Xanthos

Near the village of Kinik, 63km away from Fethiye, the road crosses a river. Up to the left on a rock outcrop is the ruined city of Xanthos, once the capital and grandest city of Lycia, with a fine Roman theatre and Lycian pillar tombs with Lycian inscriptions. It is a short walk up the hill to the site. For all its grandeur, Xanthos had a chequered history of wars and destruction. Several times, when besieged by clearly superior enemy forces, the city was destroyed by its own inhabitants.

You will see the theatre, with the agora opposite. Despite Xanthos’s importance, the acropolis is now badly ruined. As many of the finest sculptures and inscriptions were carted off to the British Museum in 1842, many of the inscriptions and decorations you see today are copies of the originals. However, French excavations in the 1950s have made Xanthos well worth seeing.