Let's Get to Know Myra, One of the Great Cities of Lycia🗿🪦🏟

Hello dear Steemit Travel community,

As I mentioned in this article in the past weeks, I visited Kaş district of Antalya. On the way to Kaş, we also visited some of the ancient cities on the way. Today I will introduce you to the ancient city of Myra, the first of these stops.

Location Of Myra

The ancient city of Myra is located within the borders of Demre district of Antalya. It is located approximately 133 km from the center of Antalya. You can reach the exact location of the ancient city of Myra from the Link

_{Screenshot is taken from Google Maps}

Entrance

You can buy a 100 TL (26.8 Steem)single-use ticket to enter the ancient city. But instead, you can buy a Museum Card for 60 TL (16.08 Steem) from the box office at the entrance of the ancient city and enter many museums and ancient cities within the borders of this country for free. Moreover, the Museum Card is valid for 1 year. Since my Museum Card had expired, I took out a new one. I used the museum card three times in total during the day. Definitely a much more rational choice.

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Myra Ancient City, History of the City

Myra is a Lycian city founded between 163 BC and 163 BC. It is one of the five major cities in the Lycian period and it is known that it has 2 votes in the senate because it is a relatively large city.

A large part of Mira is buried under alluvial deposits. Today, there are rock tombs and an ancient theater where the nobles of the period were buried. A large part of Mira is buried under alluvial deposits. Today, there are rock tombs and an ancient theater where the nobles of the period were buried. Another importance of Mira is that St. Nicolas, better known to all of us as Santa Claus, served as archbishop in this city. In my next content, we will visit the church of Santa Claus, where Santa Claus is allegedly buried.

_{Engraved Figures📜}

Rock Tombs

_{Rock Tombs}

The ancient tombs are the most remarkable structures that have survived the Myra. According to our tour guide, these are the tombs where the nobles of the city were buried. The higher the tomb, the higher the rank of the person buried in it. These cemeteries were covered with boards, but of course, they have not survived to the present day in this form and have been destroyed. The main reason for this was that since nobles were buried in the cemeteries, thieves or treasure hunters damaged these cemeteries because their valuables could be buried with these people. Unfortunately, human greed has not changed much throughout history.

Ancient Theater

_{Ancient Theater🏟}

As the name suggests, the Ancient Theater was the gathering point for cultural events in the city. Gladiator battles, which we know today from movies, were held in these ancient theaters. The ancient theater was destroyed in an earthquake in 141 and then rebuilt.

The capacity of the ancient theater is 1600 people. This figure also gives us a clue about the population of Myra. Again, according to the information I got from our tour guide, the population of the city is about 5 times the capacity of the theater. This shows that the population of Myra was around 8000. Since we are talking about a period in BC, we can say that the population was quite crowded.

That's all I have to say about Myra. I hope you enjoyed reading my article.

See you soon👋🏻