APERLAI
(Siçak Iskelesi, formerly Avasari) Turkey.
Town in Lycia 14.4 km E-SE of Kaş mentioned
first by Pliny, then by Ptolemy, Hierokles, in the
Stadiasmus and in inscriptions. Some 5th c. silver coins inscribed APR or PRL in Lycian are probably to be ascribed to Aperlai, as are coins of League type inscribed
ΑΠ. In Imperial times (but probably not earlier, see Apollonia)
Aperlai was at the head of a sympolity including Simena,
Isinda, and Apollonia, and citizens of those cities are
described, for example, as Aperlite from Simena. There
is also a scanty coinage of Gordian III. In the bishopric
lists the city's name appears as Aprillae.
The ruins are on a low hill by the shore at the head
of a deep bay. The hill is surrounded by a wall of fairly
regular ashlar still standing to a considerable height, with
a small gate surmounted by a blind arch. One or two
buildings of late appearance are still to be seen, and a
great number of Lycian sarcophagi with so-called
Gothic lids, mostly of Roman date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Beaufort,
Karamania (1818) 22; G.
Hirschfeld,
AEM 9 (1885) 192ff; R. Heberdey & E.
Kalinka,
Bericht über zwei Reisen (1896) 17.
G. E. Bean