Letoon

The sanctuary of Leto called the Letoon, sometimes Latinized as Letoum, near Xanthos, was one of the most important religious centers of the Lycian region in Anatolia. The site is located between the towns of Kaş and Fethiye in Antalya province of Turkey, approximately four km south of Xanthos along the Xanthos River.

Archaeological finds at the site, which was never a fully-occupied settlement, but remained essentially a religious centre, date back to the late sixth century BCE, before the Greek cultural hegemony in Lycia, which began in the early fourth century. In earlier times, the site was probably already sacred to the cult of an earlier mother goddess— she is Eni Mahanahi in Lycia— which was superseded by the worship of Leto, joined by her twin offspring. manner]] In Greek mythology, a claim for an early cult of Apollo in the valley of the Xanthus, unsupported by history or archaeology, was provided by two myths, each connected to an eponymous "Lydus". One sprang from the autochthonous Telchines of Rhodes and would have colonized the region at the time of Deucalion's flood; the other Lycus was an Athenian brother of Aegeus driven from Athens, a seer who introduced the cult of Lycaean Apollo, which a folk etymology connected with Lycia and therefore made him its Athenian colonizer: see Lycus.

The foundations of the Hellenistic temple dedicated to Leto, and her children, Artemis and Apollo, have been excavated under the direction of H. Metzger from 1962.. Archæologists have excavated much of the ruins; discoveries include the Letoon trilingual, bearing inscriptions in Greek, Lycian and Aramaic, which has provided crucial keys in the deciphering of the Lycian language; it is conserved in the Fethiye Museum.

The sacrosanctity of the site is the purport of an anecdote related by Appian concerning Mithridates, who was planning to cut down the trees in the sacred grove for his own purposes in his siege of the Lycian coastal city of Patara, but was warned against the sacrilegious action in a nightmare. The site remained active through the Roman period. The site was Christianised by the construction of an early church, which reused cut stone from the sanctuary, but was abandoned from the seventh century CE.

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Aylin Alpustun
18 October 2018
It is a must see. Very easily reached by car. The ground it covers is great. The writings are a must see
Marco Candela
27 June 2015
Archeological works are required since the site doesn't give you any information..sites like this could be very interesting if more action was made by the authority...
sibel a.
5 August 2015
Seralar ve evler arasinda, hala kazi calismalari devam eden tarih, bu fotonun tam karsisinda pembe iki katli ev var ???? her sabah bu manzara ile uyanan, farkindamidir acaba ??
teknisyen arif
4 October 2018
LETOON ANTİKTİK KENTİ:KAŞ Xanthos’a 4 km. uzaklıkta bulunan Letoon ANTİK kenti Muğla seydikemer kumluova beldesinde bulunuyor, Antik Çağda Likya’nın dini merkezi konumundaydı.
Yasemin
28 July 2013
Likya Ligi'nin Brüksel'i (tüm toplantılar burada yapılıyormus). Aynı zamanda kutsal şehri. Adını Artemis ve Apollon'un annesi Letoon'dan almış.
Yakup Çakır
16 September 2023
Kente ismini veren tanrıça Leto ve ikiz çocukları Apollon ve Artemis adına yapılan yan yana tapınakları, kutsal suyu ve 3 dilli yazıtı ile Anadolu’nun Likya’nın izlerini günümüze taşıyan önemli merkez
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0.2km from Hürriyet Mh. (Kumluova Köyü), Letoon Plaj Caddesi, Muğla Province, Turkey Get directions
Thu 9:00 AM–7:00 PM
Fri 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Sat 9:00 AM–6:00 PM
Sun 10:00 AM–7:00 PM
Mon-Tue 9:00 AM–7:00 PM

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