west of gymnasium. This section of ruins on top of the mountains has an extraordinary view.

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Arykanda – Finike / ANTALYA