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Phokylides

 

Also said Phokylides “a well-governed city built on the edge of the cliff is stronger than crazy Nineveh.” As Phokylides of Miletos said, Sillyon is the Nineveh of Pamphylia with its naturally sheltered structure, unique urban design and strong defense system.

 

Arrianus

“Alexander left some troops in Side and moved towards Sillyon. This was a fortified place defended by a force made up of foreign mercenaries and locals. Sillyon was unlikely to be captured quickly by a sudden attack. In addition, on the way, news reached that the Aspendians did not want to fulfil any articles of the treaty, that they did not give horses and tribute; on the contrary, they moved everything from the villages to the city and did not let Alexanders’ soldiers into the city, and even tried to repair the damaged walls of the city. And this news forced Alexander to move towards Aspendos”.

 

St. Andreas Salos, 

 

“Sillyon will be sought after, never captured or seized.”

 

Evliya Chelebi 

“It was built by the emperor and it was conquered by the Franks. Then it was conquered by Sultan Keyhusrev and then by Orhan Gazi. It is the specialty of the tekke pasha. It is a Gaza with seventy villages and then income of 150 akces. The citadel castle is four cornered and rectangular. And behind it is the environ. There is no ditch. There are about seventy eighty houses of Turkmens. After visiting of this site, we continued to southward through mountains and forests”.

 

 

The people of Sillyon successfully built their city on a rugged rocky area and they have always contributed to the developing civilization in the fertile plains of Pamphylia. They were not satisfied with that either, by spreading over a wide area from the Taurus down to the Mediterranean, they both cultivated the land and lived the sea on the coastline. When the time came, they stood up to the bandits raiding from the mountains and they exported their own products by sea trade to the countries they had never seen. Who lived here – a foreign Persian soldier, Megaleis who fought heroically for his city, philanthropist Menodora, Martyr Saint Tribimis, Echimos who stood on fortification wall swinging swords without fear, castle commander Hamza Bey, and Düriye, the modern heir of the city... They all walked the rock-cut streets and from the Acropolis they watched the vast Mediterranean and the impenetrable Taurus Mountains. On a hot summer day, they drenched their thirst from their fountains and watched the threshing floors.

 

 

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https://www.pau.edu.tr/sillyon/tr, The official website of the Sillyon Excavations and Researches.

 

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