Olympos is a port city located on the western coast of the Gulf of Antalya, approximately 16 km south of Phaselis. The Olympos River, which flows through a deep valley, runs through the center of the city before reaching the sea. Although the exact date of the city’s foundation is unknown, coins of the Lycian League minted in its name suggest that it dates to the Hellenistic period. It is likely that Olympos was founded as a Doric colony, similar to Phaselis.
During the Roman period, Olympos was one of the six cities of the Lycian League granted three votes and was the only city in eastern Lycia to enjoy this privilege. However, in the first quarter of the 1st century BCE, it was expelled from the Lycian League, along with Phaselis, due to piracy activities led by Zeniketes of Olympos. Following the suppression of piracy, the city was readmitted to the Lycian League during the Roman Imperial period. The name Olympos does not appear on the Patara Road Monument or in the Stadiasmus Maris Magni, which records Mediterranean ports in the Roman period. Instead, both sources refer to a city named Korykos in the same region, the precise location of which remains uncertain. Some scholars propose that the city now known as Olympos was originally situated on nearby Mount Musa during the Hellenistic period, while the coastal settlement—identified as Korykos—functioned as its port. According to Mustafa Adak, as the port settlement expanded and the mountain site declined in importance, the name Korykos was eventually replaced by Olympos.
Like other cities in eastern Lycia, Olympos does not exhibit a distinctly Lycian cultural character. The hundreds of inscriptions discovered in and around the city are all in Greek, and Lycian-style rock-cut tombs are notably absent. The only exception in the wider region is the Lycian-style rock tomb located at Asartaş. With the exception of a few Hellenistic fortification walls, all visible remains in the city today date to the Roman and Byzantine periods. Olympos is also among the cities in Anatolia where the remains of the Early Christian period are particularly prominent. The well-known clergyman Methodios, who was martyred in Syria during the reign of Diocletian, was a native of Olympos and served as the first bishop of both the city and Lycia.
The ancient city of Olympos was first documented by Francis Beaufort in 1811. The initial excavations were conducted by the Antalya Museum between 1991 and 1992. Systematic surveys and excavations, initiated by Anadolu University in 2000, are ongoing.
References:
Adak, M. 2004. “Lokalisierung von Olympos und Korykos in Ostlykien,” Gephyra 1, 27–51.
Adak, M., & N. Tüner. 2004. “Neue Inschriften aus Olympos und seinem Territorium I,” Gephyra 1, 53–65.
Olcay-Uçkan, B. Y. & G. K. Öztaşkın. 2016. “Olympos: The City Sanctified with Water and Fire,” in From Lukka to Lycia: The Land of Sarpedon and St. Nicholas, eds. H. İşkan & E. Dündar, 274–287, İstanbul.
Olcay-Uçkan, B. Y. 2017. “Olympos,” in The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia, ed. P. Niewöhner, 291–293.
Images:
Carole Raddato, 2013
B. Y. Olcay-Uçkan, 2017
Bora Bilgin, 2022, 2023