THEİMUSSA ANCİENT CİTY Kekova in Turkey

Theimussa (Üçağız) Village The actual shelter for yachts is Theimussa, or present day Ucagiz, which is a landlocked bay surrounded by green hills. There is an overland route that leads here. Though the ruins of the ancient city of Theimussa are located here, very little is known of its history. One inscription indicates that it goes back to the 4th century B.C. Here, one mostly comes across the ruins of a necropolis, where as on the coast of this village, one can also find a door with its door frame still intact. Also, one can find some ruins of a tower on top of a low lying rocky outcrop. Right behind the quay are a pair of tombs. The oldest sarcophagus dates from the 4th cell B.C. and is shaped like a house. Over it is the I portrait of a young man. The inscription tells us it belongs to “Kluwanimi.” The work is Roman a later addition to the sarcophagus. To the east, above the sea are several sarcophagi which seem to have been stacked on top of each other. The majority of these tombs belong to either the Hellenistic or Roman periods. The inscriptions on the tombs indicate at the owners were citizens of either Cyaneae or Myra. Just as Simena, Apollonia, Isinda and Aperlae formed a sympolity in Kalekoy, Myra and Cyaneae also formed a sympolity in Theimussa, whereas one of those cities represented the sympolity in the Lycian League. At the east end of the site is a delightful little rock-cut quay or landing-stage, unlike anything else in Lycia. It is some 9 meters in length and nine meters wide. The rock-walls are cut vertical and still show the chisel marks; the floor is leveled, but the seaward edge is only roughly shaped. At the east end are cuttings in the floor which at present make shallow pools; their original purpose is obscure. In the back is a gate leading through to a kind of sunken road which is little more than a natural cleft; above it on the landward side stands a tomb. The sill of the gate is about two meters from the ground, and it is not clear how it was approached; the sill is broken away, but the hinge-holes and bolt-sockets are still to be seen. Also in the back wall is a smaller aperture like a window. There are other tombs above the gate and at the east end of the quay, the latter approached by steps; in both cases the lids are lying askew.