Xanthos

Xanthos is in Türkiye. Long ago it was the main city of a land called Lycia.

Today it is a field of old stone ruins.

Xanthos stands in southwestern Anatolia, in Türkiye, beside the Xanthos River (Eşen Çayı). It was the capital of ancient Lycia.

Today its ruins form one half of a World Heritage Site called Xanthos-Letoon. UNESCO says the ruins are far from any modern town, which has helped keep them as they were.

UNESCO describes Xanthos-Letoon as two neighboring settlements in southwestern Anatolia, within the boundaries of Antalya and Muğla provinces, forming a remarkable archaeological complex. Xanthos, east of the Xanthos River (Eşen Çayı), was the capital of ancient Lycia.

UNESCO credits the property's distance from any modern settlement with keeping its authenticity, and says it shows the continuity of Anatolian, Greek, Roman and Byzantine civilizations.

People at Xanthos carved writing into rocks and huge stone pillars.

The writing is in Lycian, a language that was forgotten long ago.

The longest and most important texts in the Lycian language were found at Xanthos-Letoon, most of them carved into rock or onto huge stone pillars. UNESCO says they help us understand the Lycian people and their long-forgotten language.

The city also has a theater, two agoras (public squares) from Hellenistic and Roman times, and the Vespasian Arch.

UNESCO calls the inscriptions, most carved in rock or on huge monoliths, exceptional evidence of a unique and long-forgotten Indo-European language. North of the old Lycian acropolis stands a theater that overlooks the Roman agora; the lower town between the Vespasian Arch and the Hellenistic acropolis holds the Hellenistic agora and Byzantine churches.

UNESCO adds that Xanthos-Letoon influenced Patara, Pınara and Myra, and that the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was directly influenced by one of the tombs of Xanthos.

In this photo, a tall stone tomb stands against a dark blue twilight sky.

In the back, you can see rows of stone seats.

This photo was taken on 27 October 2023, at twilight. A Lycian stone tomb rises from a stepped stone base, with a heavy carved top. Behind it on the right, rows of stone seats belong to the city's theater, and lights shine in the distance on the left.

UNESCO names a paved road across the ancient city as a threat. In 2010 a conservation council decided to close it, but UNESCO says more action is needed.

The photograph (27 October 2023, by Buğra Kaan Ersoy, taken at twilight and uploaded through Wiki Loves Monuments Turkey) shows what the photographer calls a monumental Lycian sarcophagus in the necropolis: a weathered stone chamber with a projecting carved top on a stepped base, the rows of the theater behind it at the right, and scattered blocks in the foreground.

UNESCO reports that a paved road has long crossed the ancient city; the regional conservation council decided to close it in 2010, and UNESCO says further action, such as rerouting the road, is needed.