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Kitanaura

Kitanaura
Kitanaura is located in Turkey
Kitanaura
Shown within Turkey
Alternate name Kithanaura
Location Saraycık, Antalya Province, Turkey
Region Lycia
Coordinates 36°38′51″N 30°21′59″E / 36.64750°N 30.36639°E / 36.64750; 30.36639Coordinates: 36°38′51″N 30°21′59″E / 36.64750°N 30.36639°E / 36.64750; 30.36639
Type Settlement

Kitanaura or Kithanaura was an ancient city in Lycia. Its ruins are located near Saraycık, a small village in the Kumluca district of Antalya Province, Turkey.

The history of the city is largely unknown because it was not mentioned by any ancient author. Only the ruins of the city give some information. The earliest phase of the city's walls dates to the Hellenistic period, with the last phase dating to the Byzantine period. Because of the five churches which have been identified the city likely became more important with the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity.

T. A. B. Spratt visited the site for two days in 1842 to copy inscriptions and draw a plan. He could not find any remains which indicated the name of the city, but he suspected that it was Marmara or Apollonia.

Diodorus Siculus writes that Alexander the Great conquered a "great rock fortress" inhabited by the Marmares when he passed the frontier of Lycia. Spratt refers to the fortress with the name Marmora, others use Marmara. Apollonia was a Thracian colony in Lycia, which might explain why Thracians guided the second division of Alexander the Great's army through this remote part of Lycia. Marmara has not been found, but Apollonia was eventually discovered far away in western Lycia.

Later in 1842 the site was visited by A. J. Schönborn, who also proposed an identification as Marmara based on the description of Diodorus. A 1998 study of coins in the Antalya Museum led to the identification of the name of Kitanaura. The name of the city also appeared on a Roman milestone, the Miliarium Lyciae which was excavated at Patara in 1993. The inscriptions on the milestone give place names and distances during the 1st century AD. They mention Kitanaura lay at a distance of 17-18 kilometers to Idebessos. This made it possible to pinpoint the location of the city.


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