Explore Turkey's History

🇹🇷 Xanthos and Letoon, located more than 6 km away, became a World Heritage Site in 1988.

🛣️ Along Turkey's D400 highway, there are various ancient ruins, some of which are large and well-preserved, while others are just ruins.
[One] Ephesus is the most visited place and is indeed the most worthwhile to visit. It is large in scale and well-preserved, especially the library. There are many cats and dogs in the ruins.
[Two] Letoon is small in scale, the theater is well-preserved, and most of the others are just stones. It is very close to Xanthos, and these two places are classified as one World Heritage Site, so you can visit Letoon when you visit Xanthos.
[Three] Xanthos is medium in scale, with church ruins, and there are ancient tombs when you climb up the mountain.
[Four] Patara is very close to the sea, and the sunset is beautiful when the sun sets on the ruins. Watching the sunset on the beach is even more romantic.
[Five] Phaselis is also a seaside ruin, where you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance on the beach, and many people have picnics by the sea.
[Six] Aspendos has the best-preserved ancient theater, which is still in use today. At that time, a tour guide sang Ode to Joy, and her singing echoed in every corner of the theater.
[Seven] There is an Apollo Temple ruin by the sea in Side, which is absolutely beautiful at sunset.

[Some History]
🛕 Xanthos became the capital and political center of ancient Lycia in the 2nd century BC. The city was an independent city before it came under Persian rule in 545 BC and was completely burned down nearly a century later. It was rebuilt after the fire and was later ruled by the Romans and Byzantines. After the Arab invasion in the 7th century, the economy collapsed, and the residents fled.
🏛️ There are two features here. One is that this is the ancient Lycia civilization, but it is also influenced by Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations, which can be reflected in the architecture. The second is that the sarcophagus and theater coexist, and the columnar sarcophagus is a feature.

Post by Calm Liam~Reed84 | Dec 8, 2024