Simena

The village of Kale was set on the ancient city of Simena. From inscriptions at this site, we can date the city to the ninth century B.C. The Simena fortress was used in the Middle Ages. There is a temple and a stoa connected to the temple inside this fortress. Here there is also a theater with seven row of seats carved into rocks for an audience of 300. This is the smallest theater that was built in a Lycian city. Above the rock tombs, there is a Roman wall formed by regular columns and above that there is another wall built in a later period. Here one can see traces of three different eras in a single place. The Turkish-style bath on the coast bears an inscription saying, “This is a gift to Emperor Titus from the people of Aperlai, its Parliament and all the cities of the Lycian Union.” There are many tombs in this area, including two house-type tombs. There is an epitaph written in the Lycian language on a house-type tomb to the north of Kale. When you look from Kale to Ucagiz, you can see what a naturally secure port this is.