Aperlae

Aperlae or Aperlai (Ancient Greek: Ἄπερλαι, romanized: Aperlai) was an ancient city on the southern coast of ancient Lycia. It did not play any significant role in history or politics, yet its lifespan of 1,300 years is worth note. The harsh local terrain made agriculture difficult, but like other towns along the coast, it thrived on the production of royal purple (or Tyrian dye).

The town's position is fixed by the Stadiasmus at 60 stadia west of Somena, and 64 stadia west of Andriace. William Martin Leake (Asia Minor, p. 188) supposed Somena to be the Simena of Pliny (v. 27). Aperlae, which is written in the text of Claudius Ptolemy Aperrae, and in Pliny Apyrae, is proved to be a genuine name by an inscription found by Charles Robert Cockerell, at the head of Hassar bay, with the ethnic name Ἀπερλειτων on it. But there are also coins of Gordian III with the ethnic name Ἀπερραιτων. The confusion between the "l" and the "r" in the name of a small place is nothing remarkable.

Aperlae is situated near a bay but in a storm the bay offered little protection for ships. The city lies between the mountains and the coast where there were no reliable sources of fresh water and numerous cisterns around the town indicate a reliance on rain water. A striking feature of the Aperlae site was the vast amount of Murex snail shells. In two parts of town they were dumped covering altogether 1,600 m2 (at an unknown depth until the Turkish government allows archeologists to dig). They were used in the mortar and concrete of the buildings of the city, and they were found in large quantities dumped in the sea.

Aperlae was founded sometime between the late 4th and early 3rd century BC and sustained a long lifespan of about 1,300 years until the end of the 7th century AD. Aperlae was at the head of a sympolity including Simena, Isinda and Apollonia. With the start of the Muslim conquests, security of the coast failed and Aperlae was abandoned due to the threat of pirate raids and Arab corsairs. Though with the evidence of some late repairs on a church suggest that there was possibly a small settlement of squatters or stragglers after it was left, Aperlae was never rebuilt and resett

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).