Kanytelleis in Cilicia

 

    

     
 

 

The Basilica IV  
   

Kanytelleis (today Kanlidivane) is about eight kilometres east of Kizkalesi, the ancient Korykos. The relics of the city are grouped around a collapse doline of 70 m diameter and 60 m depth, similar to the two karst falls of the nearby Cennet ve Cehennem.

 
   
 
The Olbic Fortified Tower and Basilica I  
   

The founding date of the city is unknown, but a local inscription of the Teukros from Olba suggests that in the second century B.C. the city belonged to the priestly state of the Olba-Diokaisareia about 30 km to the northwest. This is also indicated by the Olbic sign on the tower.
Other inscriptions say that the place later belonged to Elaiussa Sebaste. During the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II in the fifth century AD, it was extended and renamed Neopolis. The town was probably abandoned in the 11th century. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

 
   

 
The Olbic Fortified Tower  
   

The only testimony of pre-Christian times is a former Hellenistic fortified and residential tower of polygonal masonry with the aforementioned Olbic sign on the southern edge of the doline. An inscription for Zeus Olbios points back to the second century BC.

 
   

 
The relief of the Armaronxas family  
   

Two reliefs are embedded in the walls of the doline. On the south side an image of six members of the Armaronxas family (father, mother of four children) and on the north side a portrait of a Roman warrior.

 
   

 
View through the twin windows of the apse of Basilica I  
   

In the southwest of the doline stands the largely preserved Byzantine Basilica I, a three-nave columned basilica with a length of 31 metres and a width of 18.40 metres. In the narthex in the west leads a three-part arch opening, whose capitals are designed with large-lobed acanthus leaves.
The largely preserved wall to the church interior is pierced in the middle by a rectangular portal. The apse opens a twin window with horseshoe arches to the east.

 

 

 
 
The Hellenistic Cistern  

 

 

After the Basilica I a Turkish cemetery and a cistern from the Hellenistic period follow on a clockwise circumnavigation of the doline.

 

 

 

 

The Papylos Church (Basilica IV)

 

 

 

According to an inscription by the founder, the three-nave basilica 4 Papylos Church in the northeast of the doline is named. It was built at the end of the fifth century and is the youngest and best preserved basilica of Kanytelleis. Most of the walls are still up to 8 metres high.

 
   
 
The southern side of Papylos Church  
   

Only the south wall has completely broken away. To the west, the basilica has a forecourt 15 metres wide and about 10 metres deep. A half arch still stands from a three-part, open arched position, the western entrance into the 3.60 meter deep and 14 meter wide narthex.
The approximately 22-metre-long church is divided by two columned arcades into two narrower aisles and a 6.20-metre-wide nave, each with a door to the narthex. In the north wall, projecting stone supports indicate the position of the side gallery. The passage from the nave to the choir was vaulted by a high triumphal arch, from which the left approach can still be seen.

 
   
 
   

120 m above Basilica IV is the so-called 4.1 x 5.7 meter three-column tomb from the third and fourth centuries A.D. Its special feature is that it is equipped with three instead of the usual four columns. The unadorned burial chamber is completely empty.

 
   
 
The Temple Tomb of Aba  
   

At about the same height as the three-pillar tomb is the temple tomb of Aba, a rich lady who probably lost both her husband and her two sons in battle or due to an epidemic. On the archway there was an inscription containing both the name of the founder and the place name "Kanytelleis".

 
     
     
Photos: @chim, Monika P.    
Translation aid: www.DeepL.com/Translator    
Source: Wikipedia and others