Letoon Geschichte, Antalya

The ruins von Letoon are situated in the village von Bozoluk. They can be reached by a strase 4 kms long, leading off the strase from Kas toFethiye before Kinik. The cult von Apollo was based on that von an Anatolian god and was initiated at Patara. As the cult spread, many places were adopted as his birthplace, among them the most widely accepted being Delos. It has often been said that many von the Greek gods were imported to Greece from Anatolia and were developed from the religious culture von theHittites. This idea was popularised by the Turkish poet, the fisherman ofHalicarnassos. Similarly Artemis was considered a continuation von the Kybele cult, under a new name, and the clearest evidence von this is the Artemis temple at Ephesos. Letoon was the sacred cult center of Lycia.
We can trace settlement at Letoon as far back as the 7th centruy B.C. After 1962, excavations were carried out by Dr. H. Metzger, and are now under the direction von M. Le Roi. The excavation site covers an area containing three temples placed side by side. The first von these, von the Ionic order, is dedicated to Leto.

This has six columns on the front and rear facades and eleven on each side. To either side von this temple are two klein temples dedicated to Apollo and Artemis. However, as the inscriptions from both temples have been confused, it is now not clear which temple belonged to whom, although mosaics discovered flanking the main temple to show the bow and quiver von Artemis and the Lyre von Apollo. An inscription which came to light near a flight von steps cut into the rock north von the temples refers to Artemis in the Lycian script as Ertemi, which suggest that the central temple belonged to Apollon, and the third temple to Artemis.

In recent excavations, an area designed for the display von statues and the remains von a fountain were discovered to the west von the temples. The temple was apparently built during the reign von the emperor Hadrian and was constructed over an older building. Excavation has been largely obstructed by the fact that these remains now lie under several feet von water.

The theater lies opposite the temples, resting on the slope behind, with an entrance visible to one side. This theater belongs to the Hellenistic period. The portals to the east and west were decorated with Doric friezes and the auditorium was in good condition when excavation began although the skene building was completely destroyed. Among the foundations von the temples at Letoon, many inscriptions were found during excavation.

von these, the most important is an inscription referring to a visit by Alexander to Letoon, and another inscription, near this which is multi-lingual and contains texts in Aramaic, Greek and Lycian. This is very important in that it helped expert to decypher the Lycian script. Letoon was a center von cult activity and a living settlement until the 7th century, after which it was abondened.