Korba is a small settlement located about 5 km north of Kyaneai, near the Körüstan area of Gökçeyazı village. The site was inhabited from the Dynastic period through to the Byzantine era. Its classical Lycian-style rock tombs and Lycian-inscribed sarcophagi attest to its early history. Although the city first recorded by Spratt and Forbes, it was the Austrian expedition team who identified the name of the settlement through tomb inscriptions. The name Korba appears only in inscriptions from the Hellenistic and later periods, though it is thought to be of older origin.
The acropolis is surrounded by defensive walls. Apart from tombs, few other structures remain standing. On the southern slope of the hill are the remains of a Byzantine-period church. Kolb suggests that the area where the church was built may once have served as the city’s agora during the Dynastic and Hellenistic periods.
Most of the sarcophagi on the southern slope date to the Roman period.
References:
Çevik, N. 2021. Lykia Kitabı: Arkeolojisi, Tarihi ve Kültürüyle Batı Antalya, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Kolb, F. 2008. Burg – Polis – Bischoissitz: Geschichte der Siedlungskammer von Kyaneai in der Südwesttürkei, Mainz am Rhein.
Marksteiner, T. 1997. Die befestigte Siedlung von Limyra, Forschungen in Limyra 1, Vienna.
Image sources:
F. Kolb, 2008
Ertuğrul Anıl, 2025
Bora Bilgin, 2025
Tayfun Bilgin, 2025