BIKE CLASSICAL

Photos by Jack A. Waldron

The ancient city of Lyrbe Seleukeia is nestled comfortably in the forested hills approximately 15 kilometers from the sea coast to the south (36°52'23.3"N 31°28'31.4"E). The climb from the coast is gradual and meandering, and the site itself is secluded amongst the wind rustled pine forest. This is a beautiful cycling excursion when compared to the busy and tourist riddled coast, and the ancient city of Side (36°46'03.5"N 31°23'27.2"E).

The road to Lyrbe Seleukeia criss-crosses an ancient aqueduct that once delivered water to ancient Side from the foothills and mountains of the Taurus Mountain chain. Pictured above is what some refer to as 'Side Water Aqueduct 3' (36°50'03.8"N 31°27'39.1"E).

I was pretty careless in my duties during my early cycle tours, and I would often fail to find or discover hidden ancient gems. With regard to the Side aqueduct, I somehow either failed to get some photos, or, I have misplaced some, because I cannot find any photos of the 'Side Water Aqueduct 2' (36°50'40.4"N 31°28'00.7"E), or the 'Side Water Aqueduct 4' (36°47'15.7"N 31°24'54.7"E), which I rode past as I cycled into ancient Side.

One other section of this Roman aqueduct that I didn't photograph is located 5 kilometers northeast of ancient Lyrbe Seleukeia (36°47'15.7"N 31°24'54.7"E). I hope to pass through this area again in the future so that I can visit all of these sections of the Side aqueduct, and then I will update my blogposts!

As mentioned in the signboard below, the site was most likely founded with the name Lyrbe, and not Seleukeia. There were numerous ancient sites named after Seleucus I Nicator during the reign of the Seleucid Empire, one of which I have written about Seleucia ad Calycadnum.

Another candidate for ancient Seleucia within Pamphylia is located near the modern village of Sihlar, 20 kilometers west of Alanya (36°30'04.0"N 32°14'23.3"E), though I haven't been to the village, and I have not seen anything with regard to antiquities in my research. Ancient Lyrbe is one of the better preserved sites in Pamphylia.

Evidence of the true name of the city was found at the site, and is written in the language of Side, which indicates that the city was founded during the Hellenistic period sometime between 330-30 BCE.

I imagine that the site may have seen massive change with the arrival and dominance of the coastal city of Side by the Romans, as Lyrbe most likely became a summer retreat for the elite wishing to escape the heat and bustle of the port city.

Building remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Medieval periods can be found scattered over a large area of the site. With the accumulation of dead pine needles blanketing the site, there are sure to be numerous hidden antiquities beneath the visitors feet, including very dangerous growth covered cisterns.

For myself, as I imagine for the ancient Roman well-to-do, entering the city feels like arriving at a summer retreat, much like the Catskills presented to those arriving from New York City during the mountain holiday boom of the 50s and 60s.

The entrance to the site takes you directly to the central agora, which is a very well preserved Hellenistic complex, and reminds me of the spectacular Hellenistic agora buildings at two other sites; ancient Aigai, and Alinda.

The remoteness of the site has probably factored into its preservation, but there may be a few other factors, such as the massive blocks used build and strengthen the structures to resist earthquakes, and thus, the usefulness of these structures over many millennia.

Frankly, I've seen the restoration of more modern farm buildings that were in as bad or worse shape than these structures. In Turkey, new or renovated buildings are normally limited to the original building footprint/s that are on the site plans, and often such buildings are resurrected from nothing, and constructed anew according to the original plans. These structures are approximately 2000 years old, and still they stand. The main components missing from these stone hulls are the roofs, the inner wooden structure, and the doors.

The illustration shown above gives some nice detail of the structures surrounding the Agora. The large arrow at the bottom right of the illustration points to north.

The building pictured above and below, which is illustrated at the top right of the Agora plan, is the Odeon, and is located in the southeast corner of the Agora.

Though the structure is identified as an Odeon, I think it may have also served as the Bouleuterion.

Pictured here are shots of the interior of the Odeon/Bouleutarion. Pictured above is a photo of the left side of the cavea, and below, the inner side of the front wall. There would have been a wooden cavea for seating, and a wooden roof.

In the photo below, we see the East Gallery Stoa next to and connected with the Odeon/Bouleuterion. Both structures have been built into the incline of the hill that rises behind them. The East Stoa shops occupy the first floor, while the upper floors that would have provided storage space, travelers accommodations, or perhaps living quarters.

Pictured below, we see in the left of the photo the open central square of the Agora, while in the right of the photo we see the full length of the East Gallery and Stoa.

The line of large square notches pictured on the outside of the East Stoa building between the first and second floors, and which continues along the length of the building were certainly meant to hold wooden beams that extended from the building to the column supported architrave that once encircled the open square.

Just in front of the Odeon/Bouleuterion at the southeast corner of the Agora is a collection of antiquities that were most likely members of the Stoa Portico (pictured above and below).

In the photo below, I am standing where the Odeon/Bouleuterion meets the Stoa Building. The fluted columns that supported the roof over the gallery are in the Doric order, and like most of the structures surrounding the Agora, date from the Hellenistic period.

Pictured below, as we move along the East Gallery we come to a staircase that leads up to the back of the East Stoa.

There is what seems to be a back street behind the East Stoa, and this may have allowed access to the second floor rooms of the East Stoa, as well as to the upper section of the Odeon/Bouleuterion.

The next three shops north of the staircase are very interesting, with the first two of the entrances having rectangular frames, and the third sporting an arched entrance (pictured above).

Sitting on the ground in front of the three ornately styled shop entrances are architrave members of the gallery portico (pictured above). The whole Agora is lined with architrave and column members, and it looks to me that the entire portico could eventually be restored.

All three entrances are crowned with a decorative architrave, with the arched entrance having the most elaborate of the three (pictured above and below). Also, the architrave of the arched entrance is flanked by engaged tapered fluted Doric columns (pictured above).

The frieze of the architrave features triglyphs with decorated metopes between them. The metope reliefs appear to be floral, or flowers, or perhaps wreaths.

In the photo below, we can see the arched shop entrance featured in the photos above. There is a large gap in the northeast corner of the agora that looks to have been the location of a large arched gate that accessed the Agora.

We see the remnants of the arched gate scattered around the location, including a square column that clings to the well preserved structure at the bottom right of the photo below.

So well preserved is ancient Lyrbe, and with the constant flow of tourists and tourist buses from nearby Manavgat where massive hotels cater to the summer holiday masses, I am surprised this site has not seen the same attention as other big tourist draws, like ancient Ephesus, ancient Assos, or ancient Troy. That said, there are too many sites in Türkiye that deserve such attention.

Coming back into the Agora, the well preserved structure that we see the back of in the photo above, presents some unique and challenging qualities. What was the function of this space? I would say it was a fountain, but I see no pool. Perhaps it was a stoa shop, but its store front seems too open.

Probably dating from the Hellenistic period, my guess is that this space was dedicated to one or more of several gods and/or goddesses associated with the public space and the activities that took place within it. The niches at the top of the back wall indicate that the space was covered with a roof supported by wooden beams.

The Agora was a place of commerce, which is associated with the god Hermes, patronage (the goddess Athena), assembly (the god Zeus), and craftsmanship/artisanship (Hephaestus). I imagine one or more statues of some of these gods/goddesses on display within this space, similar to the dedicatory space within the Agora of ancient Knidos (which I am writing about now).

In the main Agora of ancient Athens they built a massive temple dedicated to Hephaestus, which still stands today, and is extremely well preserved. In the photos above and below, we see a very large arched entrance, why and, for what purpose? This arched space was most certainly built at the same time as the so-called dedicatory space to its right, as they share the same architrave.

I suppose it's possible that this arched space was also for dedicatory purposes, and perhaps this is part of the reason the Byzantines built a church directly in front of it (which by the way, I failed to get a good photo of). Or, perhaps this was a fountain area? Or, maybe the wall at the back of the space was constructed at a later date, and this space was actually the north gate into the Agora? I say this because, there is a later built structure to the left of the arched gate that is obviously built from a mishmash of odd building members taken from other structures. Further, you can see in the photos above that this rough structure actually fronts and covers the more beautifully constructed arched gate.

Pictured above, I am standing at the southwest corner of the Agora looking down the length of the sunken gallery below the east side of the Agora. The east side of the Agora offers an enigma of sorts, because we have a colonnade that encloses the central square, but beyond this line we are greeted with two subterranean galleries. I'm curious to find out if one or both of these sunken galleries were once covered with a floor of timbers?

The slope of the hill probably dictated that a base be built at a lower level to support a west Agora stoa, but why build out a massive solid base for an elevated terrace, when it's possibly to simply build the supports, and create an open basement?

Perhaps it made more sense of space use to build the lower base with hollowed out galleries (basements), and then cover the subterranean galleries with a timber roof, allowing for an upper level row of stoa shop space at the Agora level?

The arch pictured in the photo above rises over the inner subterranean gallery at the northwest corner of the Agora. These subterranean galleries are very interesting, and offer more than appeared when viewed from above, as there are unique antiquities scattered throughout their spaces.

Pictured below, here is a fragment of a mosaic that I would guess is dated to the Byzantine period.

Pictured below, we see an interesting Ionic capital that has extension elements that give it more contact area on its crown, and this too I would guess emanates from the Byzantine period.

Most of the multiple arched structure serves the basic function of supporting the terrace above, and only intermittently are deep rooms found within sunken gallery.

I imagine that the main function of these galleries was of course to support the Agora above and keeping it from sliding down the hillside, but also for passage and storage.

At the southwest corner of the Agora (pictured below), the galleries arrive at a very large structure that displays some ornate styling and powerful construction.

There are two large arches spanning the galleries at this end (southwest corner), as there are also at the northwest corner, and there would appear to be a buried staircase under the inner gallery arch that leads to the level of the Agora (pictured above), while the outer arch allows passage next to and outside the large building (pictured below).

We can see the massive engaged fluted column and the indentation of the missing arched roof within the tall side wall that rises above the subterranean galleries in the photo above. I imagine that there was once a timber floor that covered this area from the bottom of the column to the edge of the Agora.

After photographing the Agora, I went back to the northeast corner, walked through the gap between the buildings, and headed up the slope to Temple C2. The large debris field you see in the photo below are I believe the remains of Temple C2, but may be a combination of various structures near the temple.

My guess is that this destruction was probably caused by seismic activity, and surprisingly, many of the buildings are in a good state of preservation.