Trysa, eine zentrallykische Niederlassung im Wandel der Zeit

The aim of this study is the presentation and the analysis of the ruins of Trysa, an archaeological site in Central Lycia. Resulting from an analytical survey of the monuments, the work is intended to suggest the broad lines of development and to reconstruct the history of the site, from its origins as the seat of a dynastic ruler, to its development to a rural agglomeration on the territory of the polis Kyaneai, through ist decline in the middle byzantine period and its final abandonment. Central to the proposals are questions of settlement structure and settlement development; special importance is given to the dynastic residence, which was built in the early fourth century according to a masterplan. Furthermore important monuments of Trysa are used as departure points for studies of their respective monument types, specifically the so-called pillar tombs of the archaic period; the fortifications; the Lycian palatial architecture and its relation to the Anatolian surroundings and the representation of sacrifice in the citadel. Questions will also be raised concerning the architectonic reconstruction of the Heroon. A. short chapter discusses the historical context of the foundation of the dynastic settlement, and problems of the hellenisation of Lycia. As a result of the analytic discussion of the pictorial representation of the sacrifice of a bull in the citadel, aspects of the political person of the dynastic ruler of Trysa are better understood. The systematic resumption of the scientific discussion of the pillar tombs of the archaic period have clarified their autochthonous character and led to an approach towards both a relative and an absolute chronology. On the basis of an architectural inventory of the blocks of the heroon and of the tombs in its vicinity, a reconstruction of a two-storeyed house-tomb can be proposed. New light is also shed on the pictorial program of the heroon. Considerations of the typological classification and cultic function of the monument allow an approach to the questions of the typological origin of the tomb and of aspects of the funerary cult practised in classical Lycia.