Ancient Cities in Turkey
Modern Fethiye was known in history to the ancient world as Telmessos and used to be the most important city of the ancient Lycian civilization. Despite the lack of information about its founding, historians agree that the appearance of the city dates back to the 5th century BC.
Following the Fethiye history Lycian legend explains the origin of the name Telmessos as, the god Apollo who fell in love with a beautiful girl by the name of Agenor, the youngest daughter of the king of the Phoenix. He transformed into a little dog and he made his way to a shy and timid Princess and eventually won her love. After which, Apollo transformed back and then his son Telmessos was born, whose name translates as “the land of lights”.
Ancient city of Telmessos (Turkey) is located on the border between Lycia and Karya (now territory of Turkey). The city has been widely known as a centre of prophecy and its predictors had a strong influence on the course of Fethiye history. The fact that life in Telmessos was culturally rich in the Hellenistic and Roman periods is confirmed by survived monuments such as stone tombs, Lycian sarcophaguses, the Rhodes fortress and the Roman Theatre.
