Pinara

Pinara is a unique site in Lycia, famed for its rock-cut tombs and unusual rounded hill, although some have argued that the simple rock-cut tombs are not tombs at all. Unfortunately, however, it seems they have failed to offer an adequate alternative for their use. The reason for the opposing argument is simple – the house tombs look like tombs, they have doorways, lids, and everything one might associate with that particular style of burial – but the pigeon hole tombs, cut holes in the side of the round hill above the city and elsewhere, are just cut ‘holes’, thus they appear to have another function. One can see from the photographs exactly where this argument originates and what it all means, but rock tombs are not an unusual phenomenon and neither are they unique to Pinara.

Pinara was apparently called ‘Pinale’ in the ancient Lycian language, which means ’round’ or ’rounded’. The name clearly describes the unique and unusual rounded and somewhat rectangular-shaped peak that juts out above everything else that can be observed, and it clearly has geological features that appear unique to the local area. What is surprising, though, is that this hill is also full of rock tombs, but it’s not the tombs that are surprising! Now there’s a contradiction!

My meaning is simple. It’s not that there are tombs that is surprising – there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them cut into the surrounding hills – it’s the fact that the rounded hill is actually full of them, and since the tombs are cut into a vertical face one does have to wonder how on earth the people managed to cut them into the solid rock, and therein lies the idea that these cut holes may not have been tombs. It’s a logical deduction when one is looking at the hill from the location of the theatre below, and one does ask why on earth would you go to all that trouble just to put a dead body in the gaping hole? Again, though, we are left with the burning question – if they weren’t tombs then what were they? I will keep an open mind myself and refrain from comment, although the amount of these tombs is so staggering one has to wonder if dying was more common in Pinara than living!

Logistically speaking the tombs on the face of the rounded hill were accessed by a rope ladder, supposedly, and once down onto a certain level the tombs were accessed by a couple of staircases that were cut into the rock. I find it unlikely that any original rope ladder was ever found, so this idea may have come from the way modern people have accessed the tombs. Also, accessing the majority of the tombs appears to be impossible as they are located on the vertical face of the hill, and most have a drop that would ensure a certain death if one was to fall.

What is abundantly clear is that the rounded hill would have been the original city – a small acropolis on top of the hill. From there it is easy to see how the inhabitants wanted to bury their dead nearby and in the rock face below. These original people, who may have had nothing to do with ancient Lycia and may go back as far as the ice age, were certainly intent on keeping their home as close to one location as possible. It is also easy to see how the idea of rock tombs then evolved into more elaborate burials and spread into the surrounding area in both Lycian and Greek times. But I also wonder about these strange ‘pigeon hole tombs’ – if they were full of bodies what about the smell permeating to the acropolis directly above? What about the birds constantly fighting and pecking at the bodies? Or were the bodies already defleshed and only the bones put inside the tombs? So many questions but few answers. If it was the latter, however, then my assumption that this place could stretch back way beyond Lycian times, perhaps as far back as the ice age, may well indeed be correct. The practise of defleshing the dead is certainly thousands of years older than the Trojan Wars (13th Century BC), and the even later date of the 5th Century BC for the founding of Pinara gives even more doubt that these pigeon hole tombs were originally from Lycian times. Also, there does not appear to be rock tombs at most other Lycian sites, giving Pinara a somewhat unique feature.

One of the stories about the founding of Pinara is that Xanthos became too overpopulated and several other cities were established in the process of expansion. I find this explanation rather unlikely. Quite possibly, looking at and comparing the two cities, Pinara may have more ancient origins than Xanthos. Another story, written by Panyasis in the 5th Century BC, is that, “Tremiles, who lived by the river Xanthos, fathered four sons – Tlos, Xanthus, Pinarus and Cragus, thus inaugurating the Lycian nation” (1). This story is a mythical version of the first, but the fact that Homer mentions Pandarus (see below), and that story dates to the Trojan Wars, there is a huge discrepancy regarding the date Pinara was founded. Since the Trojan Wars were at least 800 years earlier than the 5th Century BC given by the founding stories, there is a problem with that date.

There are other strange stories regarding Pinara and it’s clear the origins of this huge place are as obscure as every other Lycian city. What is clear is that Pinara was yet another major city of the Lycian League, and like the other primary cities such as Patara and Olympos it received three votes.

By now, if you’ve been bothering to read these travelogues, you will have noticed the Lycian League voting system comes up frequently, so I think at this point it’s probably worth asking what it’s all about. I will refer the reader to the link below – (2) – but also here is an explanation from that page:

“The Lycian League is the first known democratic union in history.  The Lycians always had an instinct for collaboration with a strong regional-cultural identity and Lycia is famous for its tradion of independent city-states that joined in the strong Lycian League that was in many ways a model political organization.  Despite the steep geography that divides the lands of Lycia, some invasions of foregin powers and some attempts of would-be tyrants to take power, the League remained strong.” (2)

One can see that the Lycian civilisation was not only unique but a forerunner of city states, creating greater strength by combining cities, and making a culture that was abundant in organisation and cooperation. In most other places at that time, especially in Greece, cities were fighting with their neighbours on a regular basis, and larger states (that would eventually become countries) were still not yet formed. Lycia was arguably the first civilisation in history to combine its power and create a civilised and powerful nation covering a huge area, to the point that the later Romans allowed them autonomy instead of invading and taking control, partly due to the Lycians more advanced methods of civilised organisation.

Again we find very little historical accounts of Pinara. Homer mentions an archer named Pandarus who was a member of the Trojan army and was fighting in the Trojan wars, but Strabo states there was a cult of Pandarus at Pinara. It seems, however, that both of these stories may be true – Pandarus may have been an individual whose deeds later created a cult following. In the Britannica website we find the following text:

“Pandarus, in Greek legend, son of Lycaon, a Lycian. In Homer’s Iliad, Book IV, Pandarus breaks the truce between the Trojans and the Greeks by treacherously wounding Menelaus, the king of Sparta; he is ultimately slain by the warrior Diomedes. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, Pandarus acts as the lovers’ go-between; hence the word “pander.” ” (3)

So, if a true character, Pandarus wasn’t exactly an individual to be revered, unless you were one of those that didn’t agree with the truce held between the Trojans and the Greeks.

The huge rounded hill that is the central focus of Pinara sits at 2,000 ft above sea level and was once an impenetrable acropolis with a triple wall, sections of which are still standing. This original acropolis, however, was strangely not located at the very top of the hill, and is found on a sloping area slightly below. Of this original city, only rock foundations of houses that were made of wood and mud brick have been found. At the summit there is a fort surrounded by walls and ditches, but all the archaeological evidence found on the summit strangely dates to the medieval period. It is thought originally the summit area became too small for the expanding population and the area below was used for expansion but, if my deduction is correct, later inhabitants had obliterated any archaeological evidence that may have once existed on the summit from the earlier period.

A second acropolis, built at a later period, is found lower down and completely off the rounded hill, and remains of buildings are aplenty. If there was any coming danger it seems the inhabitants simply retreated to the upper acropolis since the lower acropolis does not appear to have any defensive walls. This is typical of most ancient cities though – an inner acropolis is often surrounded by a wider city, the main acropolis usually containing religious buildings and the dwellings of wealthy or elitist individuals. In most other cities however, like Troy, the lower city also contained a defensive wall.

Of the lower city at Pinara there are some ruins that have not been identified. Near these unknown buildings are many sarcophagi, one of which is one of the largest in Lycia, and surrounding this particular sarcophagi there are others that appear to be placed in such a way as to lay focus on the larger sarcophagi. No doubt this belonged to a very important individual, perhaps even a king. Also around this area are the remains of an odeon and a later Christian church.

What is distinctly noticeable about Pinara in general is that it is not surrounded by any walls, if one excludes the tiny acropolis on the top of the hill. The rest of the city, which clearly expanded rapidly and covered a huge area in later periods, was not given any defensive structures. It’s quite plausible that Pinara could have become a massive cemetery, even though one does find buildings associated with the living – a relatively large theatre, for example. But, rather like an asclepion, Pinara could have been a centre where people buried their dead but also stayed for some time and ‘lived’ normally, again rather like an asclepion. I am, of course, making a total guess on this issue, but one has to visit Pinara to understand this concept. I would certainly love to test this hypothesis but it would require spending a considerable time at Pinara. Unfortunately today, unlike many other ancient cities, the local and wider area is as much devoid of life as the ancient city and carrying out such a laborious task would involve a huge amount of daily travel, if not boredom.

Of the wider city at Pinara there are building remains that have also not been identified. One of those has been suggested by some to have been an agora, but little evidence is provided, and many other building foundations have also not been identified. What is clear is that there are a lot of building foundations, but no one seems to know what those buildings were. There are the remains of a temple, however, 45 x 27 feet, and a large theatre that has survived in excellent condition in comparison with the rest of Pinara. The theatre is clearly Greek, thus confirming the time period of the wider city, but a very interesting fact is that the theatre was never Romanised. It seems the theatre was of such good quality that it never required any major renovation or rebuild.

Once again I find myself clutching at straws when it comes to historical information of any particular worth. As was the case with most cities in the region, Pinara surrendered to Alexander the Great without so much as a raised fist, and two hundred years after the death of said war-mongering, world-conquering psychopath, Pinara was annexed to Pergamum in 133 BC. Later it became a Roman city. Most of Pinara was destroyed in two earthquakes – one in 141 AD and the other almost exactly 100 years later in 240 AD. The city was still inhabited up until the 9th Century when it was finally abandoned, a rather early demise compared to most cities, which tended to be inhabited up until the end of the Middle Ages, or even into the 16th Century. The reason for this is most likely Pinara’s problematic logistical position – despite its serene beauty, it’s not the place I would settle if I had a choice in ancient Lycia.

My visit to Pinara was in the afternoon of 22 March 2015. By now the effects of the gruelling journey were clearly taking their toll, and tiredness was amplified. For that reason I did not climb the hill or go anywhere far from the outer city where the theatre is located, I was simply too shattered. Of course in hindsight one always regrets not mustering up a bit more energy to climb the hill and see all the ruins, but at the time it really wasn’t possible. It was also quite late in the afternoon after visiting Patara in the morning and driving some distance to Pinara. The weather at Pinara was pleasantly sunny but a bit chilly and not a single other tourist was around. Entry to the site was free and only a single man in a wooden shack greeted us at the entrance. He was a very pleasant individual although clearly bored out of his brains, and may even be an onsite guard living in the shack. Pinara is another place that requires a second visit and a full day, but will that ever happen with all the other amazing sites in the world to visit?

 

References:

Tor, Kemel Hakki. Lycia: Shiny territory in Anatolia. 2012, Ten Books, Antalya, Turkey (1)

http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_government.htm  (2)

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Pandarus-Greek-mythology (3)

http://www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=197

http://lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/pinara.htm

http://www.kalkanturkey.com/lycian-sites-near-kalkan/