It is thought that the Lycian prince Pericles, who opened war against the Persian administration and Greek colonies in the area with the aim of establishing a Lycian federation, selected Limyra as his capital around 380 B.C. In recent years German archaeological excavations have uncovered a magnificent heroon of Pericles.

Coins of the League type minted by Limyra provide evidence that it had become an autonomous city with membership in the Lycian League, by the second century B.C.

Limyra followed the mainstream of Lycia's history, coming under Roman domination in the first century B.C. and undoubtedly reaching its height during the Pax Romana.

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Pliny explains that, in Limyra there was an oracular spring whose fish answered questions about the future. If the fish ate when food was thrown to them, the oracle was favourable, but it they flicked their tails and swam away, the reply was adverse.

Another interesting conclusion that can be made from inscriptions is that, in Limyra, counter to Lycian tradition as a whole, Zeus must have been worshipped on a large scale, and events like festivals and races were arranged in his name.

The ruins of Limyra are spread out across a plain and the surrounding rocky slopes, which widen like triangles as they descend southward from the hills of Mount Tocak. The first building one encounters here, just at the foot of the hill, is a theatre of medium size in a good state of preservation. Its cavea, divided in two by a diazoma, has sixteen tiers of seats below and more than sixteen above, though the exact number has not been firmly fixed. At the ends of these tiers are vaulted galleries, typically Roman in character, that take the form of semicircles which open onto the diazoma. The real entrances to the vaults are located on both sides of the diazoma. The stage building is too ruined to provide any idea of its original appearance. Limyra's theatre must have ben damaged in the major earthquake that occured in 141 A.D., since after the quake it was rebuilt with 20.000 denarii in aid from one Opramoas of Rhodiapolis.

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Side by side on a level area to the south of the theatre are two separate settlement sites, almost like separate fortresses, each surrounded by walls of a different period. In the western enclosure in the partially submerged cenotaph of Gaius Caesar, Iying, north-east of a temple. Gaius Caesar, the adopted heir of Augustus, was wounded in the course of a battle he was waging in the east in 3 B.C. and died in Limyra on his way back to Rome. Because of this a tomb was erected in his memory here. Tower-like in form, it reflects the architectural character of its time. Unfortunately, very little of this cenotaph has survived to the present day. It was almost totally destroyed when fortification walls were constructed on top of it during the Byzantine period. The eastern walled enclosure is entered via a structure which can be seen.

Limyra, sor far as the variety of its tombs is concerned, is one of the foremost cities in Lycia. The stone tombs and sarcophagi scattered in several groups mostly on the slopes of Mount Tocak, are among the best known works of Lycian art. One of the most outstanding of these is the Xntabura Sarcophagus immediately north-east of the theatre. This is a three-part tomb consisting of a high base, on top of which is the polygonal body of the sarcophagus covered with a gothic type rounded lid. Two opposing sphinxes are depicted on the facade of the lid and a sacrifice scene on the hyposoriun. These characteristics date the sarcophagus to the fourth century B.C. In the eastern and western necropoli, the majority of tombs are inscribed in Lyican and are made in the form of  houses or lonic temple facades that show traces of Greek architecture.

Other of Limyra's ruins are situated in the acropolis at an elevation of 200-300 metres up the slopes of Mount Tocak. In the acropolis, which consists of a keep and the Byzantine church, is a fourth century B.C. heroon built in the name of Prince Pericles. The upper portion, which is almost totally destroyed, has been partially repaired with sculptural and architectural fragments excavated among the tombs. One tomb, built on a terrace carved from the living rock, is similar in plan to the memorial erected to the Xanthos Nereids. Friezes on the east and west faces of the 3.40 metre-high hyposorium, show crowded scenes of men going to war on foot, on horseback, and in chariots. The real upper building, in addition to being in the form of an amphiprostyle temple, employs four caryatids in place of the columns seen on the north and south sides. The caryatids, standing on the base, support the architrave with their heads. The figure of a running woman appears on each corner of the north acroterium of the pediment, which was found in excavations of the heroon; at the centre is Perseus, holding the Gorgon's head in his right hand. These sculptures of the acroterium are now in the Antalya Museum.

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