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Limyra 15 pictures Limyra, today known as Lymra, lies approximately ten kilometers north of Finike. It was an important Lycian city, probably founded by a colony from Myra in the sixth century B.C. In the fourth century B.C., Pericles, king of Lycia, appointed it as capital. After having been dominated first by the Persians, and then by Alexander the Great, it became part of the Roman Empire. Seriously damaged by an earthquake in 141 A.D., it was rebuilt thanks to the patronage of Opramoia of Rhodiapolis, and it is to this era that most of the monuments we know today belong. Among these is the theater, in the foothills of the acropolis, a theater whose tiers could seat up to eight thousand spectators. In the surrounding area is a vast necropolis, the site of approximately four hundred tombs and sarcophagi, the most important of which is doubtlessly the Mausoleum of Ksatabura, a type of closed shrine built on a rock base, and whose walls are decorated with scenes from Lycian mythology. Only a few traces remain of the ancient agora, situated north of the theatre, while there are still considerable remains of a basilica and the bishop's palace in the southern part of the archaeological area, a swampy area due to the presence of numerous streams. These ruins are a testimonial to Lymra's importance during the Byzantine era, when the city was appointed as the archbishop's seat. Further to the north, we find the heroon, an eighteen meter high monument erected to celebrate the memory of Caius Caesar, grandson of Augustus, who died in Lycia in 4 A.D. Some of the friezes which decorated the monument are now in the Antalya Museum. Going up the hill, you come to the acropolis, where sections of the cyclopean walls still survive, with bastions and guard towers joined up by two Byzantine churches and another heroon, in this case erected in the fourth century B.C. and destined to celebrate the glories of Pericles. The frieze on this monument, in the form of a small temple, depicts battle scenes between the Lycians and the Persians. Theater The theater was destroyed in the big earthquake of 141 A.D. The vaulted, double diazoma skene of this Roman theater has since fallen into ruin. Roman Bath Back to Turkey Index