Antiphellos Ancient City and Theater – History and Landscape

Antiphellos Ancient City is located in Kas district of Antalya province. The ancient city is considered one of the most important port cities of the Lycian Civilization. The ancient city initially served as the port of the Phellos Ancient City, located near the village of Cukurbag. In later times, it became a rich city due to the development of cedar wood trade and was separated from the Ancient City of Phellos. There are many different historical ruins in the ancient city. You can see these ruins when you visit Kas.

Antiphellos Ancient City Ruins

Antiphellos Ancient Theatre: Built facing the sea, the theater is the only ancient theater built towards the sea in Anatolia. It is built from local cut limestone of the region where it is located. The theater, which has a capacity of 3000 people, dates back to the Hellenistic Period. It was restored in 2008.

Necropolis:  Located around the theatre. It is thought that the necropolis was once located around the theater. There are many graves from different periods.

Akdam Doric Tomb: This tomb, which is a Doric type tomb, contains some female figures holding hands. It is covered with soot due to the fire that was burned in it before. There are no other examples of the embroideries in Lycia, which are rarely seen at the moment because they are covered with soot.

King’s Tomb: Located in Uzun Çarşı, this tomb is among the sarcophagi that have survived to the present day intact. It is not known whether this sarcophagus belongs to a king or not. The sarcophagus takes its name from the lion heads on its upper part. Apart from the King’s Tomb, there are also three solid sarcophagi in the ancient city, one each in the harbour, in the market place and on the sea side of the gendarmerie building.

Water Cisterns: The irrigation system of the ancient city used to work with cisterns. There are many cisterns in the ancient city dating back to the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. However, among these cisterns, only two survive today intact.

Apart from these, there is a ruin on the road to the Antiphellos Ancient City. It is thought that this ruin is a temple.