Kitanaura ( grc, Κιτάναυρα) (or Kithanaura) was an ancient city in

Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...

. Its ruins are located near Saraycık, a small village in the

Kumluca Kumluca is a town and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, part of the Turkish Riviera. Kumluca is located west of the city of Antalya, on the Teke Peninsula, (between the bays of Antalya and Fethiye). Its neighbour ...

district of

Antalya Province Antalya Province ( tr, ) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visit ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

History

The history of the city is largely unknown because it was not mentioned by any ancient author. Only the ruins of the city give some information. The earliest phase of the city's walls dates to the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

, with the last phase dating to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

period. Because of the five churches which have been identified the city likely became more important with the spread of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

Archaeological investigations

T. A. B. Spratt visited the site for two days in 1842 to copy inscriptions and drew a plan. He could not find any remains which indicated the name of the city, but he suspected that it was Marmara or Apollonia. Marmara has now been found, and Apollonia was eventually discovered far away in western Lycia. A 1998 study of coins in the

Antalya Museum The Antalya Museum or Antalya Archeological Museum ( tr, Antalya Müzesi) is one of Turkey's largest museums, located in Konyaaltı, Antalya. It includes 13 exhibition halls and an open air gallery. It covers an area of and 5000 works of art a ...

led to the identification of the name of Kitanaura. The name of the city also appeared on a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

, the '' Miliarium Lyciae'' which was excavated at Patara in 1993. The inscriptions on the milestone give place names and distances during the 1st century AD. They mention Kitanaura lay at a distance of 17-18 km from

Idebessos Idebessos or Idebessus, also known as Edebessus or Edebessos ( grc, Ἐδεβησσός) or ( grc, Ἐδεβησός), was an ancient city in Lycia. It was located at the foot of the Bey Mountains to the west of the Alakır river valley. Toda ...

. This made it possible to pinpoint the location of the city. Kitanaura was surveyed in detail by a team from

Akdeniz University Akdeniz University ( tr, Akdeniz Üniversitesi) is a public research university established in Antalya, Turkey. It has been chosen as the second most beautiful university in Turkey, after Boğaziçi University, with its campus having a wide and gr ...

led by Nevzat Çevik in 2004–2005 and 2006–2007.

The City

The

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

of Kitanaura was located on a hill extending in an east-west direction and surrounded by remains of structures to its south and west. The western and northern sides of the acropolis are covered by sheer rock cliffs, a less steeper rock slope is on southern side. Walls for the protection of the acropolis extended from the southwestern side to the eastern and northern side of the acropolis. They were 1.30 m thick and have been preserved to a height of 5 to 6 m at a few places. Remains of a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

are found in the southwestern corner of the acropolis. Another large basilica stood in the centre. A

bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

- gymnasium complex is the best remaining building. It lies at the foot of the southwestern entrance to the acropolis and consisted of a

palaestra A palaestra ( or ; also (chiefly British) palestra; grc-gre, παλαίστρα) was any site of an ancient Greek wrestling school. Events requiring little space, such as boxing and wrestling, took place there. Palaestrae functioned both indep ...

and six other sections. The quality of the construction and the size of the baths is striking for a medium-sized city in a relatively remote place in Lycia. With a size of 700 m² the building is over twice the size of the central baths of Patara (315 m) and the southern baths of

Xanthos Xanthos ( Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', el, Ξάνθος, Latin: ''Xanthus'', Turkish: ''Ksantos'') was an ancient major city near present-day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey. The remains of Xanthos lie on a hill on the left ba ...

(295 m), two of the largest cities in Lycia. The sizes of baths were influenced by both the population of a city and the number of occasional visitors from outside the city. The location of the baths at a crossroads of routes used by travellers suggests the baths served many temporary visitors. The remains of a wall of huge irregular cut blocks that leads to the bath from the hill on the west side of the forest way is likely to belong to the aqueduct. A road which runs from the south of the acropolis and then turns north, passing the acropolis to west, is flanked by

necropoleis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

on both sides. A heroon is found south of the acropolis.

References

{{Authority control Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Archaeological sites in Antalya Province Former populated places in Turkey Populated places in ancient Lycia Roman sites in Turkey Kumluca District