The Nymphaeum of Kestros, Perga (Anatolia)

The Nymphaeum of Kestros (or Caystros), consecrated to the Lydian namesake river-god, is a monumental fountain that lies at the colonnaded end of the main street in the ancient city of Perga (Parha in Hittite) in southeast Anatolia (Minor Asia).

It was fashioned during the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian (second century AD) when the city had come under Roman rule.

The name Kestros apparently comes out of the Hittite Kastaraya for the river as it appears in a treaty between the Hittite King Tudḫaliya IV and his vassal king of Tarḫuntašša in the second half of the 13th century BC.

The Lycian tomb at Kastellorizo

This trademark Lycian rock-cut tomb lies at the foot of the hill that accommodates the keep (castle), rebuilt by Alfonso V of Aragon in 1461 AD, on the remote island of Kastelorizo, slightly off the south coastline of Turkey nowadays.

It is described by some as of ‘Doric order’ but that is more of an exaggeration as the shape of the tomb simply more of resembles that style and nothing more.

The presence of such a burial place would not come as surprise since the island, carrying the name of Megiste in ancient times, lay just off the shores of Lycia in southeast Anatolia (Minor Asia).

For that matter, it is unknown when exactly it was carved into the rock as well as for whom.