Getting to Letoon From Fethiye
Fethiye Museum: a delightful museum in the center of the town, with archaeological and ethnographical sections. Displays the finds from archaeological excavations conducted in Fethiye and other Lycian cities. Exhibits include pieces from the Bronze, Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman ages, Byzantine period, as well as ethnographic pieces from the Menteşe and Ottoman times. There are coins from various periods, pre-historical and historical ornaments, statues, busts etc. Also pieces of a tomb from Tlos, grave steles, amphorae, bronze pieces, offering altars, jewelry, column pedestals and capitals and earthenware vases. Large pieces are displayed in the open-air gallery outside. One very significant find displayed here is the
'Trilingual Stele' from Letoon, bearing inscriptions in Greek, Lycian and Aramaic, which was crucial in the deciphering of the Lycian language.The museum is open every day except Mondays, 08:00-17:00. At the entrance of the museum books in various languages especially on archaeological and historical subjects are offered for sale.
Getting lost is difficult around these parts
If you’re a foreigner on the Kumluova-Karadere dolmuş, the driver assumes Letoon is your destination and points you to this noticeable yellow sign. As you can see, it isn’t easy to miss anyway. You now have a stroll along a flat, greenhouse-lined, cobbled road (the Xanthos Valley is the land of Turkish tomato growing) towards the ancient site of Letoon. It’s only a kilometre so you’ll be there in minutes.
Entrance to Letoon
Eventually, you’ll pass the theatre of Letoon which stands in a field on its own, overlooking the road. There wasn’t a soul around as the season hasn’t started yet so we were thinking we might be able to wander in for free….No! Some poor guy has to sit in a wooden hut all day, every day, waiting for people like us – or maybe we were just unlucky! Last year’s dusty guidebooks appeared from under the desk and were politely refused. We paid our entrance fee and set off to take photos and eat lunch. More of that in future posts.
Letoon was the sacred cult center of Lycia, its most important sanctuary, and was dedicated to the three national deities of Lycia - Leto and her twin children Apollo and Artemis. Leto was also worshiped as a family deity and as the guardian of the tomb.
Letoon lies less than 10 km to the south of Xanthos on a fertile plain. Xanthos and Letoon are often seen as a "double-site", since the two were closely linked and Letoon was administered by Xanthos. Xanthos-Letoon is one of the most remarkable archaeological sites in Turkey. For this reason, it has been registered in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Letoon has been under excavation since the 1950's and since 1962 by the French Archaeological Mission, in conjunction with the excavations being carried out at Xanthos. Excavation goes on today - the team has done some excellent work and in recent years has begun to restore the Temple of Leto. Letoon is a romantic site and many of the monuments arise from standing water which provides lush vegetation. Terrapins and frogs are usually seen. Unfortunately though, the high water table hinders excavation.To reach Letoon, you turn west one km beyond the road from Kinik to Fethiye and continue 5 km. It's not far from Patara and a day trip from Kalkan, Kaş or Fethiye to Letoon or Xanthos could easily be combined with a trip to the beach and/or ruins there. Several finds from Letoon (as well as artifacts from other sites), including the important
Trilingual Stele from Letoon, bearing inscriptions in Greek, Lycian and Aramaic, (crucial in the deciphering of the Lycian language) can be seen in the
Fethiye Museum.
Mythology
According to a legend told by Ovid the latin poet, the nymph Leto was loved by Zeus and gave birth to her twins fathered by him, Atemis and Apollo on the island of Delos. Zeus' jealous wife Hera pursued Leto and chased her with the twins to Anatolia where she came to the place of Letoon. Here she tried to quench her thrist at a spring but local shepherds attempted to chase her from the water - until she turned them into frogs in retaliation. Another story gives the twins' birthplace as the source of the Xanthos River and another story says that wolves helped her find the Xanthos River. In gratitude she named the country Lycia: Lykos is Greek for wolf.This mythology has been a popular subject in art. See a painting of the Ovid's legend of shepherds turned into frogs:
Landscape with Leto and Peasants of Lykia by Hendrick de Clerck. Letoon was a sanctuary precinct and not actually a city, and seems to have had no major settlement associated with it at any period. It was administered by Xanthos and was the spiritual heart of Lycia, its federal sanctuary and the place of national festivals. Letoon was the center of pagan cults activity until perhaps the 5th century AD when Lycia was ravaged by Arab attacks and the area started to silt up with sand brought by the Xanthos River. It is believed to have been abandonded by the 7th century AD. Archaeological finds date back to the late 6th century BC. During the Archaic and Classical periods (7th-5th century BC) the site was probably sacred to to the cult of an earlier mother goddess (Eni Mahanahi in Lycia), which was later superseded by the worship of Leto.
Click here to see archeaological evidence of mother goddess worship found at Letoon, from the late 6th century BC.
During Roman Times, the Emperor Hadrian founded an emperor worship cult at the site. Christianity later replaced pagan beliefs and in the 5th century AD a chuch was built using stones from the old temples.An inscription found at Letoon refers to the establishment of the cult as well as its rules for monthly and annual sacrifices - offenders against this were found guilty before Leto, her children and the Nymphs. The Lycian cult of Leto was one of the many forms of the wide-spread mother-goddess religion which originated in ancient Anatolia and spread throughout the ancient world. It is noteworthy that a woman was allowed to preside over the national assembly that was held each autumn at Letoon - perhaps a reminder of the ancient matriarchal customs in Anatolia.
Main phases of the layout of the sanctuary:
In Classical times, some isolated edifices were built on terraces laid out between the hill and the holy spring.In Greek times, temples and porticoes were erected in a a regular grid.In Roman times, the Nymphaeum was re-designed in baroque style.In Byzantine times, a basilica was built on the altar's terrace, which dominated a site progressively covered by water.
The sanctuary was once bordered by large porticoes, where pilgrims could rest and which closed off the site. The three temples were erected on podiums, which is typical of Lycian architecture. They offered a spectacular view to pilgrims walking up the Holy Street from the propylon (a monument gateway leading to the sanctuary) which was located down the platform where the temples and altars were built. The site exends further to the south, but this area has yet to be excavated.
Features of Letoon include:
Temples - Remains of three temples, each dedicated to one of the three deities of Letoon are located side by side in the center of the site. All three temples were built around older temples, probably dating back to Classical times. The temples of Artemis and Apollo were burnt down to slaked lime, however the temple of Leto was only destroyed in the end of Antiquity and so eighty per cent of the temple blocks have been preserved.
The temple of Leto is the largest and best-preserved temple, likely dating back to the 5th century BC. The temple was built of very fine limestone, the clear color of which created the illusion of marble. An ionic portico surrounded the cult room (cella), which was decorated with an elegant engaged corinthian colonnade. Because of its dimensions and the quality of its sculptured decoration, this temple is one of the most exceptional examples of Greek architecture in Turkey and one of the best preserved Greek temples in the world.
To the east of the temple of Leto is the temple of Apollo, dated c. 4th century BC. This temple was Doric, unlike the other two temples, both of which were Ionic. A gorgeous floor mosaic depicting his symbols - bow and arrow, and lyre are seen here. Between the other temples lies the temple of Artemis, also dating back to c. 4th century BC. It is smaller with excellent masonry.
Nymphaeum - To the southwest of the temples is a nymphaeum connected to a sacred spring, full of terrapins and frogs some say to be the unfortunate shepards transformed by Leto’s vengeance. It was perhaps used in an religious immersion ceremony and was built during the Hellenistic period with the Roman addition of a semi-circular pool.
Basilica - remains of a Byzantine church with a nearby mosaic fragment. The church is believed to have been constructed in the 6th century AD and to have been destroyed around the mid-7th century, possibly by the Arab attacks of that period. The nave and aisles were decorated with floor mosiacs depicting geometric designs and animal figures (these can't be viewed - they are now either covered or have been removed). It is thought that there was a monastic community associated with the church and, due to the large number of drinking vessels found during excavation, the late Martin Harrison (the chief excavator) dubbed its members "the Drunken Monks".
More information from Bilkent University.
Amphitheatre - Letoon's theatre (said to be one of the most beautiful of Hellenistic times) has vaulted passages leading to entrances on either side and is in a very good state of preservation. It was constructed in the 2nd century BC and was used for religious perfomances. The central part of the auditorium was carved from natural bedrock and the aisles made from ashlars. The theatre was situated at the end of the road from Xanthos, which passed through a Lycian cemetary. The entrance on the south side has an interesting carving of a row of sixteen masks.
Porticoes - now underwater and also full of amphibians.
Tombs - some tombs of the south side of the amphitheatre, including this sarcophagus with a relief of a reclining figure and decorated with lion heads.
2. The amphitheatre 3. Porticoes 4. Temple of Apollo 5. Temple of Artemis
6. Temple of Leto 7. Nymphaeum 8. Byzantine basilica
In Turkey, there are numerous sites that have been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status and the ancient site of Letoon, paired up with
Xanthos, was awarded this status in 1988 (here’s
the full list for Turkey). In our previous post, we wrote about
how to get to Letoon and Xanthos under your own steam. This post and the next one will be about the actual sites.
There’s something about Letoon. It’s not huge and there’s not really a lot to see but we love spending time there, and other people we speak to say the same. Maybe it’s the setting. This was the religious centre of Lycia, it’s a UNESCO site deemed to be of great archaeological importance and yet it just sits there, unassuming, surrounded by the homes, polytunnels and greenhouses of the tomato-growing village of Kumluova.
Your first clue that you are approaching Letoon
As you walk along the road towards the entrance of Letoon, the first clue that you’re nearly there is the theatre in its lush, green setting. Sitting high up on these seats and daydreaming while watching over the daily life of the village is a pleasant pastime.
A pathway leads you to the arched entrance of the theatre
On entry to the site, you’ll see rows of neatly laid out, labelled boulders. Excavations have been going on at Letoon for many years and each time we visit, there are more boulders and slight changes to the construction of the theatre or the temple. The archway ahead is the entrance to the theatre.
We love to sit on the steps of the theatre at Letoon
The theatre dates from the 2nd Century BC, a relative youngster compared to the
Lycian rock tombs in Fethiye and certainly a youngster when compared with the history of the complete site of Letoon. It’s thought this theatre was built for religious performances.
As you leave the theatre, you can see the columns of the Temple of Leto ahead of you, through the archway. You can also see that these fertile plains mean Letoon is permanently underwater.
Evidence of the archaeological digs at Letoon
Parts of the pathway have been heavily gravelled but our feet were still sinking as we stopped to admire these detailed sections of column. It’s been a wet winter in Turkey and water levels at Letoon were higher than usual. A bit of deft tiptoeing meant we were able work our way around to get closer to this mosaic.
The mosaic at Letoon – difficult to get to in wet weather
It’s always a privilege to see mosaics in their original setting, like this one. There is another, more detailed mosaic that was unearthed here – but if you want to see that, you need to go to
Fethiye Museum where many other finds from Letoon are also on display.
The Temple of Leto surrounded by water
But it’s ruins of the temple of Leto, partly submerged in terrapin and frog-filled waters and with its backdrop of typical Xanthos scenery, that takes centre stage. Archaeological finds at Letoon date back to the 7th Century BC, so with such a long history, the site always has an air of mystery about it.
The Cult and Myth of Leto
And with any air of mystery comes the world of myth and legend. In short, the myth goes that the nymph Leto gave birth to twins – the future Olympian gods, Artemis and Apollo – and the father was Zeus who just so happened to be a married man. When Zeus’s wife, Hera, discovered her husband was in love with another and had fathered children with this other, she was, quite understandably, jealous and set off in pursuit of Leto and her twins, putting various curses on them along the way, just for good measure.
Letoon is permanently submerged under water
On arriving at this site (one of the curses was that Leto and her children would be doomed to wander the earth), Leto wanted to give water to her thirsty children but was prevented from doing so by local peasants. They churned the water up to make it muddy and undrinkable. Obviously, Leto was unamused by this act and so used her powers to turn the peasants into frogs.
Are you a frog or a peasant?
The frogs and the tune of their croaking are ever-present around the ruins of the Temple of Leto to this very day. (We managed to get a shot of this little chap when he thought he was hiding by the water’s edge.)
Because she gave birth to two Olympian gods, Leto was worshipped all over Greece and Asia Minor as the Mother Goddess. The temple at Letoon was used to worship her in Lycia…
…and now you’ve lost yourself in thousands of years of history, myth and legend, it’s time to leave Letoon and step back into 2012 to walk through the modern village of Kumluova and towards the site of the centre of the Lycian League, Xanthos.
Also Letoon, like many other ancient Lycian towns by the sea, is now partially covered by marshes. This is because when the region declined there were no longer enough human and financial resources to carry on the necessary maintenance of the rivers. The decline of Lycia lasted many centuries, but three events had a special relevance to it: the first one was a plague which occurred during the reign of
Emperor Marcus Aurelius. A second major pestilence occurred during the reign of
Emperor Justinian; the third and final blow to the prosperity of the region occurred in the VIIth century when Arab raids forced the inhabitants to abandon most of the coastal towns. This led to the development of marshes and very unhealthy living conditions. Anyhow the nymphaeum built during the Roman rule was designed for being filled with water, although this came from an aqueduct.
The site of Letoon is open daily and the entrance fee is 5 TL
