The area now designated the Antalya province is the general center of classical Lycia. Milas was included by some writers in the district, but the more important cities seem to have been Patara (Gelemls) in the Xanthus Valley, Telmessus (Fethiye), and Myra (Demre). Perhaps it is Lycians who are mentioned in an Egyptian account of the Hittite battle at Kadesh. They may also be the Luqqa of fourteenth and thirteenth century Hittite documents.
Lycia was a geopolitical region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey, and Burdur Province inland. Known to history since the records of ancient Egypt and the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age, it was populated by speakers of the Luwian language group. Written records began to be inscribed in stone in the Lycian language (a later form of Luwian) after Lycia’s involuntary incorporation into the Achaemenid Empire in the Iron Age. At that time (546 BC) the Luwian speakers were decimated, and Lycia received an influx of Iranian speakers.
Lycia fought for the Persians in the Persian Wars, but on the defeat of the Achaemenid Empire by the Greeks, it became intermittently a free agent. After a brief membership in the Athenian Empire, it seceded and became independent (its treaty with Athens had omitted the usual non-secession clause), was under the Persians again, revolted again, was conquered by Mausolus of Caria, returned to the Persians, and went under Macedonian hegemony at the defeat of the Persians by Alexander the Great. Due to the influx of Greek speakers and the sparsity of the remaining Lycian speakers, Lycia was totally Hellenized under the Macedonians. The Lycian language disappeared from inscriptions and coinage.
On defeating Antiochus III in 188 the Romans gave Lycia to Rhodes for 20 years, taking it back in 168 BC. In these latter stages of the Roman republic Lycia came to enjoy freedom as part of the Roman protectorate. The Romans validated home rule officially under the Lycian League in 168 BC. This native government was an early federation with democratic principles; these later came to the attention of the framers of the United States Constitution, influencing their thoughts.
Despite home rule under democratic principles Lycia was not a sovereign state and had not been since its defeat by the Carians. In 43 AD the Roman emperor, Claudius, dissolved the league. Lycia was incorporated into the Roman Empire with a provincial status. It became an eparchy of the Eastern, or Byzantine Empire, continuing to speak Greek even after being joined by communities of Turkish language speakers in the early 2nd millennium. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century, Lycia was under the Ottoman Empire, and was inherited by the Turkish Republic on the fall of that empire. The Greeks were withdrawn when the border between Greece and Turkey was negotiated in 1923.
Lycia today is a substantial component of the Turquoise Coast. It is of interest not only for recreation and sport, but as a location of antiquities going back as early as the Bronze Age. The ruins of ancient Lycia are seemingly everywhere. For reasons unknown, perhaps isolation, recycling of the building stone was minimal compared to other regions.
Lycia,
a spectacular sight, and really worth a visit on the dalyan trip, amazing how they are done and sculpted. A lovely sight on the way to the nicest beach!
The tombs cut into the rock face across the river from Dalyan are the must see of Dalyan and hard to miss anyway. They can be seen from any boat trip to Turtle Beach where the boatman will often stop for a photo opportunity with river and reads in the foreground. You pass under the tombs on the road to…
These Lycian tombs are best seen by boat trip the guides will give you the full story and any dalysn restaurant by night will give a spectacular view of the tombs as they are all lit up at night
The riverside restaurants are all good you will be spoilt for choice the people are so friendly it's a fabulous place…
Great amount of detail, one to see while in Turkey although you can not get too close to it. I passed this on the way to the mud baths and as we got closer to the rock tombs it really is an amazing site.
Amazing! What can I say? Have to be seen. Incredible feat of construction. Take your zoom lens! Spectacular.
We enjoyed the river boat tour after the Mud Baths & cruising past the ancient Lycian Cliff Tombs. They are quite marvelous!
A bit of a trek for me but amazing historical site to see!
Yes. It is unique. It makes you think about the class system existed even at that age. And also about the lucky tomb raiders!
If you have gone through the pictures of the tombs here or on another site, that is it.
A long shot from the boat in the river is all you get by the trip. You cant…
We only saw these rock tombs from afar on a boat trip but what an awesome sight! Our guide told us they were 4 thousand years old. Amazing, a must see.
Brilliant, enjoyed it. Went as part of the Dalyan trip to Turtle beach. Good fun!