Muğla’s ancient Oenoanda moves toward UNESCO world heritage status

MUĞLA

A unique ancient site of Oenoanda in the southwestern province of Muğla, known for hosting the world’s only large-scale philosophical inscription, has launched its bid for the UNESCO World Heritage List, with the nomination file now submitted to provincial authorities.

Located in the mountainous interior of southwestern Türkiye, near the modern town of İncealiler in Muğla’s Fethiye district, Oenoanda was an important settlement in the Roman period of the Lycian region.

The site is internationally known for preserving an extraordinary philosophical monument created in the 2nd century A.D. by the Epicurean thinker Diogenes of Oenoanda.

Diogenes commissioned a massive public inscription explaining the teachings of Epicurus, the founder of Epicurean philosophy.

The text, carved onto a monumental wall made of stone blocks, originally stretched about 80 meters in length and stood roughly four meters high.

Scholars describe it as the largest philosophical inscription ever discovered and the only known example of a philosophical treatise publicly displayed on such a monumental scale in the ancient world.

Fragments of the inscription contain Epicurean teachings on topics such as happiness, the nature of the universe, freedom from fear and the rejection of superstition.

The ancient text was intended to guide ordinary people toward a tranquil life by freeing them from fear of the gods and fear of death.

As the authors of the nomination file, Professor Hatice Nur Beyaz Erkızan, a member of UNESCO Türkiye’s philosophy committee, and Serdar Kayhan, president of a local power union association, issued a joint statement emphasizing the broader significance of the site.

“Oenoanda is not merely an ancient city built of stones,” they said. “It is the memory of humanity’s search for the ‘good life’ carved into stone. Including this unique philosophical and cultural heritage on the UNESCO World Heritage List would be of great importance both for Türkiye and for the history of humanity.”