Antiphellus

Antiphellus was a city that acted as the port of the ancient Lycian town of Phellus. It was at the head of a bay on the south coast.[1] The Irish naval officer Sir Francis Beaufort, who discovered the site of the city in the 19th century, gave the contemporary name of Vathy to the bay at the head of which the ruins of Antiphellus now stand.[2]

The Roman military commander Pliny the Elder wrote that the city's pre-Hellenic name was Habessus;[3] he also remarks on the quality of its sponges.[4] Strabo incorrectly placed Antiphellus among the inland towns.(14:666)

The abandoned Lycian settlement left hillside tombs, among which is a sarcophagus on a high base with a long inscription in "Lycian B",[1] now generally identified as Milyan, a Luwian language. Native inscriptions in a Lycian language are dated from the 4th century BCE, as are the earliest records in Greek inscriptions. One such inscription, copied by British archaeologist and explorer Charles Fellows in 1840, contains the ethnic name ΑΝΤΙΦΕΛΛΕΙΤΟΥ.[5] The well-preserved little Hellenistic theater overlooking the sea is complete, with the exception of the proscenium.

As Phellos declined im importance during the Hellenistic period, Antiphellus grew to be the major city of the region.[1] Coins of Antiphellus of the Roman imperial period bear the legend Ἀντιφελλειτων. The site of Antiphellus is now in the municipality of Kaş, Turkey, which before the forcible Population exchange between Greece and Turkey of 1922-23 was Andifili,[1] and in the 19th century Andiffelo.[6]

Thomas Spratt, R.N. (1847), Antephilo, the Ancient Antiphellus

Antiphellus, all but deserted by 1828,[7] and built up in the following decades, became known during the mid-19th century, both to scholars and travelers.[6] Fellows (1841) gave a page of drawings of specimens of ends of sarcophagi, pediments, and doors of tombs, and there is a ground-plan of Antiphelius in Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt's Travels in Lycia, Milyas, and the Cibyratis, 1847.

Much of the archaeology at Antiphellus have been in part lost due to the urban development of Kaş.[11]

The restored Hellenistic theatre is located 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the centre of Kaş'. It was capable of seating 4000 spectators.[12]

• Beaufort, Francis (1818). Karamania, or, A Brief Description of the South Coast of Asia-Minor and of the Remains of Antiquity: With plans, views, &c. collected during a survey of that coast, under the orders of the Lords commissioners of the Admiralty, in the Years 1811-1812 (2nd ed.). London: R. Hunter. OCLC 1229273123.
• Bryce, Trevor (2009). "Antiphellos". The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-39485-7.
• Le Quien, Michel (1740). Oriens christianus, in quatuor patriarchatus digestus; quo exhibentur ecclesiae, patriarchae, caeterique praesules totius orientis (in Latin). Vol. 1. Paris.
• Long, George (1857). "Antiphellus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
• Murray, John (1878). Handbook for Travellers in Turkey in Asia including Constantinople (4th ed.). London: John Murray. OCLC 1984586.
• Pius Bonifacius Gams (1931). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'. Leipzig: Hiersemann.
• Segreteria di Stato Vaticano (2013). Annuario pontificio (in Latin). The Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. ISBN 978-88209-9-070-1.
• Varinlioglu, Guzden (2016). Digital in Underwater Cultural Heritage. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-14438-9-210-0.

• Bayburtluoğlu, Cevdet (2004). Lycia. Antalya: Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations. ISBN 978-97570-7-820-3.
• Fellows, Charles (1841). An Account of Discoveries in Lycia. London: John Murray. OCLC 1038777615.
• Forbes, Edward; Spratt, Thomas Abel Brimage (1847). Travels in Lycia, Milyas, and the Cibyratis, in company with the Late E. T. Daniell. London: John van Voorst. LCCN 05010095.Volumes 1 and 2