Sura

Another set of ruins close by to Myra is Sura. A road lying right above the Andriake ruins in Çayağzi goes to Kaş and it crosses across the ancient city of Sura.

There isn’t much information available about Sura’s history. However ancient writers believed that this was one of the soothsaying centers of the sun god Apollo. As in other Lycian cities, there is an acropolis and to the east, there are tombs in this small Lycian city which existed in the fourth century B.C.

The Temple of Apollo is built in a deep valley on the western side of the acropolis. There are steps carved into the rock leading from the acropolis to the temple. The temple was built according to the “inantis” plan and it belongs to the Doric order. On its back facade, one of the blocks in triglis and metop rows are still visible. The spring where the soothsaying was performed can be found at the bottom of the acropolis. The priests would leave bottles full of meat in water and they would predict the future based on whether the fish had eaten the meat or not. Behind the temple there are ruins of a Byzantine church, and these ruins form a beautiful scene when you look from the asphalt road to the valley.

Another settlement area very close to Sura is just a few kilometers away, the ancient city of Trabenda. Again, there is little information available on the history of this city. There are only the remains of city walls and sarcophagi. Most of these sarcophagi belong to the Roman era. One sarcophagus belonging to the fifth century B.C. is of the Lycian type. There are city walls on the eastern and western side of the acropolis.

İlhan Aksit's book "Işık Ulkesi Lycia" (Lycia, Country of Light) and web site of Ministry of Culture & Tourism was used as a source for this webpage.