Fethiye Museum

Fethiye Museum is a museum located in the district of Fethiye in Muğla Province. The museum, which exhibits archaeological artifacts and findings coming from Dalaman, Fethiye, Ortaca, Köyceğiz and Seydikemer, began operating in 1962. Fethiye Museum consists of two main halls and the displayed items are arranged chronologically. The items cover the period from 3000 BC to the Late Ottoman Period. The archaeological sites located around Fethiye are affiliated with Fethiye Museum.

History

The museum was first created with items collected from the area around the town that was rebuilt after the 1957 earthquake through the initiatives of district governor Recep Ceylan. Fethiye Museum, which started operating in 1962 as an open‑air museum in front of the Telmessos Theatre, was moved in 1987 to its present location in Kesikkapı.

Collections

Fethiye Museum houses historical artifacts covering a wide period from 3000 BC to the Late Ottoman Period. The items are arranged chronologically. The great majority of the items in the two main halls of Fethiye Museum are ceramics. The museum contains monuments and inscribed objects such as the Izraza Monument, the Bilingual Inscription (Carian and Greek) and the Trilingual Inscription (Lycian, Greek and Aramaic).

The museum contains dedication steles depicting the Dioscuri and a Goddess, which were worshipped in most regions of the Roman Empire, and these steles were found in the vicinity of Telmessos. Some steles that were brought in through purchase are made of limestone from Telmessos. These dedication steles are frequently encountered in northern, north‑western and western Lycia. The Dioscuri and Goddess depictions seen on the Sidamara Ladi and Perge Dioscuri displayed at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum are dated to the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD and reflect imperial art. The steles in Fethiye Museum, however, reflect more folk art. The letters omega, sigma and epsilon seen on the dedication steles in Fethiye Museum indicate that these steles may have been made between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.

The museum also has two dedication steles belonging to Kakasbos (considered the equivalent of Heracles). These steles were purchased and brought to the museum. The limestone Kakasbos steles are dated to the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD and are evaluated within a cultural group with local characteristics specific to northern‑northwestern Lycia and Pisidia.

In the museum there are relief altars excavated from the Fethiye Yayla region. These altars, belonging to the rural art tradition of the Roman Period, have a goddess relief on their front side. A study published in 2018 determined that these unnamed goddess reliefs belong to Artemis, known in the region generally as Lagbene, Kynegetis, Eleuthera.

Affiliated units

Many archaeological sites around Fethiye are affiliated with Fethiye Museum. Gemiler Island, Amintas, Kayaköy, Letoon, Pınara, Tlos and Kaunos regions are units attached to Fethiye Museum.