Pınara Archaeological Site

Pınara lies near the village of Minare, on a road that branches off the Fethiye-Kaş highway near Eşen, about 6 kilometres away. The name is thought to come from a minaret-shaped rock covered with bird-nest-like rock tombs near the village; in Lycian, Pınara means round. According to ancient authors, the city was founded by colonists from Xanthos.

The story goes back long before Alexander, to Troy: the Trojan War mentions the archer Pandaros of Pınara. Strabo and later writers call it an important Lycian city, one of the six with three votes in the Lycian League. It opened its gates to Alexander, later belonged to the Kingdom of Pergamon and then Rome, revived and was rebuilt, before earthquakes in AD 141 and 240 did heavy damage. It was abandoned in the 9th century.

The ruins include a bath, a theatre, an agora, an odeon and many rock tombs. The acropolis sits on the round rock, reached by steps cut on the south side and ringed by a wall. On the steep eastern slope of the upper acropolis, you can see numerous house-type Lycian tombs.