Lydai
Site in Lycia, on the promontory of Kapi Daği, on the W side of the gulf of Fethiye. The name Lydai is abundantly proved by inscriptions found on the spot, although the city is mentioned only by Ptolemy (with variant Chydae) and in the Stadiasmus (where it is assigned to Caria) in the form Clydae. A silver coin of the 4th c. B.C. inscribed ΛΥhas been ascribed to Lydai, but this is doubtful; otherwise there is no coinage.
The site is approached from the shore on the E by an ancient paved road still surviving in part. The extant ruins, of Roman and Byzantine date, lie in a valley running N-S in the center of the headland; on the acropolis hill, at the S end, is a small fort. A late wall bars the isthmus on the N, but there is no city wall. The site of the agora is recognizable, and on the hillside to the W the hollow of a theater is visible, though of the building itself nothing remains. Otherwise the ruins consist almost entirely of tombs, including a number of large and handsome mausoleums, fairly well preserved; there is one tomb of Lycian type. The N part of the site, according to inscriptions, constituted the deme of Arymaxa.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Bent, JHS 9 (1888) 83ff; 10 (1889) 51ff; TAM II, 1 (1920) 41, 49; P. Roos, Opuscula Atheniensia 9 (1969) 75-83.
G. E. BEAN