From inscriptions that have been found, we know that the history of the ancient city of Simena goes back to the 4th century BC. If you go ashore via the jetty next to the sarcophagus on the seashore and climb the hill behind the village houses, you reach the castle of Simena. This castle was used during the Middle Ages by the Byzantines. In the medieval walls of the inner keep are a few blocks of all that remains of ancient temple. Inside the castle there is a small natural theater carved into the rock, with a capacity of about 300 people, a sign that this was a minor settlement in Roman times. This is the smallest of theaters among the cities of Lycia. West of the theater there are rock tombs here and there. Above the rock tombs is a Roman wall built of dressed stone and located on the wall are late-period embrasures thus giving one a glimpse of three eras simultaneously. On the shore are the ruins of public baths whose inscription is still legible and reads "A gift to the emperor Titus made by the people and council of Aperlai as well as by the other cities of the Lycian confederation that they were a member of."
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