Attalus II’s port is now the world’s fourth-most visited city
Antalya, tourism capital of the Turkish Riviera beneath the Taurus Mountains, began as Attaleia around 200 BC under Pergamon’s Attalus II. Rome added monuments such as Hadrian’s Gate. Today only Istanbul, London, and Dubai draw more international visitors.
Attalus II of Pergamon is credited with founding Attaleia in the Hellenistic period, dated variously to about 200 or 150 BC, as a base for his strong navy. Digging in 2008 turned up remains from the third century BC, so he probably rebuilt and enlarged an existing town. The Greek name survives, while Turkish turned it into Adalia and then Antalya; despite the resemblance, it has nothing to do with the word Anatolia.
Rome inherited the city in 133 BC when Attalus III left his kingdom to it. Attaleia prospered within the province of Pamphylia Secunda, gained monuments such as Hadrian's Gate, and sat among thriving neighbours like Perga, Aspendos, Side, Xanthos and Termessos. Paul and Barnabas sailed from here to Antioch, according to Acts. Several mosques began as Byzantine churches, including the Kesik Minare, once a fifth-century church of the Virgin, and the museum keeps a casket of bones said to belong to St Nicholas of Myra.
Abbasid Arab fleets raided the coast. The Seljuks took the city in 1207 and the Ottomans in 1391, opening some five centuries of relative calm. Italy occupied it for three years after the First World War before it returned to Turkey during the War of Independence.
Mountains hem the city on every inland side, trapping moisture for wet winters, while the enclosed bay makes summers unusually hot for the coast. About 1.5 million people live in the city, and heavy development and state investment made it Turkey's largest international seaside resort, with more than 16.5 million foreign visitors in 2023.
Source: Antalya
