Balbura or Balboura was a town of ancient Lycia situated at the northernmost edge of the Lycian geography, with its site identified at Çölkayiği and near the Karaçulha locality southeast of Altınyayla in Burdur province. Forming the northern limits of Lycia alongside Bubon and Kibyra, Balbura was a member of the Lycian Federation together with Bubon and Oenoanda. The site was brought to wider attention in the 1840s when travellers Richard Hoskyn and Edward Forbes reported on their explorations in Anatolia.
In terms of its historical trajectory, Balbura was a member of a tetrapolis headed by Kibyra, which was formed in the 2nd century BC and dissolved in 82 BC, after which the town was attached to the Lycian League. Balbura formed part of a district called Cabalia, named Cabalis by Strabo, which also included Bubon and Oenoanda. The demonym Βαλβουρεύς occurs on at least two inscriptions at Katara, and the town minted its own coins during the Hellenistic Age and during the reign of Emperor Caligula.
The ruins of the settlement occupy a considerable space across two hills on both sides of a stream, with the acropolis hill rising about 90 metres above the plain of Katara. On the northern hill, the city wall still stands up to 2.4 metres high, featuring a stretch of polygonal masonry that is 1.8 metres thick. Among the architectural remains are several temples, early Christian churches, and a triple-arched gate dedicated to Septimius Severus and Geta.
Among the most prominent features of the site are its two ancient theatres. One theatre is situated on the south side of the acropolis hill, while the other lies in a hollow forming the cavea in front of the mountain on the south side of the stream. The former is particularly notable for its unusual construction, as the cavea is interrupted in the centre by a large block of natural rock with the ends of the rows of seats attached to it.
During the early Christian era, Balbura served as a bishopric and was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Myra, the capital of the Roman province of Lycia. The names of four of its bishops are recorded in extant historical documents. Hermaeus attended the First Council of Constantinople in 381, and Philippus took part in the Council of Chalcedon in 351. Nicolaus was a signatory to the protest letter sent in 458 by the bishops of Lycia to Byzantine Emperor Leo I regarding the killing of Proterius of Alexandria, while Ioannes participated in the Photian Council of Constantinople in 879.
No longer functioning as a residential bishopric, Balbura is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Between 1985 and 1993, an extensive archaeological survey led by Jim Coulton applied diverse methods to study the topography and remains of the town and its rural hinterland. The results of these investigations were subsequently published by the British Institute at Ankara in two volumes under the title The Balboura Survey.
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