Abstract:

In the field survey of the Stadiasmus Patarensis (SP) in 2009, the route between Patara and Phellos was investigated. The distance between Patara and Phellos in the SP was restored as 240 stadia (45–46 km) by the editors. The route reaches Phellos via the Kısık pass – Akbel – Sarnıçbaşı – Uçova – Bezirgan – Sarıbelen/Sidek – Gökçeören/Seyret – Yeniköy – Çukurbağ and Pınarbaşı. There seems to have been another road following the water canal up to Akbel, but this must have been employed in a later period. No trace relating to the ancient road from Akbel to İslamlar could be found, nevertheless an inscription (No. 1) on a tomb on the upper levels of the waterway in the neighbourhood of İslamlar confirms that the western slopes of Mount Kışla of this region was within the territory of Patara. The ancient road to Phellos reaches Sarnıçbaşı 2 km southwest of Kalkan via Yeşilköy/Fırnaz and Akbel. Then it climbs up to the Bezirgan Plain over a pass near “Ambararası”. This pass was controlled by the settlement on Hisartepe which rises to the south of the pass and has many ancient remains on its summit. An inscription from where the road meets the plain records a certain Euelthon from Patara, who fulfilled many services for his fatherland and was buried in that place, indicating that at least the southern parts of the Bezirgan Plain, including Hisartepe and its surroundings, were within the territorial control of Patara. When Bezirgan Plain, the southern end of which is 11 m lower in elevation, was a lake, the road passage was impossible. The tunnel at the southern end of the plain was probably cut by the time of Claudius, to empty the water from the lake, after which, the road led directly across the plain. A secondary road running from the western side of the plain should have connected the main roads of Patara-Phellos and Xanthos-Neisa, and two passages at the ends of this road, the Alacaışık pass (in the north, under the control of Xanthos) and the Hisartepe pass (in the south, under the control of Patara) were most probably the control and change points on these main roads. From Hisartepe the road continues to Gökçeören/Seyret via Sarıbelen/Sidek and Döşeme, near where some traces of ancient road pavement can be seen. A secondary road to the south from Sidek to Seyret via Üçkuyu, where there is a sarchophagus with inscription (No. 3) revealing the extension of the territory of Patara to these lands. Another inscription on a sarcophagus amongst the remains on Gökçeören hill does not provide information concerning a place name, though it can perhaps be suggested that this settlement on Gökçeören administratively belonged to Patara. After Gökçeören, the ancient route should have passed Çağlarca, Pınarbaşı, Yeniköy, Çukurbağ and Pınarbaşı to reach Phellos.

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