Balboura ruins are located in Karaçulha locality of Altınyayla district of Burdur. It is estimated that Balboura, like Oinoanda, may have been founded by immigrants from Pisidia, as it culturally shows more Pisidian characteristics than Lycian. Due to the conflicts with other Lycian cities, Balboura joined the Kibyratis Tetrapolis together with Oinoanda, Bubon and Kibyra. The oldest findings in the city date to the end of 3rd or the beginning of 2nd century BCE. Kibyratis Tetrapolis supported the Pontic king Mithridates during his revolt against Rome. Rome, which won the war, dispersed the tetrapolis. After 81 BCE, Balboura became a member of the Lycian League.
The remains of the walls surrounding the acropolis reach only 2 meters in height. No monumental remains were found in the acropolis area. The Hellenistic theater is on the southern skirt of the acropolis hill. Its walls that support the stage are built in the polygonal technique with bossage stones. There is a smaller Roman period theater built into a recess in a rocky slope to the south of the valley. The workmanship of its stage building, whose lower parts have remained intact, is impressive, although there are very few traces of the seats carved into the rock. It is understood that the Nemesis Temple, the only structure in the city that could be identified with its inscription, was built by a person named Onesimos who defined himself as a servant of the people.
Hellenistic Theater
Unfinished Roman Theater
References:
Coulton, J. J. 2012. The Balboura Survey and Settlement in Highland Southwest Anatolia, BIAA Monograph 43 Vol.1, Ankara.
Çevik, N. 2021. Lykia Kitabı: Arkeolojisi, Tarihi ve Kültürüyle Batı Antalya, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Spratt, T. A. B. & E. Forbes. 1847. Travels in Lycia, Milyas and Cibyratis, London.
Image sources:
T. A. B. Spratt & E. Forbes, 1847
Bora Bilgin, 2022
Tayfun Bilgin, 2022