Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "TRYSSA Ancient city TURKEY" .
On the inland route between the coastal stations of Myra (Kale-Deinre)
and Antiphellos (Kas), the hillside city of Trysa was built at an elevation of
866 m. It developed from an ancient Lycian aristocratic seat, as indicated by
the restricted size of the acropolis and an archaic pillar grave with a relief-decorated
burial chamber. The socles and fragments of the monolithic shaft of this ruined
funeral monument are preserved, W of the citadel, bearing parts of a continuous
frieze, whose warriors and riders could refer either to a historical event or
to a representation of the Ekphora. This monument may be grouped, with the Lion
Grave of Xanthos and the pillar graves of Isinda-Belinkli (Istanbul Archaeological
Museum) and Gurses--all of which may be dated in the last quarter of the 6th c.
B.C.--among the oldest witnesses of the Lycian culture.
In the Classical period, the gravestones of the dynasts of Trysa were
erected on two terraces E of the citadel. On the upper terrace is a heroon of
the temenos type with rectangular plan (19.66 x 20.7 m x 23.5 x 24.54 m). Reliefs
were carved on the exterior S wall and on all interior surfaces of the two upper
courses of the isodomic temenos wall. In the SE corner was a wooden cubicle for
the celebration of funeral ceremonies.
The main grave was not erected on the main axis of the entrance in
the S wall, but on an E-W diagonal, in the form of a typical Lycian funeral hut,
imitating wooden architecture. Within the precinct stood other relief-decorated
sarcophagi and sculptures, of which only a few marble fragments remain: a lion,
a life-size female figure, and a winged figure, probably a sphinx. The site was
discovered in 1841 and in 1883 the architectural sculpture (211 m of frieze with
ca. 600 figures) was taken to the Kunsthistonisches Museum in Vienna. The form
of the entrance complex shows oriental influences: the four-winged bull protomes
which adorn the outer jambs go back to Persian models. On the inner face there
are dancing and instrument-playing demon dwarfs, which go back to Bes, the Egyptian
god of the underworld.
The friezes in Greek style show Amazonomachies, Centauromachies, and
scenes from mythology: the rape of the Leukippides, the War of the Seven against
Thebes, the Siege of Troy, Odysseus killing the suitors, the Calydonian Boar Hunt,
and the deeds of Theseus and Perseus. The Kalathos dancers on the inner door jambs
and the banquet scenes on the inner S face symbolize the cult of the dead.
We do not know the name of the builder, a dynast of Trysa, the political
vassal of the high king of Persia; the representation of Bellerophon killing the
Chimaera from a galloping quadriga on the S inner face shows an armored warrior
standing in the chariot as a descendant of this Lycian national hero. The style
of the reliefs dates the heroon to the first half of the 4th c. B C.
On the lower terrace, next to the relief-decorated sarcophagus of
Deireimis and Aischylos, also removed to Vienna, stood three more mausolea in
Lycian style with eagle roofs, all of which may similarly be dated to the 4th
c. B.C.
A mid 4th c. date may also be assigned to a large relief cut into
the cliff below the S wall of the acropolis, belonging to a heroon, as indicated
by the theme well known in Lycian relief sculpture: priests, acolytes, and sacrificial
animals.
Of the numerous Lycian sarcophagi S of the city from the Hellenistic
period, one found its way to the Istanbul Museum. The lifting-bosses on its lid
have been transformed into bulls' heads and Gorgoneia. In the sunken field between
the Gorgoneia is a heraldic-looking lion and opposite him, a quadriga. The dolphins
on the gables and the images on the ridge-beam complement one another: the occupant
was apparently a merchant of the 2d c. B.C. who owed his riches to overseas trade,
as indicated by the representations of a ship's prow and a large amphora.
There are numerous ruins in the dense maze of the S side of the city.
During the construction of a road for the removal of the reliefs from the heroon,
the remains of a temple in antis SW of the citadel were revealed. Inscriptions
found there refer to decrees of the demes in the 1st c. A.D., and bear witness
to the cult of Zeus Eleutherios and of Helios at Trysa. The community survived
into the Byzantine period, as evidenced by a church on the acropolis.
J. Borchhardt, 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.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
