Mnara Antik Kenti

About Mnara Antik Kenti

Mnara, also known as Marmara, is an ancient city on a rocky hill at the summit of Kavaklı Dağı, at roughly fourteen hundred metres, within Kemer district. From there it overlooks a large part of eastern Lycia and the Gulf of Antalya. Little is known of its history. Ancient sources say the people of Mnara plundered and damaged the crops of Phaselis, and that Alexander the Great, who wintered in Phaselis during his Asian campaign, took the city. Finds suggest it was founded in the Hellenistic period, was still inhabited in Roman times, shrank in the early Byzantine period and was abandoned in the eighth century. In the Hellenistic period it was an independent polis and the centre of the Mnarşke region named in the Miliarium Lyciae. The city consists of a steep rocky acropolis and building remains at its foot. No city walls have been found, only a tower-like ruin lower down, facing the sea and the valley. The remains run east to west. To the south-east is a temple built entirely of marble, reached by three steps, with four columns at the front and shield reliefs; fragments of statues suggest many were dedicated there. West of the temple are a large cistern and remains thought to be a heroon. Near the summit to the north-east is a structure without a stage building that was used for religious ceremonies, and to the north-west are terraced remains thought to be the agora and the bouleuterion. By private car, follow the road from Kemer town towards the Kesme Boğazı canyon and Ovacık, then walk several kilometres over sloping ground from the end of the road. The route passes through cedar forest.