Cults of Lycia and Important Deities

There were several religious cults and important deities throughout Lycia, perhaps more, but much remains to be revealed about Lycia. The following are some of the more important cults and important deities of Lycia.

By far the most important religious sanctuary in Lycia was dedicated to Leto, called Letoon, in Xanthos valley. Leto was the prime deity worshiped here, but in later dates her two twin children Apollo and Artemis were given equal importance. It is believed that Leto was one manifestation of the wide-spread mother-goddess religion which originated in Anatolia and spread throughout the ancient world. The cult of Leto was mostly concentrated along the western regions of Anatolia’s southern shore. According to legend, Leto was loved by Zeus and persecuted by the jealous Hera. Fleeing from the goddess’s wrath, Leto fled to the island of Delos where she gave birth to her twins and later brought them to Lycia.

Letoon is undoubtedly of great antiquity and may go back to the 7th century BC. Three temples stand here dedicated to Leto and her two children - the national deities of Lycia, as well as a nympahaeum, theatre, and a more recent Byzantine church. As the national sanctuary of Lycia, national festivals were held here and the sanctuary’s priests were the highest priests in the Lycian Union.

Athena, or Malija in the Lycian language, was also an important deity in Lycia. She is found in many inscriptions, especially at such sites as Tlos, Xanthos, Letoon, Tyberissos, and Arneai. Malija seems to be a deity of much antiquity and has been found in ancient Hittite texts. On Lycia coinage she is featured in the Greek form as Athena. Malija/Athena may have had a cult center at Xanthos and she was the goddess responsible for punishing the violators of tombs.

Sarpedon was the legendary founder and leader of Lycia and came to be associated through Greek legend with Lycia in the same way that nearly every ancient British site has some association with King Arthur. In Homer’s Iliad, Sarpedon is the son of Zeus and Laodameia and is the leader of the Lycian contingent that came to assist the Trojans. This may be a Homeric invention, but it seems that Homer took his material from some Lycian epic. Sarpedon’s chief cult center was at Xanthos, where he was supposedly buried. By the 5th century BC a large cult complex had been built atop the acropolis, the Sarpedoneia, and it was most likely here that the games of the Sarpedoneia were played and regular sacrifices were made to Sarpedon.

Bellerophon was a legendary founder of Lycia in Greek mythology and was honoured with a village at Tlos where he was supposedly buried. A tomb relief of Bellerophon on Pegasus dating c.350-320 BC can be seen there and it is assumed that there was a cult center at Tlos. Bellerophon may have originally been a Greek hero and only later linked with Lycia by Greek mythographers, due to the always-burning fire emitting from the mountainside at Olympos - said to be the fire-breathing monster (chimerea) slain by Bellerophon fallen into the earth. If this is the case, then Bellerophon was quickly adopted by the Lycians. He is seen in relief at Tlos slaying the chimerea while mounted upon Pegasus, as well as on the Limyra Heroon and the Trysa Heroon. Bellerophon is also seen often elsewhere on reliefs from the end of the 5th century BC and later and Pegasus appears frequently on Lycian coins.