 The Greco-Roman theatre in Oenoanda | |
  Oenoanda Shown within Turkey | |
| Alternative name | Oinoanda |
|---|---|
| Location | İncealiler,Muğla Province,Turkey |
| Region | Lycia |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Associated with | Diogenes |
Oenoanda[a] (/iːnoʊˈændə/;Ancient Greek:ΟἰνόανδαOinoanda) was aLycian city, in the upper valley of theRiver Xanthus. It is noted for the philosophical inscription by theEpicurean,Diogenes of Oenoanda.
The ruins of the city lie on a highly isolated site west of the modern villageİncealiler in theFethiye district ofMuğla Province,Turkey, which partly overlies the ancient site.
The place name suggests that it was known forviticulture.[1]
The early history of the settlement is obscure, in spite of an exploratory survey carried out, with permission of the Turkish authorities, by the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) in 1974–76.[2]
The city was known as Wiyanawanda by theHittites.[3] It means "rich in vines/wine" or semantically "land of the wine".[4] During theBronze Age it was a part of theLukka lands which corresponds toLycia fromclassical antiquity.
It seems that Oenoanda became a colony ofTermessos about 200-190 BC and was also called Termessos Minor[5] (or Termessos i pros Oinoanda). Oenoanda was the most southerly of theKibyran Tetrapolis, formed in the 2nd c. BC (Hellenistic Period), withBubon,Balbura, and Kibyra which was dissolved byL. Licinius Murena in 84 BC, whereupon Oenoanda became part of theLycian League,[6] as its inscriptions abundantly demonstrate.
Diogenes, a rich and influential citizen of Oenoanda, had a summary of the philosophy ofEpicurus carved onto aportico wall of thestoa showing the inhabitants the road to happiness. The inscription is one of the most important sources for the philosophical school of Epicurus and sets out his teachings onphysics,epistemology, andethics. It was originally about 25,000 words and 80 m long and filled 260 m2 of wall space. The inscription has been assigned onepigraphic grounds to theHadrianic period, 117–138.[7] Thestoa was dismantled in the second half of the third century to extend the defensive wall.[8]
It was occupied into the Byzantine period when a fortress and churches were built.
Oenoanda is atitular see of theRoman Catholic Church.[9]
The site was first noted byRichard Hoskyn andEdward Forbes, in 1841, and published in 1842.[10] The extensive philosophical inscriptions of Diogenes of Oenoanda were identified later from scattered fragments, apparently from the stoa.[11]
The city walls are well preserved and stand to 10 m in places. The Hellenistic city wall is over 65 m long and is a superb example of polygonal masonry with small stones on the interior faces while large ashlars were used for the imposing exterior faces.[12]
Part of an aqueduct can be seen in terms of stone pipe sections from asiphon.
Evidence for an ancientRomanBridge at Oinoanda surfaced in the 1990s.[13]
Official excavations at the site started only in 1997.[14] New archaeological work was started in 2009 by theDeutsches Archäologisches Institut.[15]
By 2012 over 300 fragments of Diogenes' stoa had been identified, varying in size from a few letters to passages of several sentences covering more than one block.[16]
Remains of a screw wine press were also discovered in a house which could prove that the activity suggested in the place name continued to be practised into the late history of the city.
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36°48′33″N29°32′59″E / 36.80917°N 29.54972°E /36.80917; 29.54972
