Existing records and remains indicate that Olympos was founded in Hellenistic times, and that its people were of an ethnic make-up different from that of the Lycians. The oldest record we have of the city is its League coinage dating to the secont century B. C. While Olympos was an important city, having won the title of metropolis around the beginning of the first century B.C., the captain of the Cilician pirates, Zeniketes, who had taken control of the area, captured Olympos and used it as a base. After a war that lasted four years, one Servilius Vatia, who in 78 B.C. assumed responsibility for eradicating the pirates from the area, having surrounded the castle with Zeniketes inside, put it to the torch. As punishment for their alliance with Zeniketes, Olympos and Phaselis were expelled from the Lycian League, made subject to the Cilician state, and their entire treasuries were confiscated.

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After half-an-hour's walk north-west of Olympos, one arrives at a hill about 300-400 metres in altitude. On top of it is a natural gas flame that has been burning for thousands of years. Described in some ancient sources as extraordinary and astounding, it is known today in the surrounding area as "Yanartaş" or "Burning stone". This unextinguishable flame is mentioned in Homer's epic poem The Iliad, as the spot where the heroic Bellerrophon killed the Chimaera, a firebreathing mythical beast with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and tail in the form of a serpent. The only trace the monster left on the face of the earth was his fiery breath, which has continued to spew forth its flame for centuries.

The most beautiful of Homer's myths about Lycia he told to Glaucos, and is summarized as follows:

One day the famous Corinthian hero Bellerophon saw a winged horse flying in the blue sky. This winged horse, after galloping to and fro across the sky, shot like a streak of lightning down to one of the high mountain peaks overlooking Corinth and quenched his thirst in its springs. Bellerophon, overcome with admiration when he saw the horse, wanted to catch it, but his efforts were useless. Known by the name of Pegasus, this divine steed would not even allow the hero to touch him. Wanting very much to capture this mysterious animal, Bellerophon went to the Temple of Athena on the advice of an oracle, and passed the night threre entreating the goddess of wisdom to help him in this difficult task. He saw Athena in his dream and she said, "Awaken, Bellerophon. To capture Pegasus I have brought you this golden bridle. With it you will soften the rebellious creature and will be able to mount him."
As soon as he caught sight of the golden bridle, Pegasus' bad temper disappeared and he became gentle as a lamb. Bellerophon, delirious with excitement, jumped onto the divine steed and together they rose into the heavens. From that day forward, Pegasus remained the inseparable friend of the young hero.
Terrible ordeals however, lay ahead for Bellerophon. At one point he killed his brother, and to purify himself of his sins he left the city of his birth, going to Protions, the king of Tirynthe. As soon as Anteia, the beautiful wife of the king, laid eyes on Bellerophon, whom the gods had generously endowed with courage and beauty, her heart caught fire and she became slave to an unquenchable passion for him, but for all her beauty, for all her wiles and sweet words, she was unable to steal the trustworthy Bellerophon's heart. The virtuous youth, not wanting to betray her husband, rejected each of the queen's advances. Because of this, Anteia, fabricating a malicious accusation against him, said to her husband, "Oh Poitos, either die or kill Bellerophon, for he is a proven enemy".
These words greatly angered the listening king -to have a guest killed would be an affront to the gods and would displease his subjects. For this reason the king wrote a letter and gave it to Bellerophon, bidding him take it to lobates, his father-in-law and the king of Lycia. Not knowing the situation he was in, Bellerophon set out immediately on the road to Lycia. On the bank of the river Xanthos the king welcomed him with great ceremony. The feast lasted nine days and nine nights. On the tenth day lobates requested the letter brought by his guest. Reading it, he learned that Proitos wanted the dissolute youth killed for indecently propositioning lobates' daughter, but how could he kill a guest whom he had entertained for ten days? lobates, wanting both to avenge his son-in law and to get out of murdering his guest, gave Bellerophon the task of battling the monster called Chimaera. No one had been able to rout this huge beast that was terrorizing all Lycia and scorching its earth. This lion-headed, goat-bodied, serpent-tailed creature, spewing flames from its mouth, set fire to anyone who came near it, igniting fields when it blew out its breath and reducing towns and villages to ashes.

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Bellerophon mounted Pegasus and soared aloft. When he met the Chimaera, he attacked it from the air, thrusting a long lead spear into its flame-throwing mouth. The lead melted from the heat, began to flow, and the terrible monster died. From that day to this the Chimaeira's fire has burned without cease in the hills of Olympos.
After this victory, lobates, still seeking Bellerophon's death, sent him to battle the Solymians, who lived in the vicinty of Termessos. Once again the youth returned victorious from his assignment. This time the king ordered him to battle the Amazons. When the dashing youth succeeded at this difficult task, too, lobates believed that Bellerophon had descended from the race of the gods and kept him in Lycia, making the youth his son-in-law.
Bellerophon, who up to this time had received the help of the gods, was carried away with pride at his accomplishments and tried to reach as far as the heights of Mount Olympos, but Zeus, resenting, the arrogance of the young man flying so happily into the sky on Pegasus' back, loosed a horsefly, to sting the winged steed. When the fly struck, Pegasus threw Bellerophon from his back into the void and continued on his way aloft. From then on the gods would no longer send the horse down to earth but shut him up in a tower.
Bellerophon himself fell back to earth. The famous hero who had vanquished the dread Chimaera now began to limp about with an air of exhaustion. As a result of his overweening pride at being such an important hero, he was cast into wretchedness, always grieving, always miserable. In the end he died alone in a corner like a nameless, unknown beggar.
Olympos was founded on the north and south sides of a valley formed by the Göksu River, which is born in the western hills and empties itself into the Mediterranean. The acropolis of the northern settlement is still quite covered with overgrowth, making it nearly impossible to distinguish and name the ruins hidden beneath. The most impressive building on the northern side as the cella door of a templum in antis in the lonic order, some 150 m. west of the river's mouth. On top of the door, which is 7.85 metres high, are two consoles. From an inscription on a statue base Iying in front of the door we learn that the temple was built during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.). North-east of the temple is a Byzantine bath consisting of a few compartments whose function is unknown.
In an effort to control the Göksu, which divided the city in two, the Olympos, laid high polygonal masonry walls on both sides of the river to form quays. In the Byzantine era a basilica was built on top of the southern quay, whose fine workmanship is of Hellenistic date. Further back are the remains of a colonnaded street 11 m. wide, Iying admidst the ruins of the buildings that once stood near it. To the south-east, in a spot near the sea, can be found the ruins of a four-chambered bath. Both the cavea, which is set into a natural slope, and the stage building of Olympos'theatre are in complete ruins. Vaulted paradoses and other remaining architectural elements date to Roman times. In the necropolis area, which stretches from the theatre up to the south-west end of the city, vaulted chamber tombs and sarcophagi predominate.

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