Lydae or Lydai () was a town of

ancient Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia ( Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian mainlanders ...

Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...

in the Rhodian Peraea.

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

notes the city in Lycia under the name Chydae. The ''

Stadiasmus Maris Magni The ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni'' or ''Stadiasmus sive Periplus Maris Magni'' () is an ancient Roman periplus or guidebook detailing the ports sailors encounter on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The ''stadiasmus'' provides distances, sailing ...

'' calls the city Clydae or Klydai (Κλυδαί) and places it in Caria. The family of Gaius Iulius Heliodoros from Lydae, which produced Lycian Federal Priests, an archiphylax, and a Roman Senator, is well-documented. The ''

demoi In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire ...

'' (subordinate urban units) of Lydae, Arymaxa and Kreneis are known in Roman imperial times; they used to be separate communities that merged with Lydae via '' sympoliteia''. Its site is located on the modern

Kapıdağ Peninsula Kapıdağ Peninsula () is a tied island in northwestern Anatolia extending into the Sea of Marmara in Balıkesir Province, Turkey. The peninsula forms the Gulf of Bandırma on its east and the Gulf of Erdek on its west. Kapıdağ was the classi ...

. There are extensive Roman and Byzantine ruins. These include a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

and an

agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...

. Numerous tombs and

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

s are scattered across the ruins. The site was identified by the British antiquaries Theodore and Mabel Bent in March 1888.J.T. Bent, ‘Discoveries in Asia Minor’, ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 1888, Vol. 9, pp. 82-7; ''The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J Theodore Bent'', vol. 1, Oxford, 2006, pp. 225-54.

References

Populated places in ancient Caria Populated places in ancient Lycia Former populated places in Turkey Fethiye District History of Muğla Province Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey {{AncientLycia-geo-stub