The Byzantine Period city wall from Tlos

With humans' adoption of a sedentary lifestyle, the need of defense emerged and continued for ages. Therefore, the defense architecture had gone through several phases and developed continiously. In time, parallel to the evolving of the social structure of the society, the technique and material of defense architecture changed. As in other ancient cities, one of the indispensable conditions in Tlos ancient city was the city wall which was encircling acropolis. While the city walls protected the city against the dangers coming from the outside, they became the indicator of the city's power. There is detailed information about the city walls of the ancient cities in Anatolia. The city wall architecture which emerged in the Chalcolithic period, can be followed through different settlements until the Byzantine period. It is also known that ancient writers mentioned the city walls of some ancient cities. The earliest known city walls from the ancient city of Tlos are the city walls surrounding the Classical Period dynastic palace settlement on the acropolis elevation that limits the city center to the west. In the new urbanism conception created with the Hellenistic Period, the city was moved out of the acropolis and placed around the agora on the plain and shaped by other public buildings. Even during the Roman period, the existing plan continued to be used with a few additions. However, the ancient city of Tlos was not surrounded by walls either during the Hellenistic period or during the Roman period. As in other settlements from the early Byzantine period, the pagan settlement was also abandoned in Tlos and a new settlement was established on the southern slope of the acropolis. This residential area was surrounded by the city walls starting from the diazoma level of the stadium to the east. This residential area was surrounded by the city walls which were starting from the level of diazoma of the stadium in eastern direction. The fortification of the eastern part of the city walls was stronger than the others. The reason was the entrance of the new settlement area which was in the east direction of the acropolis. The city walls which were built in the other direction were kept more simple in relation to the rugged topographic structure of the land. This situation was reflected also in the material used in the construction of the city walls. The city walls in the eastern direction were mostly formed by spolia material obtained from pagan structures. In the city walls built into the other direction, the use of rubble was more preferred. It was documented that the city walls, which were built for the first time in the Early Byzantine Period, were used until the Middle Byzantine Period with repaired attachments. Within the scope of this thesis, the city walls of the Early Byzantine Period of Tlos were examined in terms of materials, architecture, technique and workmanship. Keywords: Lycian Region, Tlos Ancient City, Byzantine Period, City Walls