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Syedra

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Syedra
Ruined stone walls on a high hill looking out over a shoreline below
Ruins of Syedra in 2007
36°26′28″N 32°9′9″E / 36.44111°N 32.15250°E
Type Settlement
Cultures Greek, Roman, Byzantine
Location Antalya Province, Turkey
Region Cilicia, Pamphylia, Isauria
History
Built 7th century BCE
Abandoned 13th century CE
Site notes
Condition In ruins

Syedra (Greek: Σύεδρα)[1] was an ancient port city in region of ancient Cilicia, Pamphylia, or Isauria, on the southern coast of modern-day Turkey between the towns of Alanya and Gazipaşa. Syedra was settled in the 7th century BCE, and abandoned in the 13th century CE. The town had a port at sea level and an upper town 400m above.[2] Ptolemy places it in Cilicia.[3] Stephanus of Byzantium assigns it to Isauria.[4] Hierocles places it in Pamphylia.[5]

The Roman historians Lucan and Florus both mention Syedra as where the Roman General Pompey held his last war council in 48 BCE, before his fatal voyage to Egypt.[6] The city experienced its height around the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, and in 194 Roman Emperor Septimius Severus praised the city's resistance of ongoing Mediterranean piracy.[7] A first century BCE inscription found in the town relates to the piracy, suggesting that the oracle, possibly of Apollo at Claros, advised the Syedrians to resist pirates with "violent battle, either driving away, or binding in unbreakable chains."[6][8] In 193 Pescennius Niger made a war with Septimius Severus in order to become the Emperor. In 194 the war was over and Pescennius Niger defeated. After the war, Septimius Severus rewarded cities that supported him with new privileges and titles, while cities which went against him were punished, lost their privileges, some even became villages (κῶμαι). Syedra supported Septimius Severus, and took privileges.[9]

Coins were minted in Syedra during various time periods going back to that of Roman Emperor Tiberius (r. 14 CE–37 CE).[10] In 374 CE, the early Christian theologian Epiphanius of Salamis wrote his work Ancoratus (the well anchored man) as a reply letter to the Church at Syedra, describing it as needing to be anchored in a safe harbor.[11]

Modern excavations began in 1994 under Dr. İsmail Karamut, then head of the Alanya Archaeological Museum.[12] The main street in the upper town was excavated,[10] as well as a cave decorated with Christian imagery likely used for baptisms. A mosaic found is now on display in the Alanya Museum. Other structures include a temple, a theater, shops, bathhouse, town walls, and several cisterns that provided water to the city.[2] Also many churches have been unearthed.[13] In 2011, archeologist excavating underwater dated relics of a port at Syedra to the Bronze Age, around 5,000 years ago.[14]

References

  1. Back to citation Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), William Smith, LLD, Ed.
  2. Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 "Syedra". Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 2005. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  3. Back to citation Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 5.5.
  4. Back to citation Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
  5. Back to citation Hierocles. Synecdemus. Vol. p. 683.
  6. Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 de Souza, Philip (2002). Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 139–140. ISBN 0-521-01240-6.
  7. Back to citation "Syedra". Histolia (in German). February 22, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  8. Back to citation Price, S. R. F. (1999). Religions of the Ancient Greeks. Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–180. ISBN 0-521-38867-8.
  9. Back to citation Jones, Christopher P. "A Letter of Septimius Severus to the City of Syedra." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 195 (2015): 121-26. Accessed December 3, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43909905
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 "Syedra". Gelarabul (in Turkish). 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  11. Back to citation Frank Williams, ed. (2009). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (sects 1–46). BRILL. pp. xv–xvi. ISBN 978-90-04-17017-9.
  12. Back to citation Ergürer, H.Ertuğ (2024). Syedra 1 - Studies In Honor Of Ismaıl Karamut. Turkey: Bilgin Kültür Sanat Yayınları. p. 13. ISBN 978-625-6925-60-1.
  13. Back to citation Cave featuring St Paul fresco to open for tourism
  14. Back to citation "Relics of a 5,000-year-old port found in southern Turkey". World Bulletin. August 24, 2011. Archived from the original on September 22, 2011. Retrieved August 29, 2011.

Further reading

  • Elisabeth Rosenbaum; Gerhard Huber; Somay Onurkan: A survey of coastal cities in Western Cilicia. Preliminary report. Ankara 1967. S. 44–47. 65–66.
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