Lycia Day 6: Arycanda, Limyra, Rhodiapolis

Arycanda (map) was perhaps the most impressive site so far in its sheer extent, as it sprawled across the mountain top. It is well-preserved, no doubt at least in part because of the difficulty of access: there were much easier sites to plunder for their stone! I also counted no fewer than seven bath-houses. It was clearly a city obsessed with cleanliness, - understandably, given it is next to godliness after all, and their location took care of that!

Arycanda

Limyra (map) is a good example of a site that was much easier to reach for reusable stone. Nevertheless, it boasts a fine Roman bridge, which is unusual not just for its length (c 350m over sixteen preserved arches), but also its low profile.

I am not impressed; just let me sleep

It is also the place where Caius Caesar, Augustus' heir apparent, died in AD 4 on his way back from Armenia, where he had been wounded. A fine cenotaph was built here to commemorate him, but the sculpture has all now been removed to the Antalya museum.

Roman roads are so useful...

More interesting for current visitors is the reconstruction of a traditional Lycian house. This brings out nicely the similarities between these and some of the rock-cut tombs so ubiquitous in Lycia: truly, homes for the dead.

Lycian House

Finally, we visited Rhodiapolis (map), a much more obscure site which is perhaps best known for an inscription documenting its inhabitants' complaints at Septimius Severus' taxes (c AD 300). Its city plan did, though, also neatly illustrate the potential benefits available to city benefactors.

Rhodiapolis Theatre and benefactor's tomb