Rhodiapolis Antik Kenti

About Rhodiapolis Antik Kenti

Rhodiapolis stands on a hill near Sarıcasu in Kumluca district. Because of its name it is taken to have been founded by settlers from Rhodes, and the Culture Portal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism counts it among the few Rhodian colonies in the area, along with nearby Gagai, Phaselis, Korydalla and Olympos. The historian Theopompos wrote that it was named after Rhodos, daughter of Mopsos. Like the other cities of the region it belonged to the Lycian League, and its coins describe its people as Lycian. The city's most famous figure is Opramoas, who lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius (138 to 161 AD) and was the richest man and best-known benefactor in Lycia. He was honoured with a bronze statue, a gilded portrait and a golden wreath between 114 and 131 AD, and there was hardly a city in Lycia he did not help. His monumental tomb, behind the stage building to the southwest of the theatre, has walls covered with 64 inscribed documents recording his official dealings. Apart from a rock tomb with a Lycian inscription, nothing visible is older than the 7th century BC, and the earliest known remains are rock tombs of the Classical period. The main remains are the theatre, a bath, the agora and stoa, a sebasteion, temples, a church, cisterns, a cenotaph, necropolises and many houses built of small stones, often still standing. The small Greek-plan theatre in the city centre faces south, is thought to have held about 1,500 people and has an orchestra 10.52 metres across. A Roman bath of the Anatolian bath-gymnasium type marks the eastern edge of the city. Rhodiapolis is among the Lycian cities put forward for the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009. The Culture Portal says it can be reached by private vehicle from Kumluca.