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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LUP-MAL |
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LYCIA , in ancient geography, a district in the S.W. of Asia Minor, occupying the coast between Caria and Pamphylia, and extending inland as far as the ridge
the centre of the region, and Solyma in the extreme east above Phaselis (7800 ft.). The steep and rugged pass between Solyma and the sea, called the Climax (" Ladder" ), was the only direct communication between Lycia and Pamphylia. The only two considerable rivers are: (1) the Xanthus, which descends from the central mass of Mt Taurus, and flows through a narrow valley till it reaches the city of the same name, below which it forms a plain of some extent before reaching the sea, and (2) the Limyrus, which enters the sea near Limyra. The small alluvial plains at the mouths of these rivers are the only level ground in Lycia, but the hills that rise thence towards the mountains are covered with a rich arborescent vegetation. The upper valleys and mountain sides afford good pasture for sheep, and the main Taurus range encloses several extensive upland basin-shaped valleys (vailas), which are characteristic of that range throughout its extent (see Asia MINOR). The limits of Lycia towards the interior seem to have varied at different times. The high and cold upland tract to the north-east, called Milyas, was by some writers included in that province, though it is naturally more connected with Pisidia. According to Artemidorus
Recent
inscriptions the position of the greater part of the cities mentioned in ancient authors can be fixed. On the gulf of Glaucus, near the frontiers of Caria, stood Telmessus, an important place, while a short distance inland from it were the small towns of Dacdala and Cadyanda. At the entrance of the valley of the Xanthus were Patara, Xanthus itself, and, a little higher up, Pinara on the west and Tlos on the east side of the valley, while Araxa stood at the head of the valley, at the foot of the pass leading into the interior. Myra, one of the most important cities of Lycia, occupied the entrance of the valley of the Andriacus; on the coast between this and the mouth of the Xanthus stood Antiphellus, while in the interior at a short distance were found Phellus, Cyaneae and Candyba. In the alluvial plain formed by the rivers Arycandus and Limyrus stood Limyra, and encircling the same bay the three small towns of Rhodiapolis, Corydalla and Gagae. Arycanda commanded the upper valley of the river of the same name. On the east coast stood Olympus
The cold upland district of the Milyas does not seem to have contained any town of importance. Podalia appears to have been its chief
recent
History.The name of the Lycians, Lukki, is first met with in the Tel el-Amarna tablets (1400 B.c.) and in the list
inscriptions are not found far inland, we may conclude that they entered the country from the sea. On the other hand the name appears to be preserved in Lycaonia, where some bands of them may have settled. According to Herodotus they called them-selves Termilae, written Trmmile in the native inscriptions, and he further states that the original
capital , being completely destroyed, While acknowledging the suzerainty ofPersia, however, the Lycians remained practically independent, and for a time joined the Delian league. " The son of Harpagus" on the obelisk of Xanthus boasts of having sacked numerous cities in alliance with the Athenian goddess. The Lycians were incorporated into the empire of Alexander and his successors, but even after their conquest by the Romans, preserved their federal institutions as late as the time of Augustus
Olympus
Antiquities.Few parts of Asia Minor were less known in modern times than Lycia up to the 19th century. Captain Beaufort was the first to visit several places on the sea-coast, and the remarkable rock-hewn tombs of Telmessus had been already described by Dr Clarke, but it was Sir Charles Fellows who first discovered and drew attention to the extraordinary richness of the district in ancient remains, especially of a sepulchral character. His visits to the country in 1838 and 184o were followed by an expedition sent by the British government in 1842 to transport to England the valuable monuments now in the British Museum, while Admiral Spratt and Edward Forbes explored the interior, and laid down its physical features on an excellent map. The monuments thus brought to light are among the most interesting of those discovered in Asia Minor, and prove the existence of a distinct native architecture, especially in the rock-cut tombs. But the theatres found in almost every town, some of them of very large size, are sufficient to attest the pervading influence of Greek civilization; and this is confirmed by the sculptures, which are for the most part wholly Greek. None of them, indeed, can be ascribed to a very early period, and hardly any trace can be found of the influence of Assyrian or other Oriental art. One of the most interesting results of these recent researches has been the discovery of numerous inscriptions in the native language of the country, and written in an alphabet peculiar to Lycia. A few of these inscriptions are bilingual, in Greek and Lycian, and the clue thus afforded to their interpretation has been followed up, first by Daniel Sharpe and Moritz Schmidt, and in more recent years by J. Imbert, W. Arkwright, V. Thomsen, A. Torp, S. Bugge and E. Kalinka. The alphabet was derived from the Doric alphabet of Rhodes, but ten other characters were added to it to express vocalic and other sounds not found in Greek. The attempts to connect the language with the Indo-European family have been unsuccessful; it belongs to a separate family of speech which we may term " Asianic." Most of the inscriptions are sepulchral; by far the longest and most important is that on an obelisk found at Xanthus, which is a historical document, the concluding part of it being in a peculiar dialect, supposed to be an older and poetical form of the language. Among the deities mentioned are Trzzube (Trosobis) and Trqqiz or Trqqas. Lycian art was modelled on that of the Greeks. The rock-cut tomb usually represented the house of the living, with an elaborate facade, but in one or two instances, notably that of the so-called Harpy-tomb, the facade is surmounted by a tall, square tower, in the upper part of which is the sepulchral chamber. Lycian sculpture followed closely the development of Greek sculpture, and many of the sculptures with which the tombs are adorned are of a high order of merit. The exquisite bas-reliefs on a Lycian sarcophagus now in the museum of Constantinople are among the,finest surviving examples of classical art. The bas-reliefs were usually coloured. For the coinage, see NuMls-MATICS, section "Asia Minor." Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache (1896); S. Bugge, Lykische Studien (from 1897); A. Torp, Lykische Beitrage (from 1898) ; V. Thomsen, Etudes lyciennes (1899) ; E. 1 Kalinka and R. Heberdey, Tituli Asiae Minoris, i. (1901) ; see also 1 articles XANTHUS, IMMYRA, PATARA. (A. H. S.) End of Article: LYCIA If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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