View source for Xanthos

=== Roman period ===
Xanthus was in the [[Roman province]] of [[Lycia]].{{sfn|Bunson|2014|p=335}} In 42 BC, during the [[Liberators' civil war]], [[Brutus]] came to Lycia to obtain funds before the [[Battle of Philippi]]. He besieged Xanthos after the Lycian League refused to contribute. The city was once again destroyed, and only 150 Xanthian men survived the carnage. Plutarch claims that the population of Xanthos deliberately set fire to their city in an act of mass suicide, comparable to their behavior during the Persian conquest generations earlier. Brutus and his Romans attempted rescue operations, and, in Plutarch's words, 150 men "did not escape having their lives saved".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=246{{ndash}}247}} The city was rebuilt under [[Mark Antony]].{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=60}}

Most of the buildings visible today were built during the later Empire. The town took on a grid plan. A large piazza with porticoes was built in the west, probably where the classical agora was. There was also a triple-naved building which may have started as a pagan basilica and then become a church. There was probably a large porticoed avenue terminated with a gateway.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Jacques |first1=des Courtils |last2=Cavalier |first2=Laurence |title=The City of Xanthos from Archaic to Byzantine Times |url=https://www.academia.edu/10481469 |journal=}}</ref>