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INOANDA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Oenoanda (Oinoanda), a town in the extreme west of Pisidia, belonging
to the territory of Cibyra, with which and Balbura and Bubon it formed a tetrapolis,
a political confederacy in which each town had one vote, while Cibyra had two.
(Strab. xiii. p. 631; Steph. B. s. v.; Liv. xxxviii. 37; Plin. v. 28; comp. Cibyra)
The town is mentioned as late as the time of Hierocles, who, however (p. 685),
calls it by the corrupt name of Enoanda.
City in Lycia 32 km W-NW of Elmali. Oinoanda first appears as a member
of a tetrapolis headed by Kibyra and including also Bubon and Balbura. This was
abolished by Murena about 81 B.C. at the end of the Mithridatic war (Strab. 631),
and Bubon, Balbura, and presumably Oinoanda were attached to the Lycian League.
Strabo does not in fact mention Oinoanda in this connection, but the city was
subsequently a member of the League, as is clear from the inscriptions. On the
other hand, if the Oeandenses of Pliny (HN 5.147) are the men of Oinoanda, it
seems that the city was for a time attached to Galatia. If so, expulsion from
the League may have been the result of Oinoandan support for Brutus in the civil
wars. Only one coin of Oinoanda appears to be known; it belongs to the period
before 81 B.C. In the 2d c. A.D. Oinoanda received from the millionaire Opramoas
of Rhodiapolis the sum of 10,000 den. for the construction of a bath complex.
Later the bishop of Oinoanda was under the metropolitan of Myra.
The ruins are on a high hill directly above the village of Incealiler;
the hill is steep on all sides but the S, and rises to a summit on the N. The
city lay on a series of levels facing S; the actual summit was occupied by a fort
still partly preserved. The city wall is best preserved at the S end, where it
stands in places to its full height of about 10 m; the masonry is partly ashlar,
partly polygonal, and prominently bossed. The resemblance in the style of these
walls to those of Pergamon suggest that they may have been erected at the time
of Pergamene sovereignty in this region, after the treaty of Apamea in 190 B.C.
Inside the wall, to the N, ruins and foundations of buildings are abundant, but
the whole hill is heavily overgrown.
In about the center of the city is a rectangular level space identified
as the agora, lined with statues; a number of bases remain. To the S and W are
numerous ruins including a three-roomed building whose S side is formed by a terrace
wall of smooth-faced polygonal masonry still standing some 4 m high.
Farther up the hill to the N is another open space generally referred
to as the Esplanade; here too are numerous statue bases. In a stoa on its S side
seems to have been inscribed a lengthy discourse on the Epicurean philosophy by
a certain Diogenes of Oinoanda; about a quarter of this inscription has been recovered
among the ruins. One of the buildings in this area has been tentatively identified
as a gymnasium.
The theater lies farthest N, buried in woods. It has a diameter of
42 m, but a small capacity; 15 rows of seats have been counted, and the orchestra
is unusually large in proportion. A considerable part of the stage building remains,
but it has collapsed.
Tombs are abundant on all sides of the city. The most remarkable is
a mausoleum outside the walls on the S, with a very long inscription giving the
genealogy of a distinguished Oinoandan family. Sarcophagi are numerous; at least
one has a recumbent lion on the lid, a type characteristic of this region. In
the cliff-face on the W are several rock tombs of temple type, but not of the
first quality. The site has never been excavated.
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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