Trebenna (Τρεβέννα) or Trabenna (Τραβέννα) was a city in

ancient Lycia Lycia ( 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 Sea in what is ...

, at the border with

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...

, and at times ascribed to that latter region. Its ruins are located east of the modern town Çağlarca in the

Konyaaltı Konyaaltı is a district in the Antalya Province, Turkey. The name "Konyaaltı" (pronounced ), originates from the expression of "koy altı", which in the Turkish language means "the bay under the cliffs" . The district is situated beneath the cli ...

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 ...

. The site lies 22 km to the west of

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

History

The city's name is only known through coins and inscriptions. The name is mentioned for the first time in history on the ''

Stadiasmus Patarensis The ''Stadiasmus Patarensis'', also known as the ''Stadiasmus Provinciae Lyciae'' and the ''Miliarium Lyciae'', is an ancient Roman milestone from the city of Patara. The ''stadiasmus'', shaped as a pillar, served as a monumental public ''itinera ...

'', 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 ...

excavated at Patara and dating from 45/46 AD in the reign of

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

. There is no evidence for the existence of the city during 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 ...

. Under Roman rule the city was part of the

Lycian League Lycia ( 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 Sea in what is t ...

. The only coins excavated at the site bear the image of

Gordian III Gordian III ( la, Marcus Antonius Gordianus; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor up to that point (until Valentinian II in 375). Gordian was the son of Anton ...

, who granted the city the right to mint coins. An inscription dated to 278/279 AD states that the city was designated as a

Roman colony A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term ''colony''. Characteri ...

during the rule of Terentius Marcianus, the governor of the Roman province of Lycia-Pamphylia at that time. Under the

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

the city became part of Pamphylia.

Excavation history

Trebenna was discovered by

Karol Lanckoroński Count Karol Lanckoroński () (born 4 November 1848 in Vienna; died 15 July 1933 in Vienna) was a Polish writer, art collector, patron, historian, traveler, and vice-president of the Society for Cultural Protection in his native Galicia. He was o ...

. In 1882 he joined a scientific expedition to Lycia with the goal of describing many sites which were either completely unknown or poorly researched at the time. He provided a brief description of the city in a publication of the expedition's discoveries in 1892.

Layout

The ruins of the city lie on a small hill and are surrounded by an early Byzantine wall. They extend over a wide area, bounded by the slopes of Sivridağ to the south and the acropolis to the north. The site was divided into the acropolis, the city centre, necropoli and the extramural areas..Çevik, Nevzat (2008). "Northeast Lycia. The New Evidence - The Results from the past ten years from the Bey Mountains Surface Surveys". Adalya. 11: 196 Within the walled area many inscriptions and

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...

were found. It contains the ruins of Roman baths and an early Byzantine

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 ...

. The Roman baths are notable for their relatively large size and high quality in a smaller city as Trebenna. With a size of 302 m² (423 m² including the walls) they are comparable to the baths in the most important Lycian cities. An acropolis was added to the city in the middle Byzantine period. A middle Byzantine church is located near it. File:Trebenna.jpg, Lower part of Trebenna. File:View from Trebenna.jpg, View of Antalya and the Gulf of Antalya from the Acropolis File:Church Trebenna.jpg, A Byzantine one-room church. File:Trebenna - Sarcophagus.jpg, A vandalized sarcophagus. File:Trebenna - Greek inscription.jpg, Greek inscriptions. File:Trebenna - Inscriptions.jpg, Greek inscription.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical SitesCoins from Trebenna
{{Authority control Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Archaeological sites in Antalya Province Former populated places in Turkey Populated places in ancient Lycia Populated places in ancient Pamphylia Roman sites in Turkey Coloniae (Roman)