Xanthos & Letoon

Ancient City

The capital and religious centre of the Lycian civilisation; a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988 for its tombs, inscriptions and tragic story of resistance.

In the valley of the Eşen stream (ancient river Xanthos), Xanthos was the capital of the Lycian League and the heart of this distinctive civilisation. The ancient historian Herodotus records the fame of the Xanthians in a tragic tale of resistance: rather than surrender — to the Persians and later to Brutus — the city was so devoted to its freedom that it chose to burn itself and die en masse. This spirit made Xanthos the symbol of Lycian identity. The city’s standing monumental tombs — especially the “Harpy Monument” and the pillar-top tombs — are the most original examples of Lycian architecture, and the long Lycian inscriptions on them played a key role in deciphering that lost language.

Just a few kilometres from Xanthos, Letoon was the city’s sacred centre. This sanctuary, where three temples dedicated to the goddess Leto and her children Apollo and Artemis rise side by side, was Lycia’s foremost place of worship and federation; the trilingual inscription found here (Lycian, Greek, Aramaic) is invaluable for the study of ancient languages. For their exceptional importance, Xanthos and Letoon were together inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988.