Location: 50 km (31 mi) East of Fethiye
Pinara west of the Xanthos River (today Eşen River),
namesake of the ancient city of Xanthos. The name Pinara has been
related to the name of the current town of Minare, which is half an hour
from the ruins and depends on Fethiye, in the district of Muğla Province
(Turkey).
In Pinara you can see the remains of several ancient
temples, as well as rock-cut tombs including 'royal tombs', an upper and
lower acropolis, an ancient Greek theatre, an odeon, an agora and a
church.
In Pinara there was a cult of Pandarus, the Lycian hero of the Trojan
War, leading some sources to conclude that he was originally from the
city.
According to the Lycian history of Menecrates, cited by
Stephen of Byzantium, the city was a colony of Xanthus, and its original
name would be Artymnesos (in ancient Greek: Ἀρτύμνησος). This name would
have preceded the Lycian name of Pinara, derived from the form
"Pilleñni" or "Pinale" which means 'round hill' or simply 'round', with
a hypothetical change of the liquid consonant. The city is in fact
situated on a large round mass of rock, and a more or less circular
cliff rises above the remains. Another source, Paniasis, also mentions
an eponymous founder named Pinarus, son of Tremilo, but some sources
consider this account to be as insubstantial as many other similar
etymologies.
Although the city is not often mentioned by ancient writers, it
appears from its vast and beautiful ruins to have been, as Strabo
states, one of the largest in Lycia, and its main port until the port
was silted up, state in which continues today.
A rare mention of
the city in ancient sources is related to the help it gave, along with
other Lycian cities, to Pixodaro of Caria.
Pinara was a member of
the Lycian League, in which he had three votes. The city surrendered to
Alexander the Great in 334 BC. After the death of Alexander, the city
fell into the hands of the kingdom of Pergamum. Pinara became a Roman
city when its last king Attalus III handed it over to the Roman Republic
in 133 BC. The city enjoyed prosperity during Roman rule, but was badly
damaged by earthquakes in the years 141 and 240. Regarding the former,
it is known that the city received a contribution from Opramoas for the
repair of its public buildings.
Pinara was soon Christianized.
Five bishops are known: Eustathius, who signed the formula of Acacius of
Caesarea at the Council of Seleucia in 359; Heliodorus, who signed the
letter of the bishops of Lycia to Emperor Leo I the Thracian (458);
Zenas, present at the Quinisext Council) (692); Theodore, at the Second
Council of Nicaea (787); Athanasius, at the synod that reinstated
Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople (Photian Council) in 879. Pinara
was the birthplace of Nicholas of Mira.
Finally, under repeated
pressure from invading forces, the city lost its inhabitants in the 9th
century. The Christian bishopric of Pinara, which is currently not a
residential seat, is included in the list of titular sees of the
Catholic Church.
The ruins of Pinara were identified by Charles Fellows. "In the middle of the ancient city," he says, "rises a singular round rocky cliff (the pinara of the Lycians), literally dotted with tombs. Below this cliff are the ruins of the extensive and splendid city. The theater is in a very perfect condition; All the seats remain, with the sides inclined towards the proscenium, as well as several of its portals. The walls and several of the buildings are made of Cyclopean masonry (Cyclopean architecture), with massive entrance doors made up of three immense stones. The tombs are innumerable, and the inscriptions are in Lycian characters, but Greek also often appears on the tombs themselves. Some of these rock tombs are adorned with beautiful and rich sculptures.