Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/241

 LYCIA. its votes ; taxation and other public duties were regulated on the same principle. In former times, the deputies constituting the congress had also de- cided upon peace, war, and alliances ; but this of course ceased when Lycia acknowledged the supre- macy of Rome. This happy constitution lasted until the time of the emperor Claudius, when Lycia became a Eoman province, as is mentioned below. (Strab. xiv. p. 664, &c.) The laws and customs of the Lycians are said by Herodotus to have been partly Carian and partly Cretan ; but in one point they difiered from all other men, for they derived their names from their mothers and not from their fathers, and when any one was asked to give an account of his parentage, he enumerated his mother, grandmother, great grandmother, &c, (Herod, i. 173.) Herodotus (vii. 92), in describing their armour, mentions in particular, hats with plumes, greaves, short swords, and sickles. Respecting the religion of the Lycians nothing is known, except that they worshipped Apollo, especially at Patara ; but whether tliis was the Greek Apollo, or a Lycian god identified with him, cannot be said with cer- tainty; though the former is more probable, if we attach any value to the story of Patarus. [_I)ict. of Blogr. s. vJ This would show that the Greeks of Asia Minor exercised considerable influence upon the Lycians at a very early period. 5. Literature and the Arts. — Although we have no mention of any works in the Lycian language, it cannot be doubted that the Lycians either had, or at least might have had, a literature, as they had a peculiar alphabet of their own, and made frequent use of it in inscriptions. The inere fact, however, that many of these inscriptions are engraven in two languages, the Lycian and Greek, shows that the latter language had become so familiar to the people that it was thought desirable, or even necessary, to employ it along with the vernacular in public decrees and laws about and after the time of the Persian wars ; and it must have been this circumstance that stopped or prevented the development of a national literature in Lycia. Tlie influence of Greek litera- ture is also attested by the theatres which existed in almost every town, and in which Greek plays nnxst have been performed, and have been under- stood and enjoyed by the people. Li the arts of sculpture and architecture, the Lycians attained a degree of perfection but little inferior to that of the Greeks. Their temples and tombs abound in the finest sculptures, representing mythological subjects, or events of their own military history. Their architecture, especially that of their tombs and sarcophagi, has quite a peculiar character, so much so that travellers are thereby enabled to distinguish whether any given place is really Lycian or not. These sarcophagi are surmounted by a structure with pointed arches, and richly decorated with sculp- tures. One of these has been brought to this country by Sir C. Fellows, and may now be seen in the British Museum. The entrances of the numerous tombs cut in the faces of lofty rocks are formed in the same way, presenting at the top a pointed arch, which has led Sir C. Fellows to compare them to Gothic or Elizabethan architecture. If we examine the remains of their towns, as figured in the works of Sir C. Fellows, Texier, and Forbes and Spratt, we cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that, in all the arts of civilised hfe, the Lycians, though barharians, were little interior to the Greeks. 6. liistonj. — Lycia and the Lycians act rather a VOL. II. LYCIA. 225 prominent part in the Homeric account of the Trojan War, where they are described as the allies of the Trojans. Sarpedon and Glaucus, are the two Lycian heroes in the war ; but the poet was familiar also with the earlier legends of Lycia, — as that about Bellerophon, which he introduces into the parley between Glaucus and Diomede. Pandarus, another hero on the side of the Trojans, came from a district about the river Aesepus, which was likewise called Lycia, and which was supposed by the ancient com- mentators to have been peopled by colonists from Lycia, the .subject of this article (//. ii. 824, &c., iv. 91, v. 105 ; comp. Strab. xii. p. 572, xiii. p. 585); but both history and tradition are silent as to the time when, and the circumstances under which, Lycians settled in Troas. During the period from the Trojan times down to the Lydian conquests under Croesus, the Lycians are not mentioned in history ; but that conqueror, who was successful in all other parts of Asia Minor, failed in his attempts upon the Lycians and Cilicians. (Herod, i. 28.) When Cyrus overthrew the Lydian monarchy, and his general Harpagus invaded the plain of the Xanthus, the Lycians offered a determined resis- tance ; but when, in the end, they found their situation hopeless, the men of Xanthus assembled in tiie citadel their women, children, slaves, and trea- sures, and then set fire to it. They themselves then renewed the fight against the enemy, but all perished, except a few Xanthians who happened to be absent during the battle. [Xanthus.] Lycia thus became a part of the Persian monarchy, but. like all Per- sian provinces, retained its own constitution, being obliged only to pay tribute and furnish its contin- gents to the Persian army. The Lycians joined in the revolt of the Asiatic Greeks, but afterwards were reduced, and Darius made the country a part of his first satrapy (Herod, iii. 90); the fact that the Lycians furnished fifty ships to the fleet of Xerxes (Herod, vii. 92) shows,th.at they still continued to be a prosperous and powerful people. Their armour on that occasion is described by Herodotus, and was the same as that noticed above. During the Peloponnesian War the Lycians are not mentioned ; but as Pihodes was tri- butary to Athens, and as contributions were often levied as far as Aspendus, it is not improbable that Lycia may have been compelled to pay similar con- tributions. Alexander traversed a part of the country on his march from Caria into Pisidia and Phrygia, and reduced it under his sway. The Lycians on that occasion offered little or no resist- ance to the yomig conqueror; the cities of Xanthus, Pinara, Patara, and about thirty other smaller towns, surrendered to him without a blow. (Arrian, Anah. i. 24.) In the division of the Macedonian empire, Lycia successively came under the dominion of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae ; and then, after a brief interval, during which the Lycians enjoyed their full freedom, they fell under the dominion of Rome : for after the defeat of Antiochas the Great, Lj'cia was ceded by the Roman senate to the Rhodians ; but the Lycians, indignant at being considered the subjects of the islanders, and being secretly sup- ported by Eumenes, resisted the Rhodian authorities by force of arms. In this contest they were over- powered ; but the Romans, displeased with the Rho- dians for their conduct in the JIacedonian War, interfered, and restored the Lycians to independence. (Polyb. xxii. 7, xxiii. 3, xxvi. 7, xxx. 5 ; Liv. xlv. 25 ; Appian, Mithr. 61, &c., Syr. 44.) It was apparently during the jteriod which now followed,