Pinara Ancient City

The ancient writer Stephanus, quoting Byzantion Menekrotes, "When the population of Xanthos increased a lot, a group of old people founded a city on the high top of Kragos Mountain and named it "PINARA", which means round." He describes the founding of the city by saying. The fact that the upper acropolis, where the remains of the early period of the city are located, is really round, adds a share of reality to this mythology. The name of the city is read as Pinale in the Lycian inscriptions. Today, the name of the village, located near the ancient city, is living as a Minaret, evoking Pınara. By quoting Artemidoros, Strabo reports that Pınara is one of the six cities with three voting rights in the Lycian Union Assembly. When approaching the ancient city, hundreds of rock tombs carved like lace on the steep eastern slope of the upper acropolis attract attention. When the upper acropolis became insufficient in a short time, the lower acropolis, where transportation was easier, was opened to settlement. Although the slopes of the lower acropolis are impossibly steep, it was supported by a fortification wall in terms of both the formation of the terrace and the fortification.

When we walk around the city through the gate in the south of the wall, the Odeon with its back against the hillside and the agora on the flat area in front of it form the focus of the city. Around the water source in the lower part of the lower acropolis, piled tombs and many tombs carved into the rocks, which were largely destroyed by earthquakes in the ancient times, draw attention. The majority of the rock-cut tombs here are of domestic type, and one of them is important because of the reliefs on the pediment and inside the ante wall. A city surrounded by walls is observed in these reliefs. For this reason, it causes the idea that the tomb should belong to the prince of the city (Pınara) in the relief. On the eastern slope of the lower acropolis, apart from the fortification walls, there are the remains of a Roman Period bath, similar in plan and location in many cities of the Lycian region. The second building outside the city walls is the theater opposite the acropolis and the bath, with its back leaning against the natural hillside. In terms of plan and location, it reflects the characteristics of the Hellenistic Period.