Limyra

{{Short description|Ancient Lycian city}}

{{Infobox ancient site

|name = Limyra

|native_name = Λίμυρα

|alternate_name =

|image = Limyra 5110.jpg

|alt = Limyra Theatre

|caption = Limyra Theatre

|map =

|map_caption =

|map_type = Turkey

|map_alt =

|map_size =

|location = Antalya Province, Turkey

|region = Lycia

|coordinates = {{coord|36.343873|30.171289|display=inline}}

|type = Settlement

|part_of =

|length =

|width =

|area =

|height =

|builder =

|material =

|built =

|abandoned =

|epochs =

|cultures = Hellenic/Persian

|dependency_of =

|occupants =

|event =

|excavations =

|archaeologists =

|condition = In ruins

|ownership =

|management =

|public_access =

|website =

|notes =

}}

File:Lycia-turkey-ancient.jpg

File:Limyra map.jpg

{{Commons category|Limyra}}

Limyra ({{langx|grc|Λίμυρα}})[https://topostext.org/work/241#L417.15 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §L417.15] ({{langx|xlc|𐊈𐊚𐊎𐊒𐊕𐊁}}[http://www.palaeolexicon.com/Word/Show/33365/Languages/Index/Lycian dictionary-z]{{Dead link|date=November 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} was a small city in ancient Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River ({{langx|grc|Λιμύρος}}).[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:14.3.7 Strabo, Geography, 14.3.7][https://topostext.org/work/241#L417.15 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, L417.15]

History

Already flourishing in the second millennium BCE, the city was one of the oldest and most prosperous in Lycia; it gradually became one of the most flourishing trade centres in the Greek world.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

In the 4th century BCE Pericles, Dynast of Lycia supported a rebellion of satraps in Asia Minor against the ruling Persians and adopted Limyra as the capital of the Lycian League; subsequently it came under control of the Persian Empire.{{cite book |last1=Houwink ten Cate |first1=Philo Hendrik Jan |title=The Luwian Population Groups of Lycia and Cilicia Aspera During the Hellenistic Period |date=1961 |publisher=Brill Archive |pages=12–13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNM3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA12 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Briant |first1=Pierre |title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=9781575061207 |page=673 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxQ9W6F1oSYC&pg=PA673 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Bryce |first1=Trevor |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134159079 |page=419 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwwNS0diXP4C&pg=PA419 |language=en}}

The Persians eventually regained rule through Mausolus, the Carian satrap at Halicarnassus.

After Alexander the Great ended Persian rule, most of Lycia was ruled by Ptolemy I Soter; his son Ptolemy II Philadelphos supported the Limyrans against the invading Galatians and the inhabitants dedicated a monument, the Ptolemaion, to him in thanks.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

Limyra is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors.

Augustus had adopted his grandson Gaius Caesar in 17 BCE (aged 3) as his heir. In 1 BC (aged 19) Gaius Caesar was sent to Syria and in 2 AD he went to Armenia, which the Parthians had recently invaded. Gaius successfully placed a pro-Roman king on the Armenian throne but was seriously wounded after being tricked. In 4 AD, during his return to Rome, Gaius died from his wounds at Limyra.Velleius Paterculus, II, 102

The Site

The lower city is at the base of the acropolis hill and includes two separate walled areas.

The five necropolises dating from the 4th c. BCE and before demonstrate the city's importance. The mausoleum of Pericles is particularly notable for its fine reliefs and exquisite sculptures such as Perseus slaying Medusa and one of her sisters.

A gate in the western city leads down through a marshy area towards the cenotaph of Gaius Caesar, grandson and heir apparent of Augustus, a massive structure standing on a stone podium and dating from around 4 CE.

The Romans cut a theatre into the hill which held 8000 spectators. It was commissioned in the second century CE by an important Lycian benefactor named Opramoas of Rhodiapolis. Also from this period are a bathhouse with a complex heating system and the colonnaded streets.

The Roman Bridge at Limyra, east of the city, is one of the oldest segmental arch bridges in the world.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09265a.htm Sopheone Pétridès, "Limyra" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1910)]

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. CCXVIII); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the Council of Constantinople (879-880).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia.Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 917

Gallery

File:Limyra Roman Theatre 3944.jpg|Limyra Theatre from uphill

File:Limyra 5110.jpg|Limyra Theatre

File:Limyra 5105.jpg|Limyra Theatre corridors

File:Limyra 3748.jpg|Limyra Cenotaph of Gaius Caesar

File:Antalya museum march 2012 5689.jpg|Limyra Cenotaph Gaius Caesar in Antalya Museum

File:Limyra 3735.jpg|Limyra Ptolemaion

File:Antalya Museum feb 2015 6584.jpg|Limyra Ptolemaion relief in Antalya Museum

File:Limyra 5182.jpg|Limyra Bee keeping

File:Limyra 5123.jpg|Limyra tomb of Tebursseli

File:Limyra 5124.jpg|Limyra tomb of Tebursseli decoration

File:Limyra 5134.jpg|Limyra Temple-type tomb

File:Limyra 5161.jpg|Limyra Sarcophagus of Xñtabura

File:Limyra 3965.jpg|Limyra Rock graves

File:Antalya Museum march 2013 7714.jpg|Limyra Heroon Pericles in Antalya Museum

File:Limyra 5220.jpg|Limyra Roman Bridge

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Lycian League}}

{{Ancient settlements in Turkey}}

{{Authority control}}

{{coord|36|20|34.19|N|30|10|13.87|E|type:landmark_region:TR_source:dewiki|display=title}}

Category:Catholic titular sees in Asia

Category:Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey

Category:Populated places in ancient Lycia

Category:Roman towns and cities in Turkey

Category:Former populated places in Turkey

Category:Finike District