OIOANDA
THE CITY OF DIOGENES
OENOANDA
Ancient Lycian City
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Oenoanda or Oinoanda (Hittite: Wiyanawanda) was a Lycian city, in the upper valley of the River Xanthus. the first mention of the city is on Hittita inscriptions as Wiyanawanda. In the Hittite language ''wiyana'' means wine. So, The place name suggests that it was known for viticulture. In the Hittite cuneiform writings, it is stated that this was a region of the Land of Lukka during their campaign against Xanthos.
It is noted for the philosophical inscription by the Epicurean, Diogenes of Oenoanda.
The ruins of the city lie on a high isolated site west of the modern village Ä°ncealiler in the Fethiye district of MuÄŸla Province, Turkey, which partly overlies the ancient site.
Category: Ancient City
Civilisation: Lycian
Outdoor Tracking Route
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The early history of the settlement is obscure, in spite of an exploratory survey carried out, with permission of the Turkish authorities, by the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) in 1974–76.
It seems that Oenoanda became a colony of Termessos about 200-190 BC and was also called Termessos Minor (or Termessos i pros Oinoanda). Oenoanda was the most southerly of the Kibyran Tetrapolis.
Diogenes, a rich and influential citizen of Oenoanda, had a summary of the philosophy of Epicurus carved onto a portico wall of the stoa showing the inhabitants the road to happiness. The inscription is one of the most important sources for the philosophical school of Epicurus and sets out his teachings on physics, epistemology, and ethics. It was originally about 25,000 words and 80 m long and filled 260 m2 of wall space. The inscription has been assigned on epigraphic grounds to the Hadrianic period, 117–138.The stoa was dismantled in the second half of the third century to extend the defensive wall.
Diogenes of Oenoanda was an Epicurean Greek from the 2nd century AD who carved a summary of the philosophy of Epicurus onto a portico wall in the ancient Greek city of Oenoanda in Lycia. The surviving fragments of the wall, originally extended about 80 meters, form an important source of Epicurean philosophy. The inscription, written in Greek, sets out Epicurus' teachings on physics, epistemology, and ethics. It was originally about 25,000 words long and filled 260 square meters of wall space. Less than a third of it has been recovered.
Theaatre of Olympos
Nothing is known about the life of Diogenes apart from the limited information he reveals to us. The inscription itself, which had been dated to the late 2nd century, has now been assigned on epigraphic grounds to the Hadrianic period, 117–138 AD. Diogenes was wealthy enough to acquire a large tract of land in the city of Oenoanda to construct (or possibly buy) a piazza to display his inscription. As a man who had found peace by practicing the doctrines of Epicurus, he tells us that in his old age he was motivated "to help also those who come after us" and "to place therefore the remedies of salvation by means of this porch
The city walls are well preserved and stand to 10m in places. The Hellenistic city wall is over 65m long and is a superb example of polygonal masonry with small stones on the interior faces while large ashlars were used for the imposing exterior faces.
Part of an aqueduct can be seen in terms of stone pipe sections from a siphon.
Evidence for an ancient Roman Bridge at Oinoanda surfaced in the 1990s.
Official excavations at the site started only in 1997.New archaeological work was started in 2009 by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.
By 2012 over 300 fragments of Diogenes' stoa had been identified, varying in size from a few letters to passages of several sentences covering more than one block.
Remains of a screw wine press were also discovered in a house which could prove that the activity suggested in the place name continued to be practised into the late history of the city.
