LIMYRA 2
The Hellenistic theatre
The Hellenistic theatre of Limyra became the end of the second, beginning of the first. It was built in the tradition of Greek theatres. Contrary to the usual procedure of leaning the cavea against a ground elevation, this theatre was completely free. Today's impression is deceptive, as the earth that slipped down from the hill over time buried the outer entrances to the rows of seats. The visible state of the building today shows the status of the restoration work in the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD. After this construction measure, the building had a capacity of approx. 15,000 spectators. The theatre, like the entire city and several other cities of the Lycian League, was destroyed after a devastating earthquake in 141 AD. The stage house was rebuilt with the help of donations from the Rhodiapolis-based Euerget Opramoas. Today, not much more exists of the stage house than the foundations.
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Limyra Arch Biridge;
The Bridge near Limyra is a late Roman bridge in Lycia, in modern south-west Turkey, and one of the oldest segmented arch bridges in the world. Located near the ancient city of Limyra, it is the largest civil engineering structure of antiquity in the region, spanning the Alakır Çayı river over a length of 360 m (1,181.1 ft) on 26 segmental arches. These arches, with a span-to-rise ratio of 5.3:1, give the bridge an unusually flat profile, and were unsurpassed as an architectural achievement until the late Middle Ages. Today, the structure is largely buried by river sediments and surrounded by greenhouses. Despite its unique features, the bridge remains relatively unknown, and only in the 1970s did researchers from the Istanbul branch of the German Archaeological Institute carry out field examinations on the site.
Lycian Rock Graves
Limyra has one of the most famous necropolis containing more than 400 rock tombs in the Lycian region. There are more than 400 rock tombs in the ancient city and who was burried in most of the tombs, can be known because of the inscriptions written in Lycian language. .
This grave (Above) had a nice decoration of some fight. It is the tomb of Tebursseli (in the 2nd Necropolis, nr. 140). The noble fief lord Tebursseli and King Pericles combat seven enemies. The King is depicted as greater and he battles with five soldiers. Source: On the Lycian Way, a book sold in museums in the area. The region has very many rock graves, some low along the roads, some high up in the hills. Their style harks back to that of houses, so it is interesting to compare them to the reconstructed Lycian houses.
Lycian Sarcophagus
Not too far from the main road a lone sarcophagus stood on a kind of pedestal: the Sarcophagus of Xñtabura, a hipoje-sarcophagus of the Lycian house type. It has eagle-gryphons on the pediments, and various winged creatures on the lid. A funeral feast and a judging of the deceased (by Zeus and probably Rhadamanthys, Minos of Aiakos) are also represented.
Jews in Limyra & Lycia,
During the latest excavations (2012) a synagogue was also unearthed in Limyra belonging to Byzantine era. İt is known as the second synagogue in Lyciaan cities. Dr. Martin Seyer of the Austrian Archaeology Institute. reported that they first found a bath and a menorah. After further investigation, they found out that it was a synagogue.
The synagogue in Limyra, which is located in Turunçova in Antalya’s Finike district, is the second to be found in the historical Lycian region after one discovered in 2009 in the ancient city of Myra in Antalya’s Demre district. Limyra was the former capital of the Lycian Federation, which some have called the first democratic union.
