Patara was the capital of the Lycian League. Hittite texts of the thirteenth century BC already name it as Patar, and the reason it lasted so long is geography: in the Xanthos valley it was the one point with an opening to the sea. Excavation has run here since 1988.
The city rose with the Seleucids, who took control at the beginning of the second century BC and treated it as Lycia's capital; that position was made formal in 167/68 BC, when Patara gained autonomy against Rome and independence from Rhodes. Under Rome it kept its weight — the governors heard legal business here, and the port served as the naval link to the eastern provinces. When Lycia became a Roman province in AD 43 and was joined with Pamphylia into one province in AD 74, Patara remained the capital. It was also known as the harbour where grain shipped from Anatolia to Rome was stored.
After Rome it was known for its oracle of Apollo, and under Byzantium it was an important centre for Christians. Saint Nicholas — the figure behind Father Christmas — was born here, and Paul is recorded as having taken ship from Patara on his way to Rome. At the Council of Nicaea in 325, held under Constantine, Lycia's single signatory was Eudemos of Patara.
The visit begins at a Roman arch, and the order of the ruins follows from it. Entry to the ancient city is made through a triumphal gateway, imposing and well preserved, which appears from its inscription to have been built around AD 100 for the governor of the province. West of the arch the necropolis stretches away, with Lycian-type sarcophagi in it. At the southern end of the site the theatre leans against Kurşunlu Tepe, rebuilt after an earthquake. Kurşunlu Tepe is also the best corner from which to take in the whole, and the other remains on it are the bath of Vespasian, a Corinthian temple, the main street and the buildings of the ancient harbour. North of the theatre stands the council house, where Patara held the assemblies it hosted as capital. Another of the monumental buildings is the granary put up by the emperor Hadrian and his wife Sabina. Among the remains that catch the eye are the water channels that brought water from a rock face some twenty kilometres from the city.
Since you are here: the Lycian Way passes close to Patara, but the thing the directorate says not to miss is the beach immediately beside the site. It calls it one of the finest on the Mediterranean, and singles out the dunes. The beach runs for eighteen kilometres, and it is one of the rare shores where loggerhead turtles come to lay their eggs and hatch their young — something they are said to have been doing for millions of years.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Antalya as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 10.1 °C in January to 28.6 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, October and November; rainfall is heaviest in December (251 mm) and lightest in August (4 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
Visiting hours
- Hours
- 08:00 - 18:45
