The Ruins of Oenoanda [7:58]

YouTube ^ | August 7, 2026 | Scenic Routes to the Past (Garrett Ryan, Ph.D)

[SunkenCiv]

The remote ruins of Oenoanda, home of the famous Epicurean inscription of Diogenes. Scenic Routes to the Past explores the remote Hellenistic ruins of Oenoanda in northern Lycia. The site features an impressive Roman aqueduct, extensive defensive walls, and the remnants of an agora once home to one of the ancient world's longest philosophical inscriptions, which remains a focus of ongoing archaeological study. 

The Ruins of Oenoanda | 7:58 
Scenic Routes to the Past | 61.7K subscribers | 25,713 views | August 7, 2026

[SunkenCiv]

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Aqueduct
1:35 Walls
3:35 Necropolis
4:15 Agora
4:40 Diogenes Inscription
6:03 Church and houses
6:48 Theater

---

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai *may* follow.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

from the FRchives, the Oenoanda amd Lycia/n/s keywords, sorted:

• Phaselis: Between Mountains and Sea [7:11] [10/03/2026]
• The Tombs of Sidyma [6:48] [09/05/2026]
• Andriake: Lost Roman Harbor Almost Untouched for 2,000 Years [21:47] [09/01/2026]
• The Mysterious Tombs of Xanthos [8:44] [08/10/2026]
• Researchers identify 31 letters in ancient Sidetic language [06/24/2026]
• Gortyn: Metropolis of Roman Crete [9:35] [04/03/2026]
• Turkey's Island of 400 Ancient Shipwrecks | The SpeciaList | BBC [4:04] [12/27/2025]
• Newly Discovered Mosaics Reflect Early Christian History of Olympos [06/27/2025]
• The mysterious cities of the dead carved into the sides of cliffs [01/19/2025]
• Was St. Nicholas a Real Person? [12/24/2024]
• 1900 years old a Customs Inscription from the Lycian civilization reveals Anatolia's strategic importance in maritime trade [09/15/2023]
• What Happened to the Wealth of Crassus? [02/27/2023]
• Archaeologists discover second Lycian synagogue [10/06/2012]
• In the footsteps of the Bronze Men [ the Carians in Egypt ] [04/06/2010]
• "King's" villas cause outrage [Caria, in modern Turkey] [05/17/2008]
• On a mission to explore deepest Lycia Where Greek language has left its mark [12/30/2005]
• A Congress, Buried in Turkey's Sand [09/21/2005]
• Lycian Influence To The Indian Cave Temples [07/11/2005]
• 50 Ancient Tombs Uncovered (1400BC, Crete) [07/18/2004]

[SunkenCiv]

[Adder]

That theater looks a mess. Folks would probably like it better if there weren’t so many trees blocking their view...

[Nateman]

A famous meeting between Alexander the Great and the philosopher Diogenes of Sinope took place around 336 BCE in Corinth.

Alexander approached Diogenes while the philosopher was lying out in the morning sun. Alexander stood over him, surrounded by his royal retinue, and offered to grant Diogenes any wish or favor he desired.

Diogenes, unbothered by the king of Macedon, famously asked Alexander: "Stand a little out of my sun" (or “Stand out of my light”), because Alexander's body was casting a shadow over him.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, out in the middle of nowhere, a steep climb up, no present day park, just 2500 year old ruins out in the open getting weathered away. It’s fun to think of the construction project and daily life after construction. Why there?

[Red Badger]

I’d like to buy a few consonants, Pat..................

[SunkenCiv]

😁 Construction sites often got picked (and still do) for how the view will be. These ancient towns needed a water supply, probably how they got started in the first place.

Most of the current human population probably lives below 1000 ft above sealevel, because that’s where the water is, and moving goods still relies rather heavily on watercraft.

Having a defensible position wasn’t a bad idea either. Even in prehistoric times it appears they were untroubled by the need to haul building materials uphill.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Imagine the armies of men to haul all that stone and the stone cutters needed to shape it, the masons to fit it all together. You need whole temporary construction “boom” towns to house all the workers; food supply (stone masonry requires lots of calories); sanitation. Sometimes the designers and workers had life-long work. Or many of workers had to find the next job to move to. The logistics, supply chains, and labor are all amazing.

I was marveling at the same thing when we toured ancient castles in the Rhineland in August.

[SunkenCiv]

They probably didn’t need lots of men, may have used boulders which were around the site, or quarried from the site itself. Looks like very little work has been done up there, judging by the lack of a snack bar. 😁

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, at least there’s no popcorn to clean up.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Yeah, no snack bar, t-shirts, no parking lot, no people. So remote and unspoiled!

[Sawdring]

The same polygonal masonry as in Greece, Japan, Peru, Easter Island, Portugal, Spain and Egypt. There are distinct styles and it is fascinating to try to understand how, when and why they were made. The Well of Santa Cristina is a great example of precision polygonal masonry that is claimed to be that of the Nuragic people.

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] These then are the Ionian cities... Now these Phocaians were the first of the Hellenes who made long voyages, and these are they who discovered the Adriatic and Tyrsenia and Iberia and Tartessos: and they made voyages not in round ships, but in vessels of fifty oars. These came to Tartessos and became friends with the king of the Tartessians whose name was Arganthonios: he was ruler of the Tartessians for eighty years and lived in all one hundred and twenty. With this man, I say, the Phocaians became so exceedingly friendly, that first he bade them leave Ionia and dwell wherever they desired in his own land; and as he did not prevail upon the Phocaians to do this, afterwards, hearing from them of the Mede how his power was increasing, he gave them money to build a wall about their city: and he did this without sparing, for the circuit of the wall is many furlongs 163 in extent, and it is built all of large stones closely fitted together. [/snip]

• The History of Herodotus: Book I, Called Clio | Translated Into English by G. C. Macaulay