Balboura is a Lycian city at Karaculha in the Altınyayla district of Burdur. In the Roman period this area was known as Kabalia, and Balboura was a member of a tetrapolis, a union of four cities; when that union broke up at the beginning of the second century AD the city joined the Lycian League and was counted a Lycian city from then on. It is known as the highest-lying of the Lycian cities, with the acropolis hill standing 1,200 metres above sea level.
A stream runs through the middle of the ancient city. On the acropolis hill is a small theatre with sixteen rows of seating, which may have served as a theatre or as the meeting place of the assembly, and has also been thought to have been used for animal fights. Across the stream, on the skirts of the southern hill, are a number of graves with lions carved on their lids, cisterns, and scattered Byzantine remains, while the city centre at the foot of the North Hill holds many remains as well - but set your expectations, because none of them is standing. Inscriptions show that there was a temple of Nemesis at the agora, where the main street and the arched entrance are, built in Nemesis's name by a slave called Onesinus. Just north of the road leading to the ruins, at the point where it reaches the site, are the remains of a Roman mausoleum built in the form of a house.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Burdur as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 2.6 °C in January to 24.7 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in December (60 mm) and lightest in August (9 mm). Long-term means for 1931-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
