The ruins of Xanthos occupy a hilltop above the Xanthos River valley. The site contains some of the finest surviving Lycian pillar tombs — tall stone pillars topped with tomb chambers carved to imitate wooden house fronts — as well as a Roman theatre, a Byzantine basilica, and the Harpy Tomb, whose reliefs (now in the British Museum) were among the most extraordinary in the ancient world. The acropolis gives views across the river plain to the Lycian mountains.
Xanthos Ruins
A story
When the Persian general Harpagus besieged Xanthos in 546 BCE, the Xanthian defenders — seeing defeat was inevitable — gathered their women, children, and valuables into the acropolis, set it on fire, and then sallied out to die fighting. The entire population perished. The city was repopulated by 80 families who happened to be away at the time. The same thing happened again when Brutus besieged the city in 42 BCE.