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40-516: Although some scholars equate Myra with the town, of Mira, in Arzawa , there is no proof for the connection. There is no substantiated written reference for Myra before it was listed as a member of the Lycian League (168 BC–AD 43); according to Strabo (14:665), it was one of the largest towns of the alliance. The ancient Lycian citizens worshiped Artemis Eleutheria , who was the protective goddess of

80-506: A coastal trading vessel and changing to a sea-faring skiff secured by the Roman centurion responsible for Paul's transportation to Rome. The Acta Pauli probably testify to the existence of a Christian community at Myra in the 2nd century. Le Quien opens his list of the bishops of this city with St. Nicander , martyred under Domitian in 95, who, according to the Greek Menologion ,

120-667: A siege in 809, Myra fell to Abbasid troops under Caliph Harun al-Rashid . Early in the reign of Alexius I Comnenus (ruled between 1081 and 1118), Myra was again overtaken by Islamic invaders, this time the Seljuk Turks . In the confusion, sailors from Bari in Italy seized the relics of Saint Nicholas, over the objections of the monks caring for them, and spirited the remains away to Bari, where they arrived on May 9, 1087, and soon brought that city visitors making pilgrimage to Saint Nicholas. The earliest church of St. Nicholas at Myra

160-601: A cargo car were placed in front of the museum. In 1923, its Greek inhabitants was required to leave by the population exchange between Greece and Turkey , at which time its church was finally abandoned. The author of the Acts of the Apostles (probably Luke the Evangelist ) and Paul the Apostle changed ships here during their journey from Caesarea to Rome for Paul's trial, arriving in

200-437: Is a collection of sources which relates events beginning in 313, during Constantine's early reign, down to 439, during the reign of Theodosius II . The other is Theodorus' own work, retelling events from the death of Theodosius II in 450 to the beginning of Justin I 's reign in 518. The former work is important to scholars editing the authors quoted by Theodorus; the latter exists only in fragment and owes its importance more to

240-478: Is a single narrative in four books which gives Theodorus' preferred reading for each section of history related, with notes and comparisons in the margins. Theodorus later continued his chronicle, using other available sources to write his Church History ( Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἱστορία ) from the death of Theodosius II down to 518. The date of composition is not known, though it was probably finished before 543, as it can be conjectured that Theodorus would not have spoken of

280-672: The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius , reports that Myra at that time had 36 suffragan sees . The early 10th-century Notitia attributed to Emperor Leo VI the Wise lists only 33. Myra is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see both in general and as a bishopric of the Melkite Catholic Church in particular. While Latin bishops are no longer appointed to this Eastern titular see, Melkite bishops are. After

320-630: The Indictment of Madduwatta discusses the exploits of an Anatolian warlord named Madduwatta in and around Arzawa during Tudhaliya's reign. The document recounts that Madduwatta launched multiple unsuccessful attacks on Arzawa before seeking a marriage alliance with the Arzawan king Kupanta-Kurunta . Maduwatta then allied with a certain Attarsiya , the man of Ahhiyawa ; the latter country being widely accepted as Mycenaean Greece or part of it. In general during

360-779: The Seha River Land . Arzawa is known from contemporary texts documenting its political and military relationships with Egypt and the Hittite Empire . The kingdom had a tumultuous relationship with the Hittites, sometimes allied with them but other times opposing them, in particular in concert with Mycenaean Greece which corresponds to Ahhiyawa of the Hittite sources. During the Amarna Period , Arzawa had achieved sufficient independence that Egypt opened direct diplomatic relations, addressing

400-702: The "holy memory" of Theodoret following the onset of the Three-Chapter Controversy . The chronicle has not survived; excerpts exist in other chronicles, and it is also quoted in a tract by John of Damascus , and by the acts of the Second Council of Nicaea . It is believed that a badly damaged manuscript of this work survives in the Library of St. Mark's in Venice, however no scholarly research has yet been done into it. A critical edition based on all extant excerpts of

440-457: The "scantiness of our information concerning the period it treats rather than its merits." While a lector at Hagia Sophia, Theodorus collected the works of the fifth-century historians Socrates Scholasticus , Sozomen , and Theodoret of Cyrrhus to create a chronicle of church history from Constantine to Theodosius II. The resulting work, Selections from Church History ( Τριμερὴς Ἱστορία ), known better by its Latin title Historia Tripartita ,

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480-518: The Arzawa Lands appear to have banded together as a loose military confederation, which may have been led by the Kingdom of Arzawa itself. However, they were never fully united as a single kingdom, and did not always operate in solidarity with one another. The zenith of the kingdom was during the 15th and 14th centuries BC. The Hittites were then weakened, and Arzawa was an ally of Egypt. Around 1650 BC,

520-564: The Arzawan king Tarhundaradu , proposing a marriage alliance. In his letter, the pharaoh refers to the Hittite Empire as paralyzed, suggesting that he expected Arzawa to replace it as the major regional power. This correspondence had to be carried out in Hittite, since the Arzawan court did not have scribes capable of writing Akkadian , the contemporary lingua franca for international diplomacy. Arzawa never achieved political or military supremacy over Anatolia. The territory they had seized

560-556: The Arzawan king Tarhuntaradu as "great king", a title reserved for peers. However, the kingdom was fully subjugated by Mursili II around 1300 BC. The Kingdom of Arzawa was located in Western Anatolia. Its capital was a coastal city called Apasa, which is believed to have been Ayasuluk Hill at the site of later Ephesus . The hill appears to have been fortified during the Late Bronze Age and contemporary graves suggest that it

600-524: The Hittite old kingdom ruler Hattusili I raided Arzawan territory. Documents regarding this incident provide the earliest known mention of Arzawa, which in this era was spelled as Arzawiya . Around 1550 BC, the Arzawans joined a broader uprising against the Hittite king Ammuna . However, they were subjugated by Tudhaliya I/II around 1400 BC, concurrently with the Assuwa Revolt . A Hittite text known as

640-481: The altar. In February 2021, Akdeniz University researchers led by Nevzat Çevik announced the discovery of dozens of 2,200-year-old terracotta sculptures with inscriptions. Archaeologists also revealed some material remains of the Hellenistic theater made of ceramic, bronze, lead, and silver. The figurines with partly preserved paint contained the appearances of men, women, cavalry, animals, some Lycian deities and

680-541: The author of theological works in defence of the Council of Chalcedon quoted by Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem and by Photius ( Bibliotheca , Codex 23). Theodorus and Nicolaus were both at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, the former recanting his previous iconoclast position, the latter being the Catholic bishop whom the iconoclasts had expelled. The Notitia Episcopatuum of Pseudo-Epiphanius, composed in about 640 under

720-474: The church was abandoned when the city's Christian inhabitants were forced to leave for Greece by the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey . In 1963 the eastern and southern sides of the church were excavated. In 1968 the former confessio ( tomb ) of St. Nicholas was roofed over. The floor of the church is made of opus sectile , a mosaic of coloured marble, and there are some remains of frescoes on

760-549: The epicenter of the broader Arzawa confederation. Uhha-Ziti provoked the new Hittite king by providing sanctuary to anti-Hittite rebels and refusing to extradite them. In doing so, he was supported by Manapa-Tarhunta of the Arzawan Seha River Land as well as by the king of Ahhiyawa . However, he was also opposed by King Mashuiluwa of Mira , one of the other Arzawan kingdoms. The Hittites responded with full military force. The Annals of Mursili claim that Uhha-Ziti

800-652: The first Hittite texts to be discovered. Because they were written in the already-deciphered Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform script , scholars were able to pronounce the words, and could often make inferences about their meanings based on the letters' formulaic rhetorical style and use of sumerograms . Based on these inferences, the scholar Jorgen A. Knudtzon proposed that the language was from the Indo-European family . This hypothesis proved correct after thousands more tablets were discovered at Hattusa . The letters have also proved relevant in debates about Arzawan geography. While

840-609: The general consensus suggests that Arzawa's capital was at Ephesos , chemical analyses suggest that EA 32 was written on clay from far to the north, near Kyme in the region later known as the Aeolis . Theodorus Lector Theodorus Lector ( Greek : Θεόδωρος Ἀναγνώστης , Theodoros Anagnostes ) was a lector, or reader , at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople during the early sixth century. He wrote two works of history; one

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880-495: The names of artists. Arzawa Arzawa was a region and political entity in Western Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age . In Hittite texts, the term is used to refer both to a particular kingdom and to a loose confederation of states. The chief Arzawan state, whose capital was at Apasa , is often referred to as Arzawa Minor or Arzawa Proper , while the other Arzawa lands included Mira , Hapalla , Wilusa , and

920-503: The paucity of written sources. The primary languages are believed to have been from the Anatolian family , and in particular from the Luwic subgroup . Some scholars such as Ilya Yakubovich argue that Arzawa was predominantly inhabited by speakers of Proto- Lydian and Proto- Carian . Others such as Trevor Bryce regard it as Luwian -speaking. In its final century of independence, Arzawan culture

960-569: The period 1400-1190 BC Hittite records mention that the populations of Arzawa and Ahhiyawa were in close contact. Around 1370 BC, during the reign of Tudhaliya III , Arzawa conquered a large portion of Western Anatolia. Their army swept across the Lower Land , into territories that the Hittites had never lost before, reaching as far as the border as the Hittite homeland. In response, the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III opened diplomatic relations with

1000-449: The royal share who ended up serving the Hittite king. In the aftermath of the Arzawa defeat the nearby settlement of Miletus (Millawanda in Hittite records) was affected and probably burnt by the Hittites due to previous Mycenaean involvement in support of the Arzawan side. Nevertheless Mycenaeans retained control of Miletus. Hittite records also mention Piyama-Radu a local warlord who

1040-401: The title of Myra, accordingly officiated. Archaeologists first detected the ancient city in 2009 using ground-penetrating radar that revealed anomalies whose shape and size suggested walls and buildings. Over the next two years they excavated a small, stunning 13th-century chapel sealed in an uncanny state of preservation. Carved out of one wall is a cross that, when sunlit, beams its shape onto

1080-627: The town. Zeus , Athena and Tyche were venerated as well. Although they have their own god names in Lycian. Pliny the Elder writes that in Myra there was the spring of Apollo called Curium and when summoned three times by the pipe the fishes come to give oracular responses. In the Roman period, Myra formed a part of the Koine Greek speaking(?) world that rapidly embraced Christianity. One of its early Lycian bishops

1120-485: The vertical faces of cliffs at Myra: the river necropolis and the ocean necropolis. The ocean necropolis is just northwest of the theatre. The best-known tomb in the river necropolis, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) up the Demre Cayi from the theatre, is the "Lion's tomb", also called the "Painted Tomb". When the traveler Charles Fellows saw the tombs in 1840 he found them still colorfully painted red, yellow and blue. Andriake

1160-679: The walls. An ancient Lycian marble sarcophagus had been reused to bury the Saint; but his bones were stolen in 1087 by merchants from Bari , and are now held in that city, in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas . The church is currently undergoing restoration. In 2007 the Turkish Ministry of Culture gave permission for the Divine Liturgy to be celebrated in the church for the first time in centuries. On 6 December 2011 Metropolitan Chrysostomos, who has

1200-508: Was Saint Nicholas . Alluvial silts mostly cover the ruins of the Lycian and Roman towns. The acropolis on the Demre-plateau, the Roman theatre and the Roman baths ( eski hamam ) have been partly excavated. The semi-circular theatre was destroyed in an earthquake in 141 , but rebuilt afterward. There are two necropoleis of Lycian rock-cut tombs in the form of temple fronts carved into

1240-467: Was a locally important center, though much of the potential ruins are obscured by the later Basilica of St. John . In Hittite texts, the term "Arzawa" is also used more broadly to refer to a group of kingdoms including Arzawa itself. Thus, modern-day scholars sometimes use the terms "Arzawa Minor" or "Arzawa Proper" to designate the main kingdom. The other "Arzawa Lands" included Mira , Hapalla , Seha , and in later periods Wilusa as well. At times,

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1280-647: Was active in Arzawa and fled to Mycenaean controlled territory that time. It is not clear if the Arzawan pockets of resistance were overcome by Hittite forces. The Arzawa Lands were unusual in Western Anatolia for having a state -level society, being ruled by kings who conducted formal relations with one another and with foreign powers. By contrast, other nearby groups such as the Lukka , Karkiya , and Masa, were stateless societies ruled by councils of elders, and thus had more informal relations with outsiders. The languages spoken in Arzawa cannot be directly determined due to

1320-426: Was built at the time of Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in the 6th century by Lycians. The present-day church was constructed mainly from the 8th century onward for the city's Byzantine Lycian inhabitants; a Lycian Orthodox monastery was added in the second half of the 11th century. In 1863, Emperor Alexander II of Russia purchased the building and began restoration, but the work was never completed. In 1923

1360-481: Was incapacitated after being struck by lightning and that his capital city of Apasa fell after a short siege. Uhha-Ziti and his family fled to Ahhiyawa ( Mycenaean )-controlled islands in the Aegean, while local populations faced further sieges and deportations. Uhha-Zitti died shortly afterwards in exile, and his son Tapalazunawali failed to regain control of the kingdom. As for the deportees around 6,200 of them comprised

1400-537: Was influenced by the culture of Mycenaean Greece, which was beginning to expand into Western Anatolia. For instance, Mycenaean-style pottery and architecture are both evidenced at Apasa, which may have even had a Mycenaean cult center at the site of the later Temple of Artemis . The Amarna letters include a pair of letters between the Arzawan ruler Tarhundaradu and the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III . One letter, known to modern scholars as EA 31,

1440-544: Was ordained bishop by Saint Titus . In 325, Lycia again became a Roman province distinct from that of Pamphylia , with Myra as its capital. Ecclesiastically, it thus became the metropolitan see of the province. The bishop of Myra at that time was Saint Nicholas . The 6th-century Index of Theodorus Lector is the first document that lists him among the fathers of the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Many other bishops of Myra are named in extant documents, including Petrus,

1480-550: Was sent from the pharaoh to Arzawa; the other, known as EA 32, contains the Arzawan king's reply. While most of the Amarna letters were written in the Akkadian language , these letters were written in Hittite . The Egyptian letter EA 31 was written by a scribe not fully proficient in Hittite, and contains significant grammatical errors. When these letters were excavated in the 1880s, they were

1520-481: Was soon recaptured by the Hittite prince Šuppiluliuma I . After coming to the throne around 1350 BC, Šuppiluliuma continued to campaign against Arzawa, even installing pro-Hittite rulers in former Arzawan vassal states such as Mira . The Arzawa lands were fully subjugated by the Hittites around 1300 BC, after an unsuccessful rebellion. When Mursili II ascended to the Hittite throne, much of Anatolia erupted into rebellion. At this time, Uhha-Ziti ruled Arzawa Minor,

1560-408: Was the harbor of Myra in ancient times, but silted up later on. The main structure there surviving to the present day is a granary ( horrea ) built during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian (117–138 AD). Beside this granary is a large heap of Murex shells, evidence that Andriake had an ongoing operation to produce purple dye. Excavations have been carried out at Andriake since 2009. The granary

1600-456: Was turned into the Museum of Lycian Civilizations. The granary has seven rooms and measures 56 meters long and 32 meters wide. Artifacts found during the excavations in the Lycian League were placed in the museum. The structures in the harbor market as well as the agora, synagogue, and a six-meter deep, 24-meter long and 12-meter wide cistern were restored. A 16-meter-long Roman-era boat, a crane, and

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