Apollonia Antik Kenti

About Apollonia Antik Kenti

Apollonia is the site of an ancient Lycian city near Kılıçlı (Sıçak), a small village in Kaş district. Ancient historians do not mention it, but the pillar tombs in the necropolis north of the city show a Lycian origin and date to around 500 BC. Under Roman rule the city belonged to a local federation, or sympoliteia, with Simena, Isinda and Aperlai. Led by Aperlai, this group had one vote in the Lycian League. The ruins of a Byzantine church, possibly from the 6th or 7th century AD, show that the city was still occupied then. Apollonia sits on a hill with a walled acropolis at its highest point. On the east side the acropolis appears double, because a much older enclosure lies inside the Byzantine walls. Two churches, a theatre, baths with cisterns and a heroon stand on the western and north-western side of the acropolis, with houses on the south-western side. Six pillar tombs and one larger monument are found around the acropolis.