Isinda Antik Kenti

About Isinda Antik Kenti

Isinda (İsinda) is an ancient Lycian settlement on the summit and slopes of a hill about three kilometres south of Belenli village in Kaş district. Ancient writers rarely mention it. Three tomb monuments inscribed in the Lycian language, still visible today, show that the site was settled before the first half of the 4th century BC. When the Lycian League was formed in the 2nd century BC, Isinda was represented together with Aperlai, and inscriptions show it was a minor member of a sympoliteia dominated by Aperlai that also included Apollonia and Simena. Isinda was mainly a fortified position. It survived for a long time but was gradually abandoned in the Pax Romana period, as Antiphellos on the coast grew wealthy and the people of Isinda moved there. The surviving remains include walls of squared local limestone blocks around the acropolis, clearest at the north and north-east corner, and wells and cisterns inside the walls for collecting rainwater. Traces of the foundations of a long building can be seen near the middle of the walled area. The most important remains are two monumental house-type tombs below the acropolis summit, with Lycian inscriptions on their pediments. Rock tombs and Roman-period Lycian-type sarcophagi can also be seen towards Belenli and Aperlai. The Culture Portal notes that the site can be reached by Belenli minibuses from Kaş.