18 Facts About Lycia

Lycia was populated by speakers of the Luwian language group.

Many cities in Lycia were wealthy as shown by their elaborate architecture starting at least from the 5th c BC and extending to the Roman period.

Lycia fought for the Persians in the Persian Wars, but on the defeat of the Achaemenid Empire by the Greeks, it became intermittently a free agent.

Lycia comprised what is the westernmost portion of Antalya Province, the easternmost portion of Mugla Province, and the southernmost portion of Burdur Province.

The name of western Lycia was given by Charles Fellows to it and points of Lycia west of it.

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Principal cities of ancient Lycia were Xanthos, Patara, Myra, Pinara, Tlos and Olympos and Phaselis.

Lycia hosted a small enclave of Dorian Greeks for some centuries and Rhodes was mainly inhabited by Dorians at the time.

Complete assimilation to Greek occurred sometime in the 4th century, after Lycia had come under the control of Alexander the Great and his fellow Macedonians.

Lycia continued to exist as a vassal state under the Roman Empire until its final division after the death of Theodosius I at which point it became a part of the Byzantine Empire under Arcadius.

Lycia was a son of either Zeus or Ares; his mother's name is variously given as Chaldene, Caldene, Calchedonia, or Chalcea "the nymph".

Lycia was frequently mentioned by Homer as an ally of Troy.

Lycia assigned the task to Harpagus, a Median general, who proceeded to subdue the various states of Anatolia, one by one, some by convincing them to submit, others through military action.

An Iranian family producing some other Harpagids, did live in Lycia and was of sufficient rank to marry the king's daughter.

Lycia had a single monarch, who ruled the entire country from a palace at Xanthos.

Lycia was ruled directly by the Carian dynast Pixodarus, son of Hecatomnus, as shown in the Xanthos trilingual inscription.

Lycia was ruled by men such as Mithrapata, whose name was Persian.

The annexation of Lycia seems to fit the common reason for annexing Roman client states or allies in this period: the loss on stability due to internal strife or, in some cases, the weakening or end of a ruling dynasty.

Lycia was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and eventually became part of Turkey.