The Calynda Excavation is carried out under the directorship of the Fethiye Museum Directorate with the financial support of Muğla Governorship — Investment Monitoring and Coordination Directorate and Dalaman Municipality. The excavations have been carried out under the scientific supervision of Prof. Dr. Fatih Onur and the field coordinatorship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Koçak (Antalya Bilim University).
The site of Asar Tepe, where the remains believed to belong to Calynda are located, is situated in the Şerefler neighbourhood of the Dalaman district of Muğla Province, approximately 3 km east of the Dalaman town centre. On the hill overlooking the Dalaman Plain, there are fortifications dating back to the Archaic period, various building foundations, and tombs.
Research HIstory of Calynda and the Ruins at Şerefler
Although there is no direct evidence from the site at Şerefler/Asar Tepe, it is generally accepted that the remains belong to Calynda.
Richard Hoskyn wrote that, when he was in Dalaman in 1840/1, he searched for ruins in the hope of finding Calynda but found nothing.[1] In the summer of 1844, Ludwig Ross, who reached Ortaca from Telmessos via İnlice and Göcek, stated that he could not find the ruins of Calynda, but later heard from a villager of a ruined church on a rocky hill about one hour northeast of Dalaman.[2] There is no doubt that the ruins in question are those on Asar Tepe at Şerefler. The notes of Gilbert Davies, who made the first description of the ruins on the hill, were quoted in 1895 by William Arkwright, who believed the ruins belonged to Calynda.[3] George E. Bean, who visited the hill in 1946 and 1950, believed these ruins belonged to Calynda but was unable to find any coins or inscriptions to confirm the city's identity despite all his searches.[4] Paavo Roos recorded his observations on the hill and its remains in 1969.[5]
More recently, Hans Lohmann in 1999 and Werner Tietz in 2003 described the remains in detail; Tietz also evaluated all ancient literary sources and inscriptions relating to the city of Calynda.[6] Sencer Şahin regards this hill as an outpost of Kaunos.[7] There are differing proposals concerning the location of Calynda. Charles Fellows placed Calynda at the İnlice Asar site, Maxime Collignon and Louis Duchesne at İnhisar, Georges Cousin near the Karabögürtlen quarter of Ula, while Thomas A. B. Spratt and Edward Forbes wished to identify Calynda with Kadyanda.[8] Sencer Şahin, like Charles Fellows, proposes İnlice Asar for Calynda.[9] Prior to the ongoing excavations, the site of Şerefler-Asar Tepe had not been subjected to any scientific excavation or dedicated research, with the exception of short visits during surveys conducted in the region under the direction of Fatih Onur between 2019 and 2021.[10]
Brief HIstory of Calynda
The place name (Kuwa)kuwaluwa(n)ta in the Yalburt inscription, recording the campaigns of Tuthalya IV in the 13th century BC, has been thought to refer to Calynda. Since Calynda may have been under Lydian sovereignty in the 6th century BC, as was Caunus, it is possible that Harpagus, the commander of Cyrus, conquered the city in 546 BC during his campaigns in Caria and Lycia. Herodotus relates as an old legend that the people of Caunus drove foreign gods from their city to the borders of Calynda. He also tells that Calynda participated in the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC with a ship in Artemisia's fleet, and that Artemisia sank this Calyndan ship.
The Zenon archive reveals a frequent and strong network of relations between Calynda, Caunus, and the central Ptolemaic administration in Alexandria. One text in this archive mentions a place called Cypranda in the territory of Calynda, which hosted an annual festival — most likely dedicated to Artemis, the principal goddess of the city. The location of Cypranda, which must have lain outside the city centre, remains unknown, as does the location of the city centre of Calynda itself. According to the Zenon archive, a Ptolemaic garrison was stationed in the territory of Calynda, probably on the hill where the Şerefler ruins stand today. The city was subordinated to Rhodes no later than 188 BC, then to Caunus between 168 and 164 BC, and thereafter to Rhodes again.
By the early 1st century BC at the latest, the city appears independent again and turns towards the Lycian League, becoming part of the province of Lycia established in 43 AD. In this period, Calynda is mentioned in the Pataran Road Monument in connection with three routes: to Telmessus, Caunus, and Lyrnae. Calynda is also among the cities to which Opramoas extended aid following the earthquake of 141 AD. We have no information on Calynda in the Late Antique and Early Byzantine periods; only a single bishop is attested, and the city may have been reduced to a subordinate ecclesiastical position under Caunus.
[1] Hoskyn R. 1842, "Narrative of a Survey of Part of the South Coast of Asia Minor…" The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 12: 145.
[2] Ross L. 1850, Kleinasien und Deutschland. Halle: 79.
[3] Arkwright W. 1895, "The Frontier of Lycia and Caria." JHS 15: 97–98.
[4] Bean G. E. 1953, "Notes and Inscriptions from Caunus." JHS 73: 25–26 n. 82; see also Bean G. E. 1978, Lycian Turkey. London: 33–35.
[5] Roos P. 1969, "Topographical and Other Notes on South-Eastern Caria." Opuscula Atheniensia 9: 72–74.
[6] Lohmann H. 1999, Orbis Terrarum 5: 54–60; Tietz W. 2003, Der Golf von Fethiye. Bonn: 86–90 and 201–230.
[7] Şahin S. 2014, Stadiasmus Patarensis. İstanbul: 169, 180 n. 278.
[8] Fellows C. 1841, An Account of Discoveries in Lycia. London: 105; Collignon M. & Duchesne L. 1877, BCH 1: 364; Spratt T. A. B. & Forbes E. 1847, Travels in Lycia I. London: 42–43; Cousin G. 1900, BCH 24: 43.
[9] Şahin S. 2014, Stadiasmus Patarensis. İstanbul: 176–183.
[10] Akyürek Şahin N. E. & Onur F. & Alkan M. & Yıldız M. E. 2017, AST 35: 398–401; ANMED 15: 205–212; Onur F. & Tekoğlu Ş. R. 2020, Gephyra 19: 10–13.
