🗿 Xanthos-Letoon
Twin archaeological sites of ancient Lycia in southwestern Anatolia
📋 Fast Facts
- Two paired sites in Muğla Province, Turkey; Xanthos served as the principal city of ancient Lycia, Letoon as its chief religious sanctuary
- Occupied from the Iron Age through the Roman period, with continuous habitation and cultural adaptation across successive empires
- Located approximately 2–3 kilometres apart in rugged terrain near the modern town of Kınık, inland from the Mediterranean coast
- Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for outstanding funerary architecture, multilingual inscriptions, and evidence of Lycian civic and religious life
Xanthos-Letoon comprises two interconnected archaeological complexes that together illustrate the civic, religious, and funerary traditions of ancient Lycia. Xanthos occupied a defensible hilltop above a river valley and functioned as the political and administrative centre of Lycia across many centuries. Letoon, located nearby beside a sacred lake and marshy springs, served as the principal religious sanctuary, particularly dedicated to the goddess Leto and her children. The paired arrangement ...