Oenoanda

Oenoanda is an ancient inland city in southwestern Turkey, on the site of modern Oenoanda in Muğla Province, notable for a large public Epicurean inscription carved into its walls. The inscription, commissioned by a local named Diogenes in the 2nd century CE, is an unusually long surviving philosophical text.

Visitors to the archaeological site encounter remains of civic structures such as sections of walls, a theatre and baths alongside the inscription fragments. The inscription occupies a prominent place on the hillside and draws specialist interest from historians of ancient philosophy.

The city developed through Hellenistic and Roman periods and the inscription reflects an elite effort to disseminate Epicurean teachings publicly in the Roman imperial era. Archaeological work has recovered portions of the text and the urban layout.

Oenoanda is situated inland in southwestern Anatolia, in the Teke peninsula region of modern Muğla Province, reachable from regional roads that connect inland ruins with coastal tourist centres.

• Philosophical inscription: The 2nd-century CE inscription is an extensive public summary of Epicurean philosophy carved onto a stoa wall and remains an important source for studying ancient thought.

What to See #

• Epicurean inscription: The large Epicurean inscription wall commissioned by Diogenes of Oenoanda, composed in the 2nd century CE, is the site's most famous archaeological feature and survives in fragments on the hillside.