What is Lycia?

''For the Dark Wave band, see Lycia (band).

Lycia (in Lycian, Trm̃misa (see List of Lycian place names); in ancient Greek, Λυκία and in modern Turkish, Likya) is a region in the modern-day provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was the site of an ancient country which later became a province of the Roman Empire.

Inhabitants

The region of Lycia has been inhabited by human groups since prehistoric times. The eponymous inhabitants of Lycia, the Lycians, spoke an Indo-European language, belonging to its Anatolian branch. The closest language to the Lycian language is the Luwian language, which was spoken in Anatolia during the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC; it may even be its direct ancestor. The area was ruled by Greek colonists who inhabited the region until modern times, after being conquered by Turks. The last Greeks were displaced following the Greco-Turkish War in the early 20th century.

Geography

Lycia is a mountainous and densely forested region along the coast of southwestern Turkey on and around the Teke Peninsula. It is bounded by Caria to the west and north west, Pamphylia to the east, and Pisidia to the north east. Turkey's first waymarked long-distance footpath, the Lycian Way, follows part of the coast of the region.

The principal cities of ancient Lycia were Xanthos, Patara, Myra, Pinara, Tlos and Olympos (each entitled to three votes in the Lycian League) and Phaselis.

Further information: List of Lycian place names

History

Ancient Egyptian records describe the Lycians as allies of the Hittites. Lycia may have been a member state of the Assuwa league of ca. 1250 BC, appearing as either Lukka or Luqqa. After the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Lycia emerged as an independent "Neo-Hittite" kingdom.

According to Herodotus, Lycia was named after Lycus, the son of Pandion II of Athens. The region was never unified into a single territory in antiquity, but remained a tightly-knit confederation of fiercely independent city-states.

Lycia was frequently mentioned by Homer as an ally of Troy. In Homer's Iliad, the Lycian contingent was said to have been led by two esteemed warriors: Sarpedon (son of Zeus and Laodamia) and Glaucus (son of Hippolochus). Elsewhere in Greek mythology, the Lycian kingdom was said to have been ruled by another Sarpedon, a Cretan exile and brother of the king Minos; Sarpedon's followers were called Termilae, and they founded a dynasty after their conquest of a people called the Milyans. As with the founding of Miletus, this mythical story implies a Cretan connection to the settlement of Asia Minor. Lycia appears elsewhere in Greek myth, such as in the story of Bellerophon, who eventually succeeded to the throne of the Lycian king Iobates (or Amphianax).



Lycia came under the control of the Persian Empire in 546 BC when Harpagus of Media, a general in the service of Cyrus conquered Asia Minor. Harpagus's descendants ruled Lycia until 468 BC when Athens wrested control away. Persia then retook Lycia in 387 BC and held it until it was conquered by Alexander III of Macedon. It subsequently passed into the hands of the Seleucids before falling to the Roman Republic in 189 BC. The heir of Augustus, Gaius Caesar, was killed there in 4 AD. In 43, the emperor Claudius annexed it to the Roman Empire and united it with Pamphylia as a Roman province. It subsequently became part of the (Greek) Byzantine Empire before being overrun by the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire and eventually becoming part of Turkey. The Lycians own name "Trm̃mi" comes from the region of Trimili which was recently discovered on an ancient road sign in Patara excavation. Interestingly, today a Turkish village named "Dirmil" stands on the lands of ancient Trimili which may prove that this is the evolved name of the land therefore the ancient Lycians.

Though the second-century CE dialogue Erotes found the cities of Lycia "interesting more for their history than for their monuments, since they have retained none of their former splendor", many relics of the Lycians remain visible today, especially their distinctive rock-cut tombs in the sides of cliffs in the region.

The British Museum in London has one of the best collections of Lycian artifacts.

Lycia was an important center of worship for the goddess Leto and later, her twin children, Apollo and Artemis.

Lycian league

The Lycian League was established in 168 BC with democratic principles. It comprised some 23 known city-states as members.

Lycia, which had been under Rhodian control since the Peace of Apamea in 188 B.C., was granted independence by the Roman Empire at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. These city states joined together in a federalist style government that shared political resources against larger nations. A “Lyciarch” was elected by a senate that convened every autumn at a different city, where each member sent one, two or three representatives, depending on the city's size, to the senate, or Bouleuterion, as it was called. The major cities of the League included Xanthos, Patara, Pinara, Olympus, Myra, and Tlos, with Patara as the capital. Phaselis joined the League at a later time. The league continued to function after Lycia became a Roman province in 46 AD. Lycia ceased being a federation in the fourth century A.D., when it was taken over by the Byzantine Empire.

Sources on Lycians

Primary sources

• “Poem on the Battle of Kadesh” 305-313, Ramesses II
• “Great Karnak Inscription” 572-592, Merneptah

:Breasted, J. H. 1906. Ancient Records of Egypt. Vol. III. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• “Plague Prayers of Mursilis” A1-11, b, Mursilis

:Pritchard, J. B. 1969. Ancient Near Eastern Texts. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Secondary sources

• R.D. Barnett (1975). "The Sea Peoples", in J. B. Bury, S. A. Cook, F. E. Adcock: The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 362-366. 

: Refers to many different sea peoples and their contact with Egypt and Anatolia. Also tells about the Philistines during the reign of Ramesses III.

• T. Bryce (1993). "Lukka Revisited". Journal of Near Eastern Studies 51: 121-130. 

: Discusses Lukka's relations to other regions (like Miletus) and where they inhabited.

• T. Bryce and J. Zahle (1986). The Lycians. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. 

: Covers the Lycians and where they lived, their history, language, culture, cults, and their language.

• R. Drews (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe CA. 1200 B.C.. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 

:A description of the Egyptian evidence on the Sea Peoples.

See also

• Saint Nicholas - born in the 3rd century in Patara, Lycia
• Lycian Way

External links

• Lycian Turkey
• Etching of a Lycian tomb from A. D. F. Hamlin's A History of Ornament (New York: The Century Company, 1916)

•  • [ e] Roman Imperial Provinces (AD 120)
Achaea	Roman Empire

•  • [ e] History of Anatolia