Location: 30 km South west of Finike there is broad coastal plain in the delta area o Demre(Myros). The ancient place of Myra is close to the small town of Demre.
History:There are different theories about the time when Myra was founded, but due to Lykian inscriptions which have been found, one can assume that is was an important Lykian city in the 5th century B.C. It is astonishing that nothing important is mentioned inliterature about Myra before the 1st century B.C., although the city was one of the six largest cities of Lykia and had three voices in the Lykian league. Myra was of suborinate importance like many other cities of the Mediterrenian coast during the 1st century A.D. two important events of this period should be mentioned:firstly,the visit of Germabicus and his wife Agrippina were the occasion to set up statues of the imperial family: Secondly, apostle Paul and his disciples continued their journey by ship from here to Rome in the year 60 A.D. Myra reached its golden age after an earthquake destroyed the largest parts of the city in 14 A.D. Not only the Romans,but also the rich Lykians, likes Licinius Langus from Oinianda,Jason from Kyaneai and Opramoas from Rhodiapolis wre involved in the reconstruction of te city.
In the 4th century A.D. the legendary Nikolaos of the children lingered here. During his time of hard work he was ppointed bishop and also died here.His grave and church, together with the Lykian Stone nekropole and the Roman theatre are most beautiful sights of Myra.
Theatre:The theatre is very elegant, as if the Romans would have crowned Myra with this impressive building. Different from other Roman theatres, it was not built on barrel-vaults, but constructed on a slope as the Ancient Greeks did; the middle part of the auditorium is set on rock and the sides are supported by vaults. These vaults functioned as the entrances and exits. The cavea is more than semi-circular and is divided into two ranks by a diazoma. The upper rank is in bad condition compared to the lower rank. It had nine seat rows(the most upper three have slipped). The lower rank has 29 rows. Themost beautiful element of the theatre is the stage building,it has been preserved up to the second flor. On the first flor it was decorated with theatre masks.(A piece of this frieze with three masks is placed in front of the theatre today.)
Nekropole:The Lykian people believed in a life after death and therefore they showed particular care when building a grave. They constructed these places generally as houses in the cemeteries and sometimes even in their cities. The Lykian graves which were trimmed with friezes, are a work of art for themselves.The main theme of the reliefs was the lifeof the deceased and their heroic deeds if they had done any. From an earlier period only Lykian motives can be seen, but later Persian, Ancient Greek an deven Roman,influences can be noticed. An other important feature is the inscriptions. The main theme again is the life of the deccased.
Especially interesting are the curses and threats for grave plunderers as well as the punishments for robbery and desecration of graves.These inscriptions are very important as they give refereces and information about the Lykian history. Many6 of themgive details about the wars led, restorations in a city an deven about their establishment. The graves were guarded and taken care of by a committee af relatives at first later it was the task of the state. The Lykians neither burned their dead people, nor buried them. Quite on the contrary- they changed the grave architecture and the quiet rooms of the deccased were on quite a high level after a while a while. Generally there are rock graves,grave houses, grave temples, sarcophagae and double graves. The rock graves have remained in the best condition. The most beautiful examples of rock graves are without any doubt in Myra. Two nekropoles are close to the theatre. More 100 graves are in these sea and rivernekropoles,which are pushed closely together an done beside the other. These graves were constructed according to themodels of wood houses which are made of rock, and show old Anatolian elements with their flat roofs.As already mentioned, almost all these graves have impressive friezes. One grave house in the seanekropole is an example of this.Therre motives from the life of the deccased were used decorate thegrave. On the left there is an armour scene;in the middle one sees the warriors and on the right the family with friends at the feastfor the dead.The second largest nekropole is to the east of the theatre,it is the so-called river nekropole. The lion grave on the nekropole is also very interesting. Its facade resembles the Ionic Periteral temple, where a bull is shown killing a lion. The relief over the lintel displays the master of the grave with his family.
Only traces of blue colour can stil be seen of the panitings which once decorated the lobby. A canalthe river nekropole. The drinking water of Myra was led through this canal into fountain house South of the river nekropole.
St.Nicholas Church: In the4th century A.D. bishop Nicholas who was from Patara, lived in Myra. He was later, patron Saint of the sailors, merchants, bakers virgins and children from all over the world, as well as the patron saint of Russia. After a short while he was known everywhere outside of Myra,because of his helpfulness and his miraculous work.A Grave and probably also a church about which nothing is known, were built to honour the Saint after his death.Myra became an important palace for Christian pilgrims. After a devastating eartquake in the 6thcentury, a small church was constructed instead of the grave, from which two chapels South of the bema and five yokes of the nothern gallery, have remained unchanged. The church fell into decay at different times and was always restored and extended. In the year 1087, the ıtalian merchantscoming back from Antiocheia brought the bones of St.Nicholas toBari, where the San Nicola basilicawas built over theose relics. In the 19th century the Russian czar Nikolaus had the greatly delapidated church restored once more and it received its present style. Unfortunately an architecturally unsuitable cross degree vault instead of the original doma was built.The building does not have a Standard type of style, sincethe different reconstructions,extensions andrestorations of many ages are included.
Andriake:The harbour of Myra,which is called Andriake, is located on the river mouth of the Andrakos.It is not known when the harbour was founded, but it was expanded,as it became the second mostimportant trade harbor of Lykia, under Emperor Hadrian. Some of the buildings have been kept in good condition until today.On theway to the centre one sees a water mill above the river, a church a hanging nekropole and at last the quite decayed North city with another church directly at the mouth. The more important buildings are found in the southern city . In the centre there a few warchouses, in front of the cornerbuildings there is also another warchouse complex. In the forefront the residential area was set up, in front which the agora and the monumental grainary arebuilt.The agora was surrounded by shops and market halls on three sides.
The most important building was unquestionaldy the grainary, which had been constructed during the time of Emperor Hadrian(approx.130A.D.) It consisted of eight stories in which the grain from the region was stored and then shiped to Rome. It was the largest grain storage in Lykia, together with the grainary in Patara. The storages kept their importance function also during the East Roman empire, only that the grain was then sent to Istanbul(old Konstantinopel). The cistern in the North of the agora as well as the two churches and sarcophagusae were once characteristic of the harbour.