Sidyma is in the Dodurga Village of the Seydikemer district of Muğla. It is one of the 23 cities of the first Lycian League founded in 168 BCE. According to the Patara Road Monument, it is 104 stades (approximately 20 km) from Xanthos. Starting with Charles Felllows, most of the 19th century travelers mention the city and the modern day village of Dodurga which was established next to the ancient Sidyma. Since then, the modern village has grown and spread over the existing ruins. Except for a few land surveys, no excavation work has been carried out. The port settlement Kalabatia, which is said to be located 4.5 km from Sidyma on the Patara Road Monument, might have served as the port of Sidyma.
There are nearly a hundred tomb structures in Sidyma in varying styles, the oldest of which date back to the 5th century BCE. More than half of these are pigeon-hole type simple rock tombs. The earliest remains of the city belong to the dynastic period. The remains of the fortification walls built in the dynastic and Hellenistic periods can be seen on the skirts of the acropolis hill rising to the southwest of the city center. Of a theater building leaning on the acropolis hill only the top steps are visible. All of the agora, stoa, sebasteion, bath and gymnasion structures on the plain in front of the theater belong to the Roman period. No temple structure has been identified other than the sebasteion. There are also remains of the Byzantine period churches and chapels. The best preserved structures are the tomb monuments. A significant one of them is located close to the village center and preserved almost to the roof level. According to the inscription on the monument, it was built for Flavia Nanne, an abbess of the emperor cult. It is dated to the 1st century CE. Another sarcophagus-like tomb close to the village center is special with its cassette ceiling carved from a single block. There are portraits engraved on 9 of the total 25 cassettes on the ceiling.
References:
Fellows, C. 1841. An Account of Discoveries of Lycia: Being a Journal Kept During a Second Excursion in Asia Minor, Londra.
Benndorf, O. & G. Niemann. 1884. Reisen in Lykien und Karien (Reisen im südwestlichen Kleinasien I), Viyana.
Dardaine, S. & E. Frézouls. 1985. ‘Sidyma: étude topographique’, Ktèma 10, 211-217.
Arslan, M. 1987. ‘Lykia’dan Bir Şehir: Sidyma’, Eski Eserler ve Müzeler Bülteni, Sayı 9, 22-29, Ankara.
Takmer, B. 2010. ‘Stadiasmus Patarensis için Parerga 2: Sidyma I. Yeni Yazıtlarla Birlikte Yerleşim Tarihçesi’, Gephyra 7, 95-136.
Çevik, N. 2021. Lykia Kitabı: Arkeolojisi, Tarihi ve Kültürüyle Batı Antalya, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Image sources:
C. Fellows, 1841
O. Bendorff & G. Niemann, 1884
S. Dardain & E. Frézouls, 1985
Kurt Böhne
Bora Bilgin, 2022, 2024
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