The Discovery of Lycia and Current Research Charles Fellows

Charles (later Sir Charles) Fellows, is perhaps the most well-known early explorer of Lycia, although others had been there before him. One of the first to write about Lycia was the British Rev. Richard Pococke, who travelled to Lycia in 1739-40. Twenty years later the Classical antiquary Dr. Richard Chandlar (also British) was sent by the Dilettani Society to explore and investigate. Later during the years 1811-12, Captain Francis Beaufort surveyed the entire southern coastline of Turkey taking care to study any antiquities accessible from the sea. Then in the first half of the 1830's more scientific and archaeological studies were made in neighboring Lydia and Ionia by scholars known to Charles Fellows. The French government also sent the distinguished archaeologist Charles Texier to Asia Minor at this time, to search for antiquities to add to the Louvre.

Chareles Fellows had an immense interest in topography and nature combined with a deep love of the Classics and antiquities and a very adventurous spirit. Reading such publications as Lt-Col. William Martin-Leake's account in Journal of a Tour in Ancient Minor, 1824, about his travels in 1800:

"To the traveller who delights in tracing vestiges of Grecian art and civilization amidst modern barbarism and desolation, and who may thus at once illustrate history and collect valuable materials for the geographer and artist - there is no country that now affords so fertile a field of discovery as Asia Minor."

and knowing several people who had explored Asia Minor gave Fellows the incentive he needed to set out on his own expedition. The Greek War of Independence had ended in 1833, and travel within Asia Minor could now be done safely. The son of a wealthy silk merchant and banker, then unmarried Fellows had the leisure, health and resources to make an archaeological expedition himself. His aim was to follow the paths of early travellers, examine ancient ruins and collect data on the natural history, topography, geology of the areas he saw, as well as to travel in a mysterious Oriental country and to learn about the people he encountered. Perhaps he would even explore areas unknown to Europeans and also make his way to the mysterious, little-chronicled ancient Lycia.

Very little was known of Lycia at the time. The texts of Homer, Herodotus, Plutarch and Pliny the Elder told of the legends and history of the Lycians. The geography and mythology were described in detail and the sites of some of the places of Lycia were well known. However, the location of Xanthos, the capitol and most famous city of Lycia remained unknown. Charles Fellows was to make this exciting discovery and to unravel many of the secrets of Lycia. He was the first westerner to see many of the Lycian cities since they had been abandoned in late antiquity.

Fellows made his first excursion to Asia Minor in 1838, discovering many places previously only a blank on the maps. Forced to take an inland route on his return along the southern coast, Fellows discovered the lost city of Xanthos with its "extensive and highly interesting ruins". Shortly after, he discovered Tlos. Upon his return to England he published an account of his travels and quickly attracted the attention of antiquarians to his exciting Lycian discoveries. Soon the British Museum became involved and it was decided to send a naval vessel to Xanthos to collect pieces of its art for conservation in the museum.

Before this took place, Fellows made his second personal tour to Lycia in 1840. This time he astonishingly discovered thirteen other cities in Lycia, visiting as many as twenty-four of the thirty-six places mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Historiae naturalis, AD 77, which were still in existence at that time. Returning to England, he published a second account of his travels, in 1841. He hoped to kindle interest in his lovely Lycia so that others would follow in his footsteps. He fully expected to return to his private life and quiet hobbies, but this was not to be.

Hearing that the government expedition to Xanthos to bring back antiquities was to be sent without any experienced person to guide the naval men in their search, Fellows volunteered his services to be the supervisor of the party. As it turned out, Fellows had to assume complete control of the excavations and even fund the operations, as that detail had been overlooked.

Seventy huge crates of marbles were returned aboard a British naval ship and their exhibition caused a huge sensation in London, almost as great as that of the exhibition of the Elgin Marbles forty years earlier. Thousands came to marvel at the finds from Xanthos which included the monumental Nereid Monument, the Horse Tomb, the Harpy Frieze and other miscellaneous reliefs from the city walls.