Oinoanda (Muğla)

The site of Oinoanda is in northern Lycia, above the village of İncealiler. The settlement stretches along a broad saddle between two hills, with the main public buildings at the north end where the land is flatter. These include several unidentified buildings, an agora and the so-called Esplanade (the Hellenistic agora). A well-preserved stretch of walls with two towers and an aqueduct can be seen at the south of the site. Oinoanda is best known as the site of the longest inscription of the ancient world, a discourse by the Epicurean philosopher Diogenes. It is now in many fragments but would have been about 60 m long.

Although Oinoanda had been known to scholars since the 1840s, it was not until 1968 that Martin Ferguson Smith began work on the Diogenes inscription, with a survey project by the British Institute at Ankara beginning in 1974. A new project under the direction of Martin Bachmann began in 2007.

2008

Documentation of the site (the urban area covers 25,000 square metres) by laser scanner continued and the entire Esplanade has now been covered. The aim is to reveal the plan of the agora and determine its architectural evolution. Some remains of the north stoa, which was partly destroyed during the building of the Byzantine church, are still extant. The geophysical survey covered a small part of the Esplanade.

Twenty-six new fragments of the Diogenes inscription were found and the positions of 160 fragments have now been plotted by GPS to determine the history of the monument on which it was erected and the later reuse of the fragments.

The survey also extended beyond the settlement. On the acropolis hill (Eren Tepe) a circular structure on the steep northern slope was investigated. It is 60 m in diameter and built of loosely piled small stones. The structure encloses a hollow not easily seen from the plain below and the circle was probably an enclosure to hold livestock during periods of unrest.

2007

Work began to re-document the urban area and to investigate the Diogenes inscription more thoroughly, not only from the point of view of the epigraphy but also as a monument. Four new fragments of the inscription were found to add to those studied by M. Ferguson Smith. The inscription was clearly located in the city and most fragments have been found in the area of the Hellenistic agora (the Esplanade).

A laser scanner is being used to survey the site, which is covered in trees, and geophysical prospection will help identify the limits of the Esplanade. This year the acropolis was documented, as well as the southern wall with its polygonal masonry and towers. Two inscriptions, perhaps related to construction of the defensive wall, were found on its exterior. On the south slope were many stone quarries, which supplied material for the construction of the city. Fragments of the Diogenes inscription were also found reused in a fountain in the modern village.

Website

The project website is at www.dainst.org/index_8097_en.html