Telmessos Antique Theatre |
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As mentioned in the ancient sources, there was a big theatre in Telmessos. Telmessos (or Telmessus), later Anastasiopolis, then Makri/Macre was the largest city in Lycia, near the Carian border, and is sometimes confused with Telmessos in Caria. The well-protected harbor of Telmessos is separated from the Gulf of Telmessos by an island. During the drill excavations carried on by the Directorate General of Fethiye Museum in 1993, seats of the theatre were found 3-4 meters under the soil layers formed because of erosion. After the excavations concluded in 1995, all the extant remains of the theatre were re-surfaced. Built in the early Roman Period and repaired in 2000 AD, it is known that the theatre with a capacity of 5000 seats was used as an arena. At present, the theatre has a seating capacity of 1500 people. HistoryTelmessos (or incorrectly Telmissis) was a flourishing city west of Lycia, on the Gulf of Fethiye. It was famed for its school of diviners, consulted among others by the Lydian king Croesus, prior to declaring war against Cyrus, and by Alexander the Great, when he came to the town after the siege of Halicarnassus.Telmessos was a member of the Delian League in the 5th century BC. It was taken by Alexander in 334 BC. Telmessos was renamed Anastasiopolis in the 8th century, apparently in honour of Emperor Anastasios II, but this name did not persist. By the 10th century, it came to be called Makri, after the name of the island at the entrance to the harbor. Its ruins are located at Fethiye. Church historyLe Quien (Oriens christianus, I, 971) mentions two bishops of Telmessus: Hilary (370) and Zenodotus, at the Council of Chalcedon (451). The latter is called "Bishop of the Metropolis of Telmessaei and the Isle of Macra". The Notitiae episcopatuum mentions Telmessus among the suffragans of Myra until the tenth century, when it is no longer called Macra; in 1316 mention is made of the See of "Macra and Lybysium". Lybysium or Levissi, about four miles south-west of Makri, had in Ottoman days 3000 inhabitants, nearly all Greeks (Orthodox).
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