Lycia

(lĭsh`ə), ancient country, SW Asia Minor. Egyptian sources ally the Lycians to the HittitesHittites
, ancient people of Asia Minor and Syria, who flourished from 1600 to 1200 B.C. The Hittites, a people of Indo-European connection, were supposed to have entered Cappadocia c.1800 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. at the time of Ramses II; the Lycians spoke an Anatolian languageAnatolian languages
, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see The Indo-European Family of Languages, table); the term "Anatolian languages" is also used to refer to all languages, Indo-European and non-Indo-European, that were spoken in Anatolia in ancient times.
..... Click the link for more information. . Lycia was frequently mentioned by Homer in Greek mythology. In historic times it was held by the Persians, the Seleucids, and the Romans (from 189 B.C.). Its chief towns included XanthusXanthus
, ancient city of Lycia, W Asia Minor, in present Turkey. On the Xanthus River, it was besieged and taken by the Persians (c.546 B.C.) and centuries later (c.42 B.C.) by the Romans. Both times the inhabitants destroyed their city before surrendering.
..... Click the link for more information. , PataraPatara
, ancient Mediterranean port of Lycia, S Asia Minor (now Turkey). It was a Dorian colony, and became the seat of the Lycian League (167 B.C.–A.D. 43). According to the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul visited Patara.
..... Click the link for more information. , and MyraMyra
, ancient city and seaport of Lycia, S Asia Minor (now S Turkey). The Acts of the Apostles reports that the city was visited by Paul. According to tradition, it was the see of St. Nicholas. Ruins of a theater are on the acropolis, and the necropolis has many grand tombs.
..... Click the link for more information. . Ruins include many rock-cut Lycian tombs and later Grecian sculptures dating from the 5th cent. B.C.

Lycia

in antiquity, a country in southern Asia Minor. The Lycians settled the area in the first millennium B.C. Before their assimilation by the Greeks in the third century B.C., they spoke one of the Hittite-Luwian languages and used a written alphabet in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. From the middle of the sixth century B.C. Lycia was under Persian rule, although the Lycian king Pericles ruled in the eastern part of the country in the fourth century. At the end of the fourth century, Lycia became part of the empire of Alexander the Great. From 295 to 197, the country was ruled by the Ptolemies. In the first century B.C., Lycia came under the Roman rule as an autonomous state. In a.d. 43 a Roman province was formed on the territory of Lycia and Pamphylia.

REFERENCES

Neumann, G. “Lykisch.” In Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. 2, part 2. Leiden, 1969.
Treuber, O. Geschichte der Lykier. Stuttgart, 1887.

Lycia

an ancient region on the coast of SW Asia Minor: a Persian, Rhodian, and Roman province

Lycia

Ly·ci·a

Lycia

Ly•ci•a

Lycia

Lycia

Lycia

REFERENCES

Lycia

Lycia

Words related to Lycia

noun an ancient region on the coast of southwest Asia Minor

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