According to the statements of Strabo, Myra was one of the six large cities of the Lycian League that had the right to three votes. However, no important information about the city is to be found in literary sources prior to the first century B.C. The earliest known Myran coinage dates to the third century B.C. From ruins spread over a wide area in the eastern hills of the plain of the Myros river (Demre Cay), and from tombs and Lycian inscriptions, it is evident that the city is much older, going back at least as far as the fifth century B.C.
Myra was on excellent terms with Rome. It is known for example, that Octavian was honoured as “the Emperor of Land and Sea, the Protector and Benefactor of the Universe” that Tiberius was deemed a god by the local population, and that statues were erected in honour of the Emperor Germanicus and his wife Agrippina after they visited Myra in 17 A.D. St. Paul stopped here and changed boats on his way to Rome in 60 A.D. The second century A.D. saw Mira honoured with the title metropolis, and this was a time when the city was the scene of great development. Wealthy and generous Lycians like Jason of Cyaneae, Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, and Licinius Longus of Oinoanda, rose to positions of high rank, and they reserved the bulk of their financial aid for Myra.
Under Byzantine rule, particularly in the fourth and fifth centuries, Myra was again an important religious and administrative centre. It was the capital of Lycia during the reign of Theodosius II (402-450 A.D.) As the place where St. Nicholas lived in the early fourth century, established his bishopric, and performed a series of miracles, it has had a special renown from the Middle Ages until the present day. The city lost its power as a result of Arab raids that began in the seventh century A.D., and suffered extensive damage yet again when the river Myros overflowed its banks. It now lies beneath a mound of rubble.
Myra is reached by passing between greenhouses and orange groves that stretch all the way from Demre. On arriving at the site, the first thing that catches the eye is Lycia’s largest and best preserved theatre on the southern slope of the acropolis. Still well suited to its original purpose, it is used from time to time today for festivals, Turkish wrestling matches, concerts and the like. In addition to being set into the natural slopes, it is in the form of two concentric semicircles to suppor the cavea. Its vaulted galleries served as both exit and entrance, and in the summer provided places where spectators could cool off from the heat of the sun.
One corner of the west gallery contains a fascinating inscription reading, “Place of the peddler Gelasius”. It is likely that in this little place he had marked off for himself, Gelasius sold food and drink to spectators just as they are dispensed in the snack bars in modern cinemas and theatres. In the cavea, which is divided in two by a broad diazoma, there are 29 rows of seats below and 6 above. The theatre was thus equipped to hold 9-10.000 people. The stage building is partially intact up to the second floor. From the stone blocks now piled up inside the orchestra, it is clear that a showy facade decorated with statues and rich architectural elements once stood here.
Myra’s necropolis occupies a notable place in architectural history because of the variety of tombs it contains. Today, aChurch of St. Nicholas large portion of them, often the subject of posters and cards, have been grouped together on the rocky slopes on both sides of the theatre. Nearly every centimetre of the rocks was put to use, adapting Lycia’s traditional wooden architectural forms, with great mastery, to stone. Plain examples stand alongside elaborately decorated and carefully planned ones that conform in shape to houses or temples. Taking a look at the principal examples, one of the most notable is a house type tomb on the lower level beside the theatre; carved at the centre of its pediment are two running warriors carrying shields.
A little higher, at approximately the middle of the group is a tomb decorated with a relief. The subject of the relief is a family assembly, with the tomb’s owner reclining on a couch at the centre; his wife, sitting on a chair behind him attended by her servants; and in front, his daughter and son who holds a bowl in his hand. The subject of a relief on the side consisting of two figures, is most likely a farewell scene between the father, who is preparing to go into battle, and his son. The father, standing proudly, outfitted with his battledress and spear, takes this helmet and shield from his small, nude son beside him. The middle relief depicts two youthful warriors standing with spear and shield in hand. The reliefs can be dated to the end of the fifth or the beginning of the fourth century B.C.
Rock tombs Another group of rock cut tombs on the eastern part of the hill is in a place called the “River Necropolis”. One of the house type tombs located here, the so called “Painted Tomb” has a relief consisting of figures and is mentioned prominently in archaeological literature. It is approached via stone steps. In the relief at the entrance to the tomb, stretched out on a couch at the left, is a man, the father of the family, holding a wine cup in his hand. Directly opposite, shown with her two children at her side, is a seated woman who must be the man’s wife. On the rock face outside the porch, another segment from the daily life of the same family is shown.
Moving from left to right, first there is a standing figure, the father, dressed and holding a long staff in his hand; on the right in her turn is the mother, holding her daughter by the hand. Next in succession are a female servant carrying a jewellery casket, a young man facing left and leaning on a staff under his armpit, and a small male child at the very back. Fellows states that these figures were painted blue, yellow, and red when he conducted his research in the area in 1840. Unfortunantely, no trace of this paint is visible today. Also in this group is a tomb with a two columned temple facade and a pediment on which a struggle between a lion and a bull is depicted.
As with the Painted Tomb, here a relief on the entrance shows a family gathering, the father reclining on a couch surrounded by the seven members of his family. Unquestionably, the most unusual and eye catching feature of the tomb is a relief showing two fantastic figures, one on either side of the door. These creatures are composites, their upper torsoes those of women with headdresses shaped like lions’ heads, their lower portions are shaped like a lotus blossom. On the high acropolis north east of the theatre are the remains of dwellings, towers, a church, and the walls of the city, which remain from several phases, from the fifth century B.C. to the Byzantine era.