Isinda, Antalya

Isinda is an ancient Lycian city in the southern Turkey, to the west of Antalya province. The site is located on a small hill about 3 km south of Belenli village near Kas town. Its name derived from the Luwi language which was closely related to Hittite language and then transformed into Lycian language: "sinda" meant "holly" therefore it stands for "holly city".

There isn’t any information so far about the history of Isinda or when it was settled. Only few inscriptions mentioning Isinda name have survived until our days, thus makes this city still a mistery to us. It was probabily a small town governed by a low-rank Lycian ruler. From some ancient sources we know that around the 3rd century AD Isinda, Aperlai, Simena and Apollonia were rappresented in the Lycian League sharing one single vote only, a sign that they were minor towns within the Union.

Isinda was surrounded by a wall, from which only few fragments can be seen today to the north and northeast of the site. The construction of the wall seems to be very simple and not cared much, and that it was restored several times during the centuries. There are basement signs of a bigger construction towards the center of the wall but it’s impossible to guess what kind of structure it was, it could be a stoa but there are no proofs.

In the acropolis you can notice two house-shaped tombs with Lycian inscriptions on them, several rock tombs and sarcofagi from the Hellenistic and Roman periods scattered around, and some cisterns. Nothing much left from the rest of the city. The views from the acropolis towards Kas town is breathtaking.