Byzantine monasteries above Demre.

The Byzantine monasteries above Demre have always been something of a mystery. How did so many monasteries of such quality construction manage to exist in such a small area? Who funded and endowed them? Where did the monks come from? The question is to some extent answered in the hagiography of St Nicholas of Sion, (The life of St Nicholas of Sion, Ihor and Nancy Sevcenko, Hellenic College Press 1984), written by a monk at the main monastery. He describes the founding of the parent monastery and the journeys of St Nicholas around the various sub-monasteries which grew up in a remarkably short time around it.

Although the work describes St Nicholas’ journeys to Egypt and Palestine, for the purpose of recruiting masons for his building works, it does not describe his links to the monasteries of Egypt and Palestine which inspired and possibly funded his works.

There was no doubt that at the time of their construction, these impressive churches far outstripped the diocese church at Myra. The work also describes conflict between the archbishop at Myra and Abbot Nicholas – at one point Nicholas was accused of withholding supplied urgently needed by the plague-stricken city of Myra, and a small military force sent to arrest him.

Examining the ruins of the area, one can see how settlements spread out from the coast at Myra, via the route over Turant Dağ, the Gavur Yolu and the route from the dalyan to Belos. First small forts marked these routes, with some settlements and graves. The most northerly Lycian graves can be found only short distances from the Demre valley and these roads. However, the churches and later fortifications follow a different pattern, radiating from the parent church at Karabel along a route network which descended the steep side of the Demre valley via not only the above routes, but also at least three other roads. Some of these routes were in use by Yoruks and their camels until quite recently; we have now opened them up and mapped them and the ruins (including chapels) along them. The gradients and width of these routes, plus the frequency of wells along them, indicate the type and number of users.

This seems to indicate that Nicholas and his successors and supporters had control over a wide area south of Alacadağ and north of the Demre Çay, and extending east towards Fethiye. We look forward to further research revealing the exact doctrines of these monasteries, exploring their links to Egypt and Palestine and even hypotheses over their funding and support. Certainly they seem to have rivaled the official church hierarchy (which represented the Emperor) at Myra.

So currently academic work on written sources continues in parallel with field surveys which continue to identify ‘new’ churches and chapels, castles and forts. Surely this area should be the subject of an interdisciplinary conference? and following that, some serious conservation work?