To the northwest of Manavgat are the remains of the ancient city of Seleukeia, situated within the Şıhlar settlement unit. The city is known to have been founded as a fortified acropolis town to be used as a final defence and protection site in the case of an attack on Side. Upon the capture of Side by pirates in the 2nd century B.C., a number of the people immigrated to Seleukeia. The bronze statue of Apollon understood to have been built during this era is on display in the Antalya Museum. During the Pax Romana period, on the other hand, acropolis cities eventually lost their former importance.

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To the west of Xanthos-Creek Eşen located are the remains of the ancient city Letoon within the settlement Kumluova. The name of the city is “Ladauwa” in the Luwian/Etruscan original, meaning “worshipping place of the mother goddess Lada”. History of this sacred place dates back to thousands of years before Christ. The Mother Goddess Cult found everywhere in Anatolia unavoidably took root in Lycia, too.

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Kalkan, located to the southernmost end of the Teke peninsula, by the small bay of the same name, is a new settlement unit. Obviously, the first settlers of the area were the Tekelioğlu Turkomans who first immigrated to the Gömbe and Elmalı plateaux and, then, moving down to the south, settled and built their villages in the Eşen Valley and the Yeşilköy-Fırnaz plains. Some of the Turkomans who settled in Yeşilköy laid the foundations of today’s district of Kalkan which is by the bay on the other side of the hill of the same name in the east of the village.

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This area was formed during the era of torrential rains occurring after the tectonic phenomena which developed in the wake of the glacial epoch upon being filled with the alluvia carried by rivers. The remains of this era constitute hillocks covered with pine and heath, known as CONGLOMERATE, formed of sand and grit accumulated to a height of 100 meters. As the rivers continued to carry the alluvia in the direction of the sea, these sandy hillocks remained on the plains and gradually became distant from the shore. During the last phase of the filling process, long ridges and cordons consisting of sand and grit were formed along the shore because of the large amounts of alluvia carried by the rivers.

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It is an ancient city in ruins located to the west of Antalya and north of Finike, in close proximity to the Arif village. The remains of Arykanda, which are worth a visit, are half an hour’s walk away. It is known that the name of the city in the Luwian/Etruscan language was “Arukawanda/Aruwawanda” meaning “People having an Altar”. Arykanda, which was an acropolis city, was, after the hegemonies of Lycia, Persia, Macedonia, Ptolemaios, Seleucia and Rhodes, subordinated to Rome in 43 A.D. After a great earthquake during the Byzantine epoch the city moved to the area known as Ortaçay.

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The caravans travelling from Alaiye to Antalya and Konya have been staying at Alara Han (Inn) from the Middle Ages until recent times. The quadrangular caravanserai, with dimensions of 38×50 metres, located on the first plain to the eastern bank of  Alara Creek, was built of dressed stone blocks with symbols visible thereon, except for the eastern walls. The Inn was reinforced by triangular and quadrangular struts on three façades. To the north is a portal embellished with lion’s head relief, crowned with a depressed arch.

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