The Hellenistic theatre of the ancient city of Kibyra was built on a natural slope. During the Roman Empire it was equipped with a two-storey stone stage house. The stage house has been largely destroyed; the building components visible today come from the second floor.
The cavea is divided into three tiers, each separated by a diazoma. The rear wall of the upper diazoma has a series of inscriptions. On the south side of the theatre, a vault leads from the outside to the lower diazoma.

Kibyra was an ancient city in the south of Phrygia, on the border with Lycia. In contrast to the "small" Kibyra in Pamphylia, the city was also called "the big Kibyra".
Kibyra was founded in 333 BC and was an important trading town at the crossroads of ancient Lycia, Caria and Phrygia, right at the heart of the north-south and east-west trade routes. Like the other cities in the region, Kibyra suffered severe damage in an earthquake in 23 AD, but was rebuilt. Today, extensive ruins bear witness to the city's former grandeur, including a theatre, an Odeon/Bouleuterion and a recently excavated stadium.

The foundation by Sparta is legendary. In late Hellenistic times Kibyra led a four-city alliance (Tetrapolis) to which Balboura, Bubon and Oinoanda belonged. This was dissolved about 84-82 BC by the Romans under Lucius Licinius Murena. Kibyra belonged afterwards to the Roman province Asia, briefly between 56 and 49 B.C. to the province Cilicia, since Diocletian to the province Caria.