Phaselis ( grc, Φασηλίς) or Faselis ( tr, Faselis) was a Greek and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

city on the coast of ancient Lycia. Its ruins are located north of the modern town Tekirova in the

Kemer Kemer is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, west of the city of Antalya, on the Turkish Riviera. Kemer is on the Gulf of Antalya, of sea coast with the skirts of the western Taurus Mounta ...

district of

Antalya Province Antalya Province ( tr, ) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visi ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. It lies between the Bey Mountains and the forests of Olympos National Park, south of the tourist town of

and on the 57th kilometre of the Antalya–Kumluca highway. Phaselis and other ancient towns around the shore can also be accessed from the sea by daily yacht tours.

History

The town was set up by the

Rhodians Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the Sou ...

in 700 BC. Because of its location on an isthmus separating two harbours, it became the most important harbour city of eastern

Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is ...

and an important centre of commerce between

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, and

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

, although it did not belong to the Lycian League. The city was captured by

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

after they conquered Asia Minor.

Cimon Cimon or Kimon ( grc-gre, Κίμων; – 450BC) was an Athenian ''strategos'' (general and admiral) and politician. He was the son of Miltiades, also an Athenian ''strategos''. Cimon rose to prominence for his bravery fighting in the naval Batt ...

, in 468 BC, attacked the city and it was enrolled in the

Delian Confederacy The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Polis, Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Classical Athens, Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire a ...

. Later it was captured by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. After the death of Alexander, the city remained in Egyptian hands from 209 BC to 197 BC, under the dynasty of Ptolemaios, and with the conclusion of the Apamea treaty, was handed over to the Rhodian Peraia, together with the other cities of Lycia. From 190 BC to 160 BC it remained under Rhodeian hegemony, but after 160 BC it was absorbed into the Lycian confederacy under Roman rule. Phaselis, like

Olympos Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...

, was under constant threat from pirates in the 1st century BC, and the city was even taken over by the pirate Zekenites for a period until his defeat in 77 or 76 BC by the Romans under

Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (c. 130 BC – 44 BC), was a Roman politician and general of the First Century BC. He was elected one of the two consuls for 79 BC. From 78 to 74 BC, as proconsul of Cilicia, he fought against the Cilician Pirat ...

. In 42 BC Brutus had the city linked to Rome. In the 3rd century AD, the harbor fell under the threat of pirates once again. So it began to lose importance, suffering further losses at the hands of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

ships, until totally impoverished in the 11th century. When the Seljuqs began to concentrate on Alanya and Antalya as ports, Phaselis ceased to be a port of any note. There was a temple of Athene at Phaselis, where the lance of

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...

was exhibited. It was the birthplace of the poet and orator Theodectes. It was also renowned for its roses, from which the essence was extracted.

Bishopric

Phaselis became a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

bishopric, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a t ...

of Mira, the capital of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

of Lycia. Its bishop Fronto took part in the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, B ...

in 451. His successor, Aristodemus, was one of the signatories of the letter that in 458 the bishops of Lycia sent to

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

Leo I the Thracian Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" ( la, Thrax; grc-gre, ο Θραξ),; grc-gre, Μακέλλης), referencing the murder of Aspar and his son. was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia ...

concerning the murder of Proterius of Alexandria. The bishop of the time of the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, an ...

(787) did not attend, and the acts were signed in his name by a deacon called Ioannes. No longer a residential bishopric, Phaselis is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 893

Notable people

* Lacritus, a Greek sophist *

Critolaus Critolaus (; el, Κριτόλαος ''Kritolaos''; c. 200 – c. 118 BC) of Phaselis was a Greek philosopher of the Peripatetic school. He was one of three philosophers sent to Rome in 155 BC (the other two being Carneades and Diogenes of Babylon) ...

, a Greek

Peripatetic Peripatetic may refer to: *Peripatetic school The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and ''peripatetic'' is an adjective ascribed to his followers. ...

philosopher * Theodectes, a Greek rhetorician and tragic poet

Phaselis today

Phaselis has three harbours: the 'Northern Harbour', the 'Battle Harbour' and the 'Protected (Sun) Harbour', of which the last is the most important today. A 24-metre-wide ancient street runs through the middle of the city. The 'Hadrian Waterway Gate' is on the southern part of the street. There are ruins of shops and stores on the sides of the street and near these are ruins of public places such as

Roman baths In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order o ...

s and theatres. These structures are dated to the 2nd century BC. There are water canals between the town centre and the 70 m plateau. There are also numerous sarcophagi. File:Phaselis Aqueduct 5267.jpg, Phaselis Aqueduct File:Phaselis Big Bath 4735.jpg, Phaselis Big Bath File:Phaselis Big Bath 5284.jpg, Phaselis Big Bath File:Phaselis march 2012 5298.jpg, Phaselis Main Street File:Phaselis Decoration near Hadrian's Gate 4744.jpg, Phaselis Decoration near Hadrian's Gate File:Phaselis Hadrian's Gate 5314.jpg, Phaselis Hadrian's Gate File:Phaselis City Harbour 4761.jpg, Phaselis North Harbour File:Phaselis City Harbour 5300.jpg, Phaselis North Harbour File:Phaselis South Harbour 5325.jpg, Phaselis South Harbour File:Phaselis View from South Harbour 5321.jpg, Phaselis View from South Harbour File:Phaselis Tetragonal Agora 5355.jpg, Phaselis Tetragonal Agora File:Phaselis Front Tetragonal agora 5359.jpg, Phaselis Front Tetragonal agora File:Phaselis Small Bath 4747.jpg, Phaselis Small Bath File:Phaselis Small Bath and Theatre 5357.jpg, Phaselis Small Bath and Theatre File:Phaselis Theatre 5331.jpg, Phaselis Theatre File:Phaselis march 2012 5308.jpg, Phaselis Street along Domitian Agora File:Phaselis Entrance Domitian Agora 5310.jpg, Phaselis Entrance Domitian Agora File:Phaselis Domitian Agora 5328.jpg, Phaselis Domitian Agora File:Phaselis March area 5368.jpg, Phaselis March area

References

External links