Myra and Andriake
Myra / Andriake · Myra of Lycia · Mira · Demre
Classical Lycian to Byzantine·Lycian → Hellenistic Greek → Roman → Byzantine·🇹🇷 Antalya Province, Lycia, Turkey
About
About Myra and Andriake
Lycia's wealthiest rock-cut metropolis where a river-cliff houses 4th-century BCE painted Lycian temple-tombs (Painted Tomb with pinwheel) above a 10,000-seat Roman theatre later converted to Byzantine arena for gladiator venationes, and where Nicholas — 4th-century bishop of Myra — was entombed in a church that became Christendom's pilgrimage factory (post-1087 bones to Bari). Downstream Andriake preserves Hadrian's giant granary (Granarium, 230 ft) and Murex purple-dye vats that made Myra rich.
Why it mattersQuintessential Lycian house-tomb typology; Nicholas hagiography archaeology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why no early Nicholas inscription at church despite cult?
- 02Extent of purple dye operation under alluvium
Theories
- 01Alluvium-buried Andriake port holds Lycian League archive like Patara Stadiasmus duplicate
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Lycian Myra 5th c. BCE; Hellenistic–Roman peak 2nd c. BCE–5th c. CE
- Period
- Classical Lycian to Byzantine
- Culture
- Lycian → Hellenistic Greek → Roman → Byzantine
- Builders
- Lycian dynasts; Roman euergetai Opramoas of Rhodiapolis; Bishop Nicholas patrons
- Purpose
- Lycian metropolis controlling Andriake port purple- and timber trade and episcopal see
- Abandoned
- 11th century after Myriocephalion and alluvium; Nicholas relics removed 1087
- Rediscovered
- 1840s Fellows; Nevzat Çevik 2009– (Akdeniz Andriake/MYRA)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.350 BCE
Rock-cut temple-tombs carved (Painted Tomb)
c.270–343 CE
Nicholas as bishop of Myra
131 CE
Hadrian visits, funds Granarium at Andriake
1087
Myrans' bones translated to Bari by sailors
On the ground
Structures & features
36.2589° N · 29.9844° E · 15 m · 4 mapped features
Rock-cut necropolis (Painted Tomb)
tombCliff house-tombs with 4th c. BCE painted pinwheel ceiling
36.2595° N · 29.9848° ERoman Theatre of Myra
theatre10,000-seat theatre with gladiator arena conversion
36.2589° N · 29.9844° EAndriake Granarium of Hadrian
granary56 m Hadrianic granary with opus caementicium, now Lycian Civilizations Museum
36.2344° N · 29.9950° EChurch of St Nicholas
churchBasilica with Nicholas sarcophagus fragment and frescoes (now Demre museum church)
36.2447° N · 29.9853° E
Gallery