Kyaenai Antik Kenti

About Kyaenai Antik Kenti

Kyaenai (also spelt Kyaneai) is a Lycian city whose buildings still make an impression, set on a hilltop plateau running east to west north of Yavu in Demre. It holds a commanding position between Antiphellos (Kaş) and Myra (Demre), about 5 km from the harbour at Üçağız. Its name in the Lycian language is unknown; the name used today is Greek and means dark blue, and can also mean ringing rocks. Inscriptions in Lycian show the city was inhabited from at least the 1000s BC. The longest inscription naming it honours a citizen called Jason, son of Nikostratos and a contemporary of Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, who gave money generously to several cities and received honorary titles from 16 Lycian cities. Kyaenai struck coins during the Lycian League and grew considerably under Roman rule. It appears in church records as the seat of a bishop, and Byzantine remains on the acropolis show that by the 5th and 6th centuries AD it had become much smaller; it was abandoned in the 10th century. The acropolis sits on a rocky platform with a sheer southern side, which was never walled. Walls enclose the city on the other three sides, and of their three gates the northern and western ones can still be seen. Inside are remains thought to belong to a library, a bath, a granary, a monumental fountain and cisterns, along with tomb chambers, columns and architectural fragments, although dense vegetation makes them hard to read. One of the most striking remains is a heroon near the west gate holding a 4th century BC sarcophagus carved with reliefs on its chest and lid. On the plain west of the acropolis is a Greek-style theatre with two diazomata, its seating cut into the natural slope and its stage building kept low, probably so as not to block the view to the south. The necropolis east of the acropolis is full of sarcophagi that spread down to the cliff-like southern slope, where there are many rock tombs, among them one with a single Ionic column and an in antis temple facade, and sarcophagi with reliefs and Lycian inscriptions. With more sarcophagi than any other site in Lycia, Kyaenai is also called the City of Sarcophagi, and it is among the Lycian cities proposed for the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009. It lies about 25 km north-west of Demre and is sometimes included by walkers on the Lycian Way. By private vehicle, follow the Kyaenai signs from the Demre to Kaş road; beyond a certain point the track is suitable only for 4x4 vehicles.