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KIVYRA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Cibyra Magna (he Kibura: Eth. Kiburates; Adj. Kiburatikos), the chief
city of a district Cibyratis. Strabo says that the Cibyratae are called descendants
of the Lydians, of those who once occupied the Cabalis, but afterwards of the
neighbouring Pisidians, who settled here, and removed the town to another position
in a strong place, which was about 100 stadia in circuit. It grew powerful under
a good constitution, and the villages extended from Pisidia and the adjoining
Milyas into Lycia, and to the Peraea of the Rhodians. When the three neighbouring
towns of Bubon, Balbura and Oenoanda were joined to it, this confederation was
called Tetrapolis. Each town had one vote, but Cibyra had two votes; for Cibyra
alone could muster 30,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. It was always under tyrants,
but the government was moderate. This form of government terminated under Moagetes,
for Murena put an end to it, and attached Balbura and Bubon to the Lycians. The
conventus of Cibyra, however, still remained one of the greatest in Asia. The
Cibyratae had four languages, the Pisidian, the Hellenic, the language of the
Solymi and of the Lydians; but there was no trace of the Lydian language in Lydia.
It was a peculiarity of Cibyra that the iron was easily cut with a chisel, or
other sharp tool (see Groskurd's Note, Transl. Strab. vol. ii. p. 633, where he
unnecessarily make a distinction between toreuesthai and torneuesthai). The first
part of this extract from Strabo is not quite clear.
Strabo does not fix the position of Cibyra precisely. After mentioning
Antiochia on the Maeander as being in Caria, he says, to the south the great Cibyra,
Sinde, and the Cabalis, as far as Taurus and Lycia. Ptolemy (v. 3) places Cibyra
in Great Phrygia, and assigns the three cities of Bubon, Balbura, and Oenoanda
to the Cabalis of Lycia, which is consistent with Strabo. The latitude of Ptolemy
as it stands in his text is at least 1° 40 too far north. The site is now ascertained
(Spratt, Lycia, vol. i. p. 256) to be at Horzoom, on the Horzoom Tchy, a branch
of the Dalamon Tchy, or Indus, in about 370 10 N. lat. The place is identified
by inscriptions on the spot. The ruins cover the brow of a hill between 300 and
400 feet above the level of the plain, and about half a mile distant from the
village of Horzoom. The material for the buildings was got from the limestone
in the neighbourhood; and many of them are in good condition. One of the chief
buildings is a theatre, in fine preservation: the diameter is 266 feet. The seats
command a view of the Cibyratic plain, and of the mountains towards the Milyas.
On the platform near the theatre are the ruins of several large buildings supposed
to be temples, some of the Doric and others of the Corinthian order. On a block
there is an inscription, Kaisareon Kiburaton he boule kai ho demos, from which
it appears that in the Roman period the city had also the name Caesarea. The name
Kaisareon appears on some of the coins of Cibyra. A large building about 100 yards
from the theatre is supposed to have been an Odeum or music theatre. There are
no traces of city walls.
The stadium, 650 feet in length and 80 in breadth, is at the lower
extremity of the ridge on which the city stands. The hill side was partly excavated
to make room for it; and on the side formed out of the slope of the hill were
ranged 21 rows of seats, which at the upper extremity of the stadium turned so
as to make a theatre-like termination. (View in Spratt's Lycia.) This part of
the stadium is very perfect, but the seats on the hill side are much displaced
by the shrubs that have grown up between them. The seats overlook the plain of
Cibyra. The seats on the side opposite to the hill were marble blocks placed on
a low wall built along the edge of the terrace, formed by cutting the side of
the hill. Near the entrance to the stadium a ridge runs eastward, crowned by a
paved way, bordered on each side by sarcophagi and sepulchral monuments. At the
entrance to this avenue of tombs was a massive triumphal arch of Doric architecture,
now in ruins.
The elevation of the Cibyratic plain is estimated to be 3500 feet
above the level of the sea. It produces corn. The sites of Balbura, Bubon, and
Oenoanda, which is on the Xanthus, being now ascertained, we can form a tolerably
correct idea of the extent of the Cibyratis. It comprised the highest part of
the basin of the Xanthus, and all the upper and probably the middle part of the
basin of the Indus, for Strabo describes the Cibyratis as reaching to the Rhodian
Peraea. The great range of Cadmus (Baba Dagh), said to be 8000 feet high, bounded
it on the west, and separated it from Caria. The upper part of the basin of the
Indus consists of numerous small valleys, each of which has its little stream.
Pliny's brief description (v. 28) has been derived from good materials: the river
Indus, which rises in the hills of the Cibyratae, receives sixty perennial rivers,
and more than a hundred torrents.
Cibyra is first mentioned by Livy (xxxviii. 14) in his history of
the operations of the consul Cn. Manlius, who approached it from the upper part
of the Maeander and through Caria. He probably advanced upon it by the valley
of Karaook, through which the present road leads from the Cibyratis to Laodicea
(near Denizlee). Manlius demanded and got from Moagetes, the tyrant of Cibyra,
100 talents and 10,000 medimni of wheat. Livy says that Moagetes had under him
Syleum and Alimne, besides Cibyra. It is conjectured (Spratt, Lycia, vol. i. p.
254) that this Alimne may be identified with the remains of a large town on an
island in the lake of Gule Hissar, which> island is connected with the mainland
by an ancient causeway. This lake lies in the angle between the Caulares and the
river of Cibyra. The last tyrant of Cibyra, also named Moagetes, was the son of
Pancrates (Polyb. xxx. 9). He was put down by L. Licinius Murena, probably in
B.C. 84, when his territory was divided, and Cibyra was attached to Phrygia. Pliny
states that twenty-five cities belonged to the Jurisdictio or Conventus of Cibyra;
and he adds that the town of Cibyra belonged to Phrygia. This, like many other
of the Roman political arrangements, was quite at variance with the physical divisions
of the country. Laodicea on the Lycus was one of the chief cities of this Conventus.
Under the Romans, Cibyra was a place of great trade, as it appears (Hor. Ep. i.
6. 33). Its position, however, does not seem very favourable for commerce, for
it is neither on the sea nor on a great road. We may conclude, however, that the
Roman negotiatores and mercatores found something to do here, and probably the
grain of the valley of the Indus and the wool and iron of Cibyra might furnish
articles of commerce. Iron ore is plentiful in the Cibyratis. We know nothing
of any artists of Cibyra, except two, whom Cicero mentions (Verr. ii. 4. c. 13),
who were more famed for their knavery than for artistic skill. Cibyra was much
damaged by an earthquake, in the time of Tiberius, who recommended a Senatus Consultum
to be enacted for relieving it from payment of taxes (tributum) for three years.
In this passage of Tacitus (Ann. iv. 13), it is called civitas Cibyratica apud
Asiam.
Three Greek inscriptions from Cibyra are printed [p. 616] in the Appendix
to Spratt's Lycia. All of them contain the name of the city, and all belong to
the Roman period. One of them seems intended to record a statue, or some memorial
set up in honour of L. Aelius, the adopted son of Hadrian, and it mentions his
being in his second consulship. Aelius died in the lifetime of Hadrian, A.D. 138.
L. Aelius Verus was consul for the second time in A.D. 137 (Tillemont, Hist. des
Empereurs, vol. ii. p. 255), and we may assume that he was alive when this inscription
was made. Hadrian certainly was alive then, as we may infer from the terms of
the inscription. But Hadrian also died in A.D. 138. The inscription, therefore,
belongs to A.D. 137.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Kibura Magna; a great city of Phrygia Magna, on the borders of Caria, said to have been founded by the Lydians, but afterwards peopled by the Pisidians. Under its native princes, the city ruled over a large district called Cibyratis. In B.C. 83, it was added to the Roman Empire. It was celebrated for its manufactures, especially of iron.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
About 59 km S of Denizli. According to Strabo 631, the Kibyrates were
said to be descended from certain Lydians who occupied the Kabalis and were driven
by the neighboring Pisidians to the site which became their permanent home. Strabo
adds that Kibyra prospered by reason of its good government, which he calls a
moderate tyranny, and controlled a wide territory extending from Pisidia and Milyas
as far as Lycia and the Rhodian Peraea.
At some time during the 2d c. B.C. a tetrapolis was formed under the
leadership of Kibyra, comprising the neighboring cities of Bubon, Balbura and
Oinoanda. This tetrapolis was finally broken up after the first Mithridatic War.
A principal industry at Kibyra was metallurgy; Strabo remarks it as a peculiarity
of the region that iron was easily worked there. We hear also of a guild of cordwainers.
In A.D. 23 the city was visited by a severe earthquake. Tiberius came
to the rescue with a remission of taxation for three years, and assistance in
the rebuilding was given by Claudius; in gratitude Kibyra added the name of Caesarea
to her own, instituted Caesarean games, and began a new dating era from the year
25. In A.D. 129 Hadrian, on his journey through the eastern provinces, visited
Kibyra and conferred "great honors" on the people (IGRR I 418). Coinage
began after 167 B.C. and continued down to Gallienus. The population was divided
into tribes, apparently five in number, named after individual citizens who are
thought to have been their presidents for the time being.
The site was first identified in 1842. It stands about 1050 m above
sea level, half an hour's walk from the village. The site is extensive but unimpressive,
occupying a low ridge E-W, which seems never to have been enclosed by a wall in
antiquity though there are remnants of a mediaeval wall around the city center.
In the upper (W) part of the city is the theater, facing a little
S of E, in very fair preservation. It is somewhat above average size, with something
over 40 rows of seats and a single diazoma. The seats are largely preserved, though
overgrown and buried in the lower part. The stage building has collapsed; of the
doors leading onto the stage two are preserved, and the uprights of a third. An
arched entrance survives at orchestra level, and a smaller rectangular entrance
near the top of the cavea. The top ten rows of seats seem to have been added later
than the others. The theater is of Graeco-Roman type, with the cavea rather more
than a semicircle.
Some 90 m to the S of the theater is the odeum, also in good preservation.
It forms a segment of a circle with diameter of 17 m. The front wall stands complete
up to its cornice, and is surmounted by a row of large windows partially preserved.
It is pierced at ground level by five arched doors, the middle one larger than
the rest, and a rectangular door at either end. The curved wall of the auditorium
projects slightly at each end beyond the front wall; in the projection is a small
window high up, and just inside the building is another window. The presence of
these windows suggests that the odeum was roofed over. Spratt counted 13 rows
of seats visible at that time; there are certainly more buried. Nothing is now
to be seen of any stage or platform for performers. In front of the odeum is a
long terrace wall some 24 m high, of irregular ashlar masonry.
Below the theater to the E is the city center, but the numerous public
buildings are now utterly destroyed and none has been identified. Lower down,
at the E end of the city, the stadium survives in fair condition, running approximately
N-S. The S end is rounded; at the N end was a triple-arched entrance. The seats
on the W side rest on the slope of the hill, but are much overgrown; the arcade
at the top remains in part. On the E side a low embankment, faced with a rough
wall, carried a few rows of seats. The stadium is of full length, with an arena
197 m long.
On the E a fine paved street of tombs led up to the city, entering
by a triumphal arch in the Doric order. The tombs are mostly sarcophagi, one or
two of which are decorated with gladiatorial combats in relief. At the W end of
the city a ruined Christian church reminds us that the bishopric of Kibyra ranked
first among those of the eparchy of Caria under the metropolitan of Staurupolis
(Aphrodisias).
G. E. Bean, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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