Although the city is recorded as Trabenna in the Patara Road Monument, inscriptions found at the site confirm the name as Trebenna. Trebenna is the northeasternmost city of Lycia and is located approximately 32 km west of Antalya. During the Hellenistic period, it came under the control of Termessos, a Pisidian city. In the Roman period, Trebenna became a member of the Lycian League and minted coins in its own name. It is also known that two citizens of Trebenna were elected as Lycian League presidents (lykiarchs) in the 3rd century CE, when the city reached its peak prosperity.
Trebenna is believed to have formed a sympoliteia with Onobara during the Roman period, possibly to secure access to the coast. The ancient city was first identified by Karol Lanckoronski in 1882. Numerous surveys have since been conducted by both local and international researchers, but no excavations have yet taken place.
The extant remains do not predate the Hellenistic period, and most visible structures belong to the Roman and Byzantine periods. Hellenistic remains are limited to the interior of the acropolis walls. On the plain south of the acropolis hill, Roman-period structures include an ekklesiasterion, a sebasteion, a stoa, and an agora. A large Roman bath is located on the slope of the hill known as Elmin, which also contains the necropolis south of the acropolis. The western necropolis area is referred to as Irimli. Both necropoleis contain monumental tombs.
References:
Çevik, N. 2005. Trebenna. Tarihi, Arkeolojisi ve Doğası – Its History, Archaeology and Natural Environment, eds. N. Çevik, B. Varkıvanç, E. Akyürek, Adalya Supplementary Series 1, Antalya.
Çevik, N. 2021. Lykia Kitabı: Arkeolojisi, Tarihi ve Kültürüyle Batı Antalya, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara.
Dinç, S. 2012. “Hellenistik ve Roma Çağları Likyası’nda Sympoliteia’lar”, in Uluslararası Genç Bilimciler Buluşması I: Anadolu Akdeniz Sempozyumu 04–07 Kasım 2009 Antalya Sempozyum Bildirileri, eds. K. Dörtlük et al., 77–86.
Images:
Ole Weidner, 2015
Çevik, 2021
Bora Bilgin, 2023
Tayfun Bilgin, 2023