Page 32 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

According to the legend, Lycia the beautiful nymph girl of
Xanthos, and the god Apollo fall in love with each other. From
this union, a boy is born, who will one day establish the city of
Patara. So much so that they named this child Pataros. One day,
Pataros grows up and establishes the beautiful city of Patara in
Lycia, where Apollo was worshiped as the chief god of the city
under the name Patroos (Bönish-Meyer, 2019).
In another myth, this time Apollon and Lycia’s son Ikadios
founded the great city of Patara. He even establishes the whole
region before hand and calls it Lycia after his mother’s name.
Afterwards, he had a large temple built in the city which he ded-
icated to Apollo, and turned the city he founded into a center of
prophecy. Ikadios refers to Apollon Patroos, the god of fathers,
as Apollo in the altar inscriptions where he places him in the
temple. This is where Patara gets its name from in this legend.
So much so that Ikadios wants to take the cult of Apollo, which
he established in Patara for the first time, to other countries.
Thereupon, the ship of Ikadios, which was on its way to Italy,
sinks in a great storm. However, he was so fortunate, he was
saved by a dolphin that took him to the foot of Mount Parnassos.
Thereupon, Ikadios founds a city here, which will later become
a great Apollon prophecy center, is called Delphi by commem-
orating the dolphin fish (Bönish-Meyer, 2019).
According to another myth about Apollo; One day, a young
girl from Salakia set out for the place where the city of Patara is
located today to present her offerings in a small chest to God
Apollo. However, the path of the young girl is quite long and
what happens when the young girl who is tired of this long jour-
ney wants to rest for a while and stops. As soon as the young girl
puts her chest, which contains arrows, lyre and bow-shaped bis-
cuits, which resemble children’s toys, a strong wind hurls it into
the sea. The young girl, who was very upset when the votives
she had prepared for the god Apollo suddenly disappeared, ran
towards her home crying. However, such a thing happens that
the chest flying into the sea is caught in the current and reaches
the country of Lycia (Bönish-Meyer, 2019).

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