Ruined cities were left behind by the ancient Greeks whose wisdom became the basis of Western society; museums have been filled with artifacts attesting to the great genius and beauty of their civilization; yet almost nothing is known of another ancient Mediterranean people and their culture: the Lycians.
Among the most famous traces of the Lycians are the stone-cut tombs high upon the cliffs of the Teke Peninsula, where the modern Turkish provinces of Antalya and Muğla, in the country’s southwest, exist today.
Alas, how they governed the living took a backseat to the manner in which they handled their dead, in terms of the fame Lycian culture has garnered now. Lycian legend holds that magical winged entities carried their dead to the heavens—and that’s why they buried their loved ones high up on the cliffs as this would, supposedly, facilitate their divine journey. Another myth they believed in speaks of how their spirits watched over the living from high above, and so they required perches with a great view.
Many of those in Xanthos were carved to look like the façades of Greek temples with high triangular pediments, entablatures, and ornate columns standing before a stone vault—all hewn in relief from the living rock. Although worn by time, the precision and exquisite detail of the carvings attest to great skill.
Tombs like those found in Myra, now modern-day Demre, resemble ancient towns consisting of clusters of houses stacked on the cliffside. The reason they were built to look like homes harks back to another belief the Lycians held: that the spirits would live here as they had lived in their homes in life; the stone “homes” were crafted to look as their homes looked, furnished with what appear to be wooden beams on the façades; some were multistoried with two or even three levels. When the explorer Charles Fellows visited the tombs in 1840, he found them colorfully painted yellow, red, and blue. Inside, the dead were laid to rest on stone benches.
Yet, little else remains inside. Sadly, most of the tombs were broken into and pillaged over the centuries, most displaying cavities in their façade. Visitors are not allowed to explore them up close.
If you visit this particular group of tombs, called the ocean necropolis, in Myra, it will be hard not to spot another monumental set of ruins nearby: due south of the necropolis lie the remains of an ancient theater where as many as 10,000 spectators once enjoyed dramas in the style of ancient Greece. Constructed over what once was a smaller Greek-style theatre destroyed by an earthquake, the present Roman-style structure built overtop was sturdier with arched vaults to withstand tremors. Intricate stage carvings featuring grotesque and highly expressive masks depict mythical figures such as Zeus and Medusa.
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