Editing Myra (section)

== History ==
[[File:Myra_Rock_Tombs.jpg|thumb|left|Rock-cut tombs in Myra]]
[[File:Myra Tombs Temples.jpg|thumb|left|Rock-cut tombs in Myra]]
Although some scholars equate Myra with the town, of Mira, in [[Arzawa]], there is no proof for the connection.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} There is no substantiated written reference for Myra before it was listed as a member of the [[Lycia#Lycian League|Lycian League]] (168 BC–AD 43); according to [[Strabo]] (14:665), it was one of the largest towns of the alliance.

The ancient Lycian citizens worshiped [[Artemis]] Eleutheria, who was the protective goddess of the town. [[Zeus]], [[Athena]] and [[Tyche]] were venerated as well. <ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.worldhistory.org/lycia/| title = Lycia}}</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] writes that in Myra there was the spring of [[Apollo]] called Curium and when summoned three times by the pipe the fishes come to give oracular responses.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://topostext.org/work/153#32.8.1| title = Pliny the Elder, Natural History, §32.8.1}}</ref> In the Roman period, Myra formed a part of the [[Koine Greek|Greek]] speaking world that rapidly embraced Christianity. One of its early Lycian bishops was [[Saint Nicholas]].

Alluvial silts mostly cover the ruins of the Lycian and Roman towns. The [[acropolis]] on the Demre-plateau, the [[Roman theatre (structure)|Roman theatre]] and the [[Roman baths]] (''eski hamam'') have been partly excavated. The semi-circular theatre was destroyed in an [[141 Lycia earthquake|earthquake in 141]], but rebuilt afterward.

There are two [[necropolis|necropoleis]] of [[Lycia]]n [[rock-cut tombs]] in the form of temple fronts carved into the vertical faces of cliffs at Myra: the river necropolis and the ocean necropolis. The ocean necropolis is just northwest of the theatre. The best-known tomb in the river necropolis, {{convert|1.5|km|abbr=on}} up the Demre Cayi from the theatre, is the "Lion's tomb", also called the "Painted Tomb". When the traveler [[Charles Fellows]] saw the tombs in 1840 he found them still colorfully painted red, yellow and blue.

[[File:Lycian tomb relief at Myra 4th century BCE.jpg|thumb|Lycian tomb relief at Myra, 4th century BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fant |first1=Clyde E. |last2=Reddish |first2=Mitchell G. |title=A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199881451 |page=485 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPDXFPxKBzIC&pg=PT485 |language=en}}</ref>]]
[[Andriaca|Andriake]] was the harbor of Myra in ancient times, but silted up later on. The main structure there surviving to the present day is a granary ([[horrea]]) built during the reign of the Roman emperor [[Hadrian]] (117–138 AD). Beside this granary is a large heap of ''Murex'' shells, evidence that Andriake had an ongoing operation to produce purple dye.<ref>Gerhard Forstenpointer, et al., "Purple-Dye Production in Lycia – Results of an Archaeozoological Field Survey in Andriake (South-west Turkey)." ''Oxford Journal of Archaeology'' 26, 2 (2007):201–214.</ref>

Excavations have been carried out at Andriake since 2009. The granary was turned into the Museum of Lycian Civilizations. The granary has seven rooms and measures 56 meters long and 32 meters wide. Artifacts found during the excavations in the [[Lycia#Lycian League|Lycian League]] were placed in the museum. The structures in the harbor market as well as the agora, synagogue, and a six-meter deep, 24-meter long and 12-meter wide cistern were restored. A 16-meter-long Roman-era boat, a crane, and a cargo car were placed in front of the museum.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/andriake-opens-partially-to-visits-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=83721&NewsCatID=375| title = ''Andriake opens partially to visits''| date = 9 June 2015}}</ref>

In 1923, its Greek inhabitants was required to leave by the [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]], at which time its church was finally abandoned.

=== Mentions in New Testament ===

The author of the [[Acts of the Apostles]] (probably [[Luke the Evangelist]]){{sfn|Charlesworth|2008|p=no page numbers}}{{sfn|Burkett|2002|p=195}} and [[Paul the Apostle]] changed ships here during their journey from [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] to [[Rome, Italy|Rome]] for Paul's trial, arriving in a [[coastal trading vessel]] and changing to a sea-faring [[skiff]] secured by the Roman centurion responsible for Paul's transportation to Rome.<ref>Acts 27:5–6</ref>

=== Bishopric ===
[[File:Mira_divadlo_2_-_panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|Ancient theatre of Myra]]
[[File:Carved theatrical mask Myra (32387362710).jpg|thumb|left|Stone faces in Myra]]
[[File:Coloured reliefs at Myra.jpg|thumb|Coloured reliefs at Myra]]

The ''[[Acta Pauli]]'' probably testify to the existence of a Christian community at Myra in the 2nd century.<ref>Harnack, ''Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums'', 465, 487 (cited by Salaviel)</ref> [[Le Quien]] opens his list of the bishops of this city with [[St. Nicander]], martyred under [[Domitian]] in 95, who, according to the Greek [[Menologion]], was ordained bishop by [[Saint Titus]]. In 325, Lycia again became a [[Roman province]] distinct from that of [[Pamphylia]], with Myra as its capital. Ecclesiastically, it thus became the [[metropolitan see]] of the province. The bishop of Myra at that time was [[Saint Nicholas]]. The 6th-century ''Index'' of [[Theodorus Lector]] is the first document that lists him among the fathers of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] in 325.<ref>[[Heinrich Gelzer]], ''Patrum Nicaenorum nomina'', 67, n. 161 (cited by Salaviel)</ref> Many other bishops of Myra are named in extant documents, including Petrus, the author of theological works in defence of the [[Council of Chalcedon]] quoted by Saint [[Sophronius of Jerusalem]] and by [[Photius]] (''Bibliotheca'', Codex 23). Theodorus and Nicolaus were both at the [[Second Council of Nicaea]] in 787, the former recanting his previous [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclast]] position, the latter being the orthodox bishop whom the iconoclasts had expelled. The ''[[Notitia Episcopatuum]]'' of Pseudo-Epiphanius, composed in about 640 under the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Heraclius]], reports that Myra at that time had 36 [[suffragan see]]s. The early 10th-century ''Notitia'' attributed to Emperor [[Leo VI the Wise]] lists only 33.<ref>{{Oriens Christianus|volume=1|at=cols. 965–970}}</ref><ref>Sévérien Salaville, [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10661a.htm v. "Myra"] in ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', vol. X, New York 1911</ref><ref>Pius Bonifacius Gams, [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae''], Leipzig 1931, p.&nbsp;449</ref>

Myra is today listed by the [[Catholic Church]] as a [[titular see]] both in the [[Latin Church]] and as a bishopric of the [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church]] in particular. Latin bishops are no longer appointed to this see, though Melkite bishops are.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 931</ref>

=== Arab and Turkic invasions ===
[[File:St._Nicholas_Church,_Demre_5922.jpg|thumb|[[St. Nicholas Church, Demre]] in Myra]]

Myra was besieged and sacked by [[Abbasid invasion of Asia Minor (806)|Abbasid]] troops in 809, but soon return to Roman control. Early in the reign of emperor [[Alexius I Comnenus]] (ruled between 1081 and 1118), Myra was once more overtaken by Islamic invaders, this time the [[Seljuk Turks]]. Sailors from [[Bari]], itself a former Roman possession in Italy that had only recently being [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|conquered by Normans]], exploited the situation and [[Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari|stole the relics of Saint Nicholas]] taking them to Bari. <ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Nicholas| title = St. Nicholas: bishop of Myra}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.vaticannews.va/en/saints/12/06/saint-nicholas-of-bari--bishop-of-myra.html| title = St. Nicholas of Bari, Bishop of Myra}}</ref>

The city was brought back once more under Roman control during the [[Komnenian restoration]], before it was eventually lost at some point after the [[Fourth Crusade]].