Kitanaura Antik Kenti

About Kitanaura Antik Kenti

Kitanaura is an ancient settlement on the hilltop and slopes north of Saraycık, within the Gölcük neighbourhood of Kumluca. Coins bearing the legend Kita show that the city minted its own coinage in the Hellenistic period. Little is known of its Roman history, but the walled city stayed in use until the Middle Ages, and bishop lists and Byzantine remains show that it was a bishopric under the Metropolitan of Perge. The travellers Spratt and Forbes, who visited in 1842, took the ruins to be Apollonia, and A. J. Schönborn later placed Mnara here. The road route recorded on the Stadiasmus Patarensis, the Roman road monument found at Patara, settled the identification of the Saraycık ruins as Kitanaura. The acropolis, 1300 metres above sea level and ringed by walls, is entered through three gates, the main one on the south-west. An early Byzantine basilica stands at its south-western tip, and the large basilica, with three entrances, a narthex, three naves and an apse, has the largest cistern in the city along its north side. The most important public building is a seven-room bath beside the forest road, parts of which survive up to roof level. Both sides of the forest road are lined with tombs, including sarcophagi and ossuaries; the best known is the Saraycık Heroon, whose walls carry many reliefs of military dress and weapons. Kitanaura is one of the Lycian ancient cities proposed for the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009. The site lies about 40 km from Kumluca town centre and can be reached by private vehicle or by the Gölcük minibuses that leave from the district bus station.