The Lycian capital at the cliff's edge — pillar tombs, the Nereid Monument, and a civilisation that chose mass suicide over surrender
Xanthos (modern Kınık) lies in the Eşen River valley of Lycia, 65km southeast of Fethiye in southwestern Turkey. It was the principal city of the ancient Lycian federation and, with the associated sanctuary of Letoon 4km south, forms a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving the most complete record of Lycian culture — the indigenous Anatolian people whose language, art, and burial practices were unlike anything else in the ancient Mediterranean. The site is dominated by the Lycian Pillar Tombs — monolithic free-standing pillars 4-5m tall topped by stone burial chambers, unique to this culture…
Xanthos was besieged twice and its population committed mass suicide rather than submit to conquerors — once to the Persians under Harpagus (545 BCE) and once to the Roman general Brutus (42 BCE). These two episodes of mass self-immolation, recorded by Herodotus and Appian, defined the Lycian character in ancient sources and made Xanthos famous in antiquity. The Nereid Monument, removed to the British Museum by Charles Fellows in 1842, was the greatest Lycian monument; the removal (600 pieces transported by Royal Navy ships) stripped the site of its most significant structure. What remains at…