Loryma was an ancient town and episcopal see of ancient Caria, in Asia Minor. It is now listed as a titular see. Loryma was a fortified place with a port, close to Cape Cynossema, on the western-most point of the Rhodian Chersonesus, in Caria. Its harbour was about 20 Roman miles distant from Rhodes and was belonging to the Rhodians. Strabo applies the name Loryma to the whole of the rocky district, without mentioning the town. The Larumna of Pomponius Mela and the Lorimna of the Tabula Peutingeriana perhaps refer to Loryma, although it is also possible that they may be identical with a place called Larymna mentioned by Pliny in the same district.
Location
Loryma was a small fortified town and harbour on the coast of Caria, not far from Cape Cynossema, at the western extremity of the peninsula known as Rhodian Chersonesus, opposite to and twenty Roman miles from Rhodes island. It was a fortified and was belonging to the Rhodians. Its ruins, west of Port Aplothiki, with towers, tombs and ramparts are described by William Martin Leake. Above the bay of Loryma lie the ruins of a curtain wall surrounding the top of the hill. Constructed from large blocks of stone shaped in-situ, the remaining walls retain very precise corners and sheer faces.
In the stillness of Loryma we spent the night. The wind could be heard howling outside, against the hills that enclosed our sheltered water as if it were a mountain tarn. Only a fanning ripple touched the centre. The sound of the wind, inarticulate and busy like the world’s voice, gave an illusion of safety, of an unassailable peace. If it could penetrate, how many sleeping echoes would it waken? Athenians from Samos, dodging the Dorian Cnidus, picking up ship’s tackle at Syme, sheltering at Loryma; Conon, before the battle, with his ninety ships; the Roman fleet that dared not face Hannibal in the offing; Cassius, gathering forces against Rhodes, twenty miles away. Each in their turn passed through the narrow opening and felt the sudden calm. In these places, the natural features have remained unaltered; the moments that visit them, fashioned to one pattern by nature itself, drop like beads on a string, through long pauses, one after the other, into the same silence.
