The city is located on the Meryemlik hill near the Sütleğen village of Kaş. Although it is a relatively small settlement, Neisa was a member of the Lycian League and in the 2nd century BCE had coins minted in its own name. The city is mentioned on the Patara Road Monument, which indicates that it was at the crossroads of the roads coming from both Xanthos and Kandyba to Elmalı. The prominent Dionysii family of the city stemmed numerous Lykiarchs in 2nd and 3rd centuries. So far, no excavation work has been carried out in Neisa. Almost all of the few structures visible in the city are from the Roman period. The earliest structures are the Hellenistic period city walls. The best preserved building in the city is a small theater with 22 rows. Three baths and several sarcophagi and mausoleums are other visible monuments. The main street with the well preserved stone pavements may have been used as a stadium too.
Neisa was established in a forested area on the Taurus Mountains far from the coastline, and the wealth of the city came from forestry activities. It is known that the region was rich in precious cedar trees in the past.
References:
Çevik, N. 2021. Lykia Kitabı: Arkeolojisi, Tarihi ve Kültürüyle Batı Antalya, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Şahin, S. 2007. ‘“Zwei Holzfaeller und der Wald in der Kartapis bei Neisa’, Gephyra 4, 37-45.
Takmer, B. & M. Oktan. 2013. ‘Parerga zum Stadiasmus Patarensis (11): Die lykische Stadt Neisa’, Gephyra, 20, 50-93.
Image sources:
B. Takmer, 2013
Bora Bilgin, 2022
Tayfun Bilgin, 2022
Reha Özer, 2022