Historical Site
Sidyma Ruins
At Dodurga
ID: 
173

A minor site compared to many you’ll see along the Lycian Way, but beautiful nevertheless – especially some of the detailed sarcophagi. Climb to the top of the hill for an especially nice view.

 

The hamlet of Dodurga is built among, and in some cases directly on, the ruins.

Notes

The following content includes and/or adapts material from the linked Wikipedia article.

 

History
Sidyma was mentioned in the 1st century BC by Alexander Polyhistor, and later by Pliny the Elder, Stephanus of Byzantium, the Synecdemus, and the Notitiae Episcopatuum. Its extant remains are of the time of the Roman Empire, when it was an unimportant but flourishing city, and no Lycian inscriptions have been discovered there and there are no Lycian rock tombs, but its name seems to indicate an earlier origin. Above the present ruins, which lie in a valley, is a wall that may indicate the existence on the hill of a city of which no traces remain.

 

The one coin of Sidyma that has been found is of the type of the Lycian League.

 

It is related that the future Byzantine Emperor Marcian, when still a simple soldier, fell asleep while resting on a hunt near Sidyma, and was found to be sheltered by a large eagle, a presage of his future elevation.

 

Remains
The ruins of Sidyma, high up on the southern slope of Mount Cragus, were first discovered by Charles Fellows, who described them as consisting chiefly of splendidly built tombs, abounding in Greek inscriptions. The town itself, he said, appeared to have been very small, and the theatre, agora and temples, were of diminutive size, but of great beauty. The theatre is now “badly damaged”, “in wretched condition”.

 

Ecclesiastical History
Sidyma became a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of the Metropolitan see of Mira, the capital of the Roman province of Lycia.

 

Its bishop Hypatius was one of the signatories of the letter that the bishops of the province sent in 458 to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian with regard to the murder of Proterius of Alexandria. Zemarchus was at the Third Council of Constantinople in 680 and the Trullan Council of 692. Nicodemus took part in the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

 

The diocese continued to appear in the Notitiae Episcopatuum until the 13th century.

 

Pretty Pictures

Sometimes nothing beats a good photo. Or even a bad photo! If you’d like to share some or all of your photo collection with the Trekopedia community, contact us at photos@trekopedia.com and we can arrange a transfer of them. And thanks!
All photos are copyright by their respective owners and are used with permission.
  • Hiker at the Lycian tombs at Sidyma.
    Hiker at the Lycian tombs at Sidyma
    Photo by 
    T Roszkowski
     – 
    Spring 2022
  • Tombs at the Sidyma ruins.
    Tombs at the Sidyma ruins
    Photo by 
    Anna Flack
     – 
    Sept 2022

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