The book project, “Die einzigartige Grabanlage eines lykischen Fürsten. Das Heroon von Trysa” (“The exceptional burial site of a Lycian ruler. The Heroon of Trysa”) will appear in three languages (German, English, and Turkish) and aims to familiarize a broader public with the ancient sites in southern Türkiye, and above all the monumental tomb monument whose architectural decoration and reliefs have been located in Vienna since 1882.
The ancient site of Trysa was discovered in the 1840s by the German scholar Julius August Schönborn. In the 1880s Otto Benndorf, the professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna, undertook a number of expeditions to investigate the ruins of Trysa and, with the permission of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, was able to remove the friezes of the tomb monument and transport them to Vienna. Today the friezes and the reliefs from the tomb monument are located in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The friezes of the tomb monument and from the sarcophagus display in a unique fashion Greek myths (Amazonomachy and Centauromachy, the Seven against Thebes, the Odyssey, the Calydonian Boar-Hunt, the Rape of the Leucippidae, the deeds of the Greek heroes Theseus, Perseus and Bellerophon) and themes from the lived environment of the Lycians (banquet with dance and music, defence of a city, scenes of audience and feasting), as well as influences from the cultural sphere of the Persians and Egyptians.
In the publication the ancient settlement of Trysa will be introduced, the discovery of the monument and the acquisition for the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna will be traced, and finally, iconographic and stylistic prototypes for the friezes as well as questions regarding the tomb’s owner will be discussed.