According to a legend told by the ancient poet Ovidius, the Goddess Leto, who became pregnant by Zeus, after giving birth to her twin children Artemis and Apollo in Delos, came to the place where the Xanthos river reaches the sea and walked along the river until she reached the spring where the Temple of Leto is located today. The goddess, who desired to bathe her children in the spring but was prevented by the local population, became enraged and transformed them into frogs. The foundation of Letoon is based on this mythology. According to the findings of the excavations conducted at the Letoon ruins for a period of 30 years, the initial settlement is believed to have been established in the 7th century BC. The ruins and inscriptions found here demonstrate that Letoon was a political and religious centre during the Lycian union period. There are three temples arranged in a linear configuration in the ancient city centre. The westernmost of these is in the Ionian order and is dedicated to the Mother Goddess Leto. The smaller temple in the centre is dedicated to Artemis, while the easternmost temple is dedicated to the God Apollo. The mosaic panel in the centre of the Temple of Apollo, known as the Apollo Mosaic, is on display in the Fethiye Museum. The "Trilingual Inscription" found in the Hellenistic Period dumping near the Temple of Apollo and written in three different languages, Lycian, Aramaic and Greek, played an important role in deciphering the Lycian language. To the south-west of the temples, there is a fountain building dedicated to the cult of the Nymphe and a church belonging to the Early Christian Period located on the eastern edge of this fountain. Among the other ruins worthy of note are a stoa and a Hellenistic Period theatre.
FETHİYE LETOON ANCIENT CITY
