Trebenna Antik Kenti

Trebenna Ancient City, located 32 kilometers west of Antalya on the northern foothills of Sivridağ, is reached by a forest road passing through the villages of Geyikbayırı and Çağlarca. There is neither ancient literary data nor epigraphic and archaeological data regarding the existence of Trebenna in the Hellenistic and earlier periods. However, according to an inscription, since Termessos was under Ptolemaic rule in 281–280 BC during the Hellenistic Period, the same rule is expected to have existed in the lands where Trebenna was located. Likewise, after the Peace of Apameia (168 BC), it is possible that the lands of Trebenna were among the places on the eastern side of the Taurus Mountains captured by Pergamon. Eumenes II (197–160 BC) annexed the western lands of Pamphylia to the kingdom’s territory. The 3rd century AD was quite a brilliant period for Trebenna.

Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism

Emperor Gordian III ( AD 238–244 ), who ascended the Roman throne at the age of 13 and set out on a journey to Asia in 242, granted Trebenna the freedom to mint coins, as he did to many Lycian cities. Although Trebenna officially remained within the political borders of the province of Lycia in the Roman period, it clearly appears as a Pamphylian city in the Byzantine Period. The visible parts of the fortification walls date from the Byzantine age. There are many rock chambers on the acropolis rocks. Those used for dwelling and burial purposes can be distinguished at first glance. Some were first tombs and then dwellings. The most special one is the one standing directly opposite the entrance to the acropolis. The Roman Period structures are on the plain between the Acropolis and Sivritepe. While the ekklesiasterion, sebasteion and stoa, with their facades facing southeast and lined up side by side, form the western boundary of the city square where Roman Period public buildings are concentrated, the bath, the last public building on the slope of the Elmin Necropolis, defines the southern boundary. Entry to the structure is provided by two monumental gates dividing the facade into approximately three equal parts. The acropolis of the Roman period city became the place to which the settlement retreated in the Byzantine period, was surrounded by a protective wall, and throughout the Middle Ages this was the city’s main settlement. The city continued to exist as a Byzantine city until the end of the 12th century AD. It is estimated that Trebenna was abandoned when Attaleia and its surroundings passed into the hands of the Turks at the beginning of the 1st century AD.

Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism

Source: "Trebenna", Dünden Bugüne Antalya Volume II, Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism (2012)

Places to Visit in Antalya Address: Trebenna Ancient City, Geyikbayırı, Çağlarca, Antalya