HORREA (WAREHOUSES)

On the west side of the bay of Patara, various structures such as lighthouses and stadiums were built from the middle of the 1st century AD. In the first half of the 2nd century AD, warehouses called horrea (plural form of the Latin word horreum) were built. This structure, which was probably used to store basic consumer goods such as grain, olive oil and wine, measures 75×25 meters and consists of eight rooms lined up side by side.

Each room has doors that open to the outside and doors that allow passage between the rooms. The exterior walls of the building were built with isodomic (equal-sized stone blocks) and the interior walls were built with polygonal (polygonal stones). The 2-meter-high doors in the eastern stoa provide access to the building, and this design was designed for both security and ease of use.

The inscription on the façade of this building facing the bay of Patara, which reflects the rich trade of Patara during the Roman period, shows that the emperor Hadrian, who visited the city in 131 AD, was honored as Zeus Olympos and his wife Sabina as Nea Hera.