Trysa Antik Kenti

About Trysa Antik Kenti

Trysa is an ancient Lycian city on the east side of a plateau near Davazlar village, on the Kaş to Kale road. No ancient writer mentions it by name, but it appears as a member of the Lycian League formed in the 2nd century BC and is known from League coins marked with the first two letters of its name. Like Phellos and Istlada, it takes the form of a well-protected stronghold where a minor lord or king lived, and archaeologists have written about it, and especially its heroon, since the late 19th century. The remains lie along a narrow east to west acropolis on top of a steep rock, about thirty metres above present-day Gölbaşı village. The north and west sides are enclosed by a wall of irregular stones dated to the 5th century BC. Outside the wall are the walls of the heroon, slight remains of a temple and many sarcophagi, most of them plain or with busts or animal heads on their lids. The only building whose purpose can be identified is a badly damaged temple at the south-west foot of the acropolis. Fragments of an inscription honouring a citizen who served as priest of Zeus and Helios were found there, suggesting the temple belonged to one or both of these gods. The largest monument is the heroon at the north-east end of the city, dated to the second quarter of the 4th century BC. It is enclosed by a wall of squared blocks, with a frieze of mythological scenes in two horizontal bands on its south side. Because some of its monuments are among the earliest examples in Lycia, Trysa is included among the Ancient Cities of Lycian Civilisation proposed for the World Heritage List in 2009.