Lycian History
History has not left us with as clear a picture of the Lycians as it has with some other ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks. However, some questions and facts regarding the Lycians can be answered or at least speculated upon.

Who Were the Lycians?
The Lycians were an ancient people who inhabited the area of present day Turkey between the bays of Antalya and Fethiye, a compact, mountainous territory. The ancient Greeks knew and admired the Lycians, for the Lycians had solved a problem which baffled the ancient world: how to reconcile free government in the city-state with the needs of a larger political unity. The institutions of the democratic Lycian Federation (the first democratic union known) were studied and envied by most classical writers. The Lycians were an important part of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds since they lived at the point where the two cultures intermingled at an important strategic juncture. They were also one of the few non-Hellenistic nations of antiquity which could not be called ‘barbarians’. In fact, their image in antiquity was much like that of today's Swiss: a hard-working and wealthy people, neutral in world affairs but fierce in the defence of their freedom and conservative in their attachment to ancestral tradition. Lycia was the last region on the entire Mediterranean coast to be incorporated as a province in the Roman Empire and even then the Lycian Union continued to function independently. The Lycians spoke a language of their own before adopting Greek around the 3rd century BC. Their many monuments, especially their beautiful tombs which embody their ancestor cult, still dot the entire landscape of the southwest coast of Turkey between the Gulf of Fethiye and Phaselis.

The Lycians’ Origins
The Lycians were most likely in origin an Anatolian people since they spoke their own Indo-European language closely related to Luwian and Hittite. It seems they descended from the Luwians and probably entered Anatolia across the Bosphorus along with the Hittites in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest historical references to the Lycians date back to the Late Bronze Age (ca 1500-1200 BC) in numerous Egyptian, Hittite and Ugaritic texts. It is known from these that the Lycians (called ‘Lukka’ in these sources) were involved in acts of piracy against Cyprus around 1400 BC, that they fought against Egypt in the ranks of the Hittites during the battle of Kadesh in 1295 BC and that they participated with the Libyans. It is also known from these sources that the Lycians possessed powerful sea and land forces by the second millennium BC and had already established an independent state that existed until the Byzantine period (ca 395-1176 AD) though it was affected by disturbances during the Persian domination (545-334 BC) and the Roman Tyranny in 42 BC by Brutus.

In Greek legend the Lycians first appear as allies of Troy in the Trojan Wars. Homer reports: "From distant Lycia and the whirling Xanthos came the Lycians led by Sarpedon and heroic Glaucus". In myth the rulers of Lycia were the offspring of the mythical hero Bellerophon. Bellerophon was sent to Lycia to be punished for an improper love affair. However, he redeemed himself by killing the Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster which had been roaming the Lycian mountains and terrorizing the inhabitants, with the help of the winged horse Pegasus. The Chimaera still exists today, in the form of a perpetually-burning fire springing forth from the mountainside at the Lycian site of Olympos.


Lycia’s History - A Struggle For Freedom
The history of Lycia is a story of fierce struggles against those who sought to invade and dominate it. The first recorded instance of Lycian resistance fighting occurred around 540 BC when the Persians overran all Asia Minor. The Persians attacked the Lycian capital city of Xanthos, but the Xanthosians chose mass suicide over surrender. The men of Xanthos gathered their wives, children and possessions in the acropolis and set fire to all before rushing out fighting to die to the last man.

"The Persian Army entered the plain of Xanthos under the command of Harpagos, and did battle with the Xanthians. The Xanthians fought with small numbers against the superior Persians forces, with legendary bravery. They resisted the endless Persian forces with great courage, but were finally beaten, their womenfolk, children, slaves and treasures into the fortress. This was then set on fire from, below and around the walls , until destroyed by conflagration. Then the warriors of Xanthos made their final attack on the Persians, their voices raised in calls of war, until every last man from Xanthos was killed."

Herodotus of Halicarnassos (6th century B.C.)

Xanthos was later repopulated by families outside the city at the time. Persian rule of Lycia actually proved to be quite mild and fostered economic growth and the strength of the region. It was during this period that the first rock-cut tombs were carved and the Lycian alphabet came into wide-spread use.

The Athenians had little success at capturing Lycia in the next century despite several attempts, only managing to set up one important colony, Phaselis. However, in 334 BC, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great received a friendly reception from the Lycians following his defeat of the Persians - he was welcomed as a deliverer of the Lycians from the threat of attack by their neighbor - the Carian dynasts of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum).

During this period Lycia began to lose a bit of its native character and Greek was adopted as the nation’s language. However, Lycia did remain culturally distinct. Herodotos noted: "They have customs that resemble no one else’s. They use their mother’s name instead of their father’s. If one Lycian asks another from whom he is descended, he gives the name of his mother. And if a citizen woman should cohabit with a slave, the children are considered of free birth; but if a citizen man, even the foremost of them, has a foreign wife or mistress, the children are without honour". It was also during this time that the democratic Lycian Union was formed. It eventually consisted of 23 cities.
The strong unity of the Lycian Union was very important following the death of Alexander the Great. First Lycia fell to the Macedonian Antigonos and then it changed hands for many years between the Ptolemies and Seleucids. Later Lycia was handed over to Rhodes by Rome, to which Rhodes had allied itself. The Lycians were very resentful of this and spent the next two decades fighting against the Rhodesians and petitioning the Roman Senate. Finally in 167 BC, by a decision of the Senate, the Lycians’ independence was recognized and it was not incorporated into the Roman Empire until 74 BC.

Although the power of the Lycian Union was reduced a bit under the Romans, Lycia did prosper. Most urban architecture in the Lycian cities dates from the Roman period. As trade expanded people became wealthier and many Lycian millionaires gave generously to their country. For example, Opramoas of Rhodiapolis personally financed almost 60 major monuments in all Lycian cities including the theatres of Xanthos, Tlos, and Limyra.

The second half of the first century BC was a time in which Lycia was affected by the internal conflicts and disturbances in Rome, sometimes suffering disaster as a result. In 42 BC Brutus attempted to take control of Xanthos during the Roman Civil Wars. Once again the Xanthosians chose mass suicide over domination. However, one year later, Marcus Antonius tried to make peace with them and had the city rebuilt. Lycia then recovered under the reign of Augustus in 27 BC. During the first and second centuries BC, the emperors Vespasian, Traianus and Hadrian visited Lycia for various reasons. The emperor Vespasian treated the town with respect and built some monuments for it (69-79 A.D.) Lycia naturally underwent a process of romanization of its culture, art and daily life during this time. Lycian aristocrats began to adopt Roman names, there was a demand for wild animal fights and gladiator combat and the emperor cult spread rapidly.


Following two very large earthquakes in 141 AD and 240 AD some cities were unable to recover and Lycia began to decline. However, a distinct Lycian nationhood seems to have survived well after the arrival of Christianity in the 4th century AD. The spread of Christianity brought important social and cultural changes to Lycia. The most important figure of this time was St. Nicholas (later known as Santa Claus), Bishop of the Lycian city of Myra. Many ancient Lycian cities became Byzantine settlements of importance. Xanthos became the seat of an arch bishopric in the 8th century, but was deserted during the first wave of Arab raids. These raids eventually finished off Lycia and the country lay almost uninhabited for nearly a thousand years until the Turks, led by the lords of the Teke Dynasty, settled the area in the 13th century. However, the Turks mainly kept to the high plateau and left the coast to pirates. At the turn of the 19th century the Ottoman government began repopulating the coast with Greeks from the Aegean islands in order to balance the power of the local feudal lords. Many towns like Kalkan and the neighboring town of Kas came into existence at this time. However, the Anatolian Greeks were obliged to leave after the war of 1919-1922 with the exchange of populations.

The Land of Lycia -

Natural Features, Environment, Climate and Strategic Geography
No territory of Anatolia, no autochthonous region of Asia Minor apart from the Troad, was so closely connected with Greece in mythology as Lycia. Its magnificent scenery, with mountains rising to heights of over 10,000 feet, with its lakes, woods and forests, its rocky coast indented with creeks and sprinkled with islands, its superb ruins of two dozen cities, could hardly reflect more splendidly, even today, the ancient link that held them together. (Brewster 1993:57)

Lycia came to occupy most of the Teke Peninsula at the south-west corner of Anatolia, roughly defined as the area of Turkey lying south of a line drawn from Dalyan to Antalya.

The steep geography of Lycia sharply divides the land into river valleys, coastal plains and upland basins. Three great mountain chains determine access to and within Lycia - in the west two spurs of the western Taurus Mountains, the Boncuk Daglari and the Baba Dagi, and in the east the greatest range of all, the Bey Daglari. These three ranges join in the north of Lycia to form a plateau. Because of these ranges, travel was much restricted in ancient Lycia and access to many parts of the country was practical only by traveling along the coast. For example, the valley of the Xanthos River which formed one of the main land communications routes (then and today) could be reached from central Lycia only via Kalkan (ancient Phoenicus).

The Xanthos River was the longest and largest river in Lycia and the main water supply for many of the Lycian cities. It begins about 25 miles inland and empties into the sea at Patara. In Lycian times, like today, the river provided the people of the Xanthos valley with rich, fertile soil for planting as well as lush wildlife. The Xanthos valley is long and relatively wide for river valleys in Lycia - fifteen to twenty kilometers for most of its length. Communication between cities in the valley was easy and this area was the political center of Lycia for much of antiquity. Four of the most important cities of Lycia were located here: Tlos, Xanthos, Pinara and Patara, most of them located on the slopes of the flanking mountain ranges. Central Lycia is a completely different territory, consisting mainly of a large number of small valleys separated by mountain ridges. This led to the large number of independent cities in antiquity. Many Lycian cities lay along the coast as well, as Lycia had a powerful naval force and traded by sea.

The climate of Lycia is typical of that of the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia - lush and green in the spring, hot and dry in the summer. The mountains provide a much cooler climate in the summer and, like today, it appears that transhumance was practiced by the Lycians, taking their flocks to higher altitudes in the summer. In fact, it appears that the eighty families who escaped the first sack of Xanthos were at their summer pastures at the time above the Xanthos valley. The vegetation of Lycia consisted of bush and crops in the coastal areas and forests and pastures towards the mountains. Indeed, Lycia was once heavily forested and famous in antiquity for its export of cedar.

Lycia was strategically important to many competing imperial powers (Alexander the Great, Romans, the Knights of St. John, the Ottomans, etc.) due to its location on the Mediterranean coast. Its coastline made up a vital stretch of military sea-route from the Aegean to the eastern Mediterranean. Due to limitations of provisions and sea-worthiness, the seafarers of the Classical period were unable to operate far out of sight of land and always had to put into shore for the night. As maximum daily range for that time seems to be about two hundred and thirty to sixty kilometers, it any ship passing Lycia would have to put into shore in the area especially since most of the coastline along Lycia is inhospitable (known from the large number of Bronze Age, Hellenistic, and Byzantine wrecks off the Lycian shore) and by the shortage of fresh water. Therefore, any power with control over the Lycian coast could at least know where the enemy fleet would be going. Power over this coast was additionally attractive for control over merchant routes. It is believed that a large trade route existed along the coast of the Levant and the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia, and there was a direct trade route from Lycia to Egypt, both from the Late Bronze Age until the Roman periods. This trade route was very important for the passage of cultural contacts, especially with the Greek world. Most visitors from Greece to Lycia, even if they did not come to trade, would come as St. Paul did on a merchant ship.

Lycian Government
The Lycian Federation is the first known democratic union in history. It eventually consisted of 23 cities. Each elected one, two, or three representatives to the Federal Assembly, depending on the size of the city. The six largest cities - Xanthos, Patara, Pinara, Tlos, Myra and Olympos - had the maximum of 3 votes. Each autumn the assembly met in a different city and elected the Lyciarch and other federal officers including jurors in the federal courts. This system of elected representatives was unique in the ancient world and much admired by the ancients and later peoples. In fact, the writers of the constitution of the United States studied the Lycian federal system of government with proportional representation as a possible model for their own government (see the Federalist Papers). Xanthos was the first capital of Lycia, later it was located at Myra.

Excerpts from the Federalist Papers Regarding Lycia
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison in 1787-88. They were published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution.

FEDERALIST No. 9

The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection
For the Independent Journal.
Alexander Hamilton

In the Lycian confederacy, which consisted of twenty-three CITIES or republics, the largest were entitled to THREE votes in the COMMON COUNCIL, those of the middle class to TWO, and the smallest to ONE. The COMMON COUNCIL had the appointment of all the judges and magistrates of the respective CITIES. This was certainly the most, delicate species of interference in their internal administration; for if there be any thing that seems exclusively appropriated to the local jurisdictions, it is the appointment of their own officers. Yet Montesquieu, speaking of this association, says: ``Were I to give a model of an excellent Confederate Republic, it would be that of Lycia.'' Thus we perceive that the distinctions insisted upon were not within the contemplation of this enlightened civilian; and we shall be led to conclude, that they are the novel refinements of an erroneous theory.

Federalist No. 16

The Same Subject Continued:
The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union
From the New York Packet.
Tuesday, December 4, 1787
Alexander Hamilton

THE tendency of the principle of legislation for States, or communities, in their political capacities, as it has been exemplified by the experiment we have made of it, is equally attested by the events which have befallen all other governments of the confederate kind, of which we have any account, in exact proportion to its prevalence in those systems. The confirmations of this fact will be worthy of a distinct and particular examination. I shall content myself with barely observing here, that of all the confederacies of antiquity, which history has handed down to us, the Lycian and Achaean leagues, as far as there remain vestiges of them, appear to have been most free from the fetters of that mistaken principle, and were accordingly those which have best deserved, and have most liberally received, the applauding suffrages of political writers.

Federalist No. 45

The Alleged Danger From the Powers of the Union to the State Governments Considered
For the Independent Journal
James Madison

We have seen, in all the examples of ancient and modern confederacies, the strongest tendency continually betraying itself in the members, to despoil the general government of its authorities, with a very ineffectual capacity in the latter to defend itself against the encroachments. Although, in most of these examples, the system has been so dissimilar from that under consideration as greatly to weaken any inference concerning the latter from the fate of the former, yet, as the States will retain, under the proposed Constitution, a very extensive portion of active sovereignty, the inference ought not to be wholly disregarded. In the Achaean league it is probable that the federal head had a degree and species of power, which gave it a considerable likeness to the government framed by the convention. The Lycian Confederacy, as far as its principles and form are transmitted, must have borne a still greater analogy to it. Yet history does not inform us that either of them ever degenerated, or tended to degenerate, into one consolidated government. On the contrary, we know that the ruin of one of them proceeded from the incapacity of the federal authority to prevent the dissensions, and finally the disunion, of the subordinate authorities. These cases are the more worthy of our attention, as the external causes by which the component parts were pressed together were much more numerous and powerful than in our case; and consequently less powerful ligaments within would be sufficient to bind the members to the head, and to each other.


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.

The Lycian Coast and the
Scourge of Piracy

Pirates were the scourge of the ancient Mediterranean and the Lycian coast justly gained the reputation as the "Pirate Coast". This coast is dotted with many strategically placed coves and islands where the sea-raiders would hide themselves and pounce upon the many heavily-laden merchant ships sailing by. Numerous efforts were continually necessary to clean up the coast from as early as 1194 BC and as late as the 19th century. The Lycian city of Phaselis especially suffered from pirates. During its brief independence from Lycia (c. 100 BC) it was overrun by Cilician pirates and became their base for a time, until they were driven out by the Roman general Servilius Vatia in 78 BC. The city had quickly became smaller with a diminished population. Piracy was one of the reasons why there were few Lycian coastal cities.

Records regarding piracy show:

Ramses III of Egypt put together a great fleet to take on the Lukki (Egyptian name for the Lycian area). He was successful and the coast was free of pirates for a while.

In 480 BC the Lycians contributed fifty ships to Xerxes' invasion of Greece. Heredotus gives us this description of the motley crews aboard:

"The wore greaves and corslets; they carried bows of cornel wood, cane arrows without feathers, and javelins. They had goatskin slung round their shoulders, and hats stuck round with feathers. They also carried daggers and rip-hooks."

Piracy was again mentioned in the 5th c BC, but not until the Roman occupation of Asia Minor were any efforts made to bring it under control. Early attempts were somewhat effectual, but it was not until 67 BC that Admiral Pompey, given huge powers and almost unlimited resources, was able to check the piracy problem with great success.

After the fall of Rome the Lycian coast once more became heavily saturated with pirate fleets. It was not until the presence of the British Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries that the Lycian coast was finally cleaned up.

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.

The Nereid Monument, British Museum

In 1843 Fellows returned to Lycia to complete his excavations and was later knighted by Queen Victoria on May 7, 1845 at St. James's Palace. Many of his finds can still be seen in the British Museum today - the Xanthian Room has always been among the most popular in the museum. All of Fellows’ excursions were painstakingly recorded and beautifully illustrated. The details of his account and beautiful illustrations (see picture above) can be seen in the excellent book Xanthus, Travels of Discovery in Turkey by Enid Slatter.

Fellows' work was very influential and during the next decade Lycia was the focus for a number of surveys done by European geographers, naturalists and archaeologists. Some were sent specifically by their governments to find ancient sculptures to put in their museums.

Battle Scene Relief on the Nereid Monument, British Museum
(Amazon women fighting "barbarians")

Recent Discoveries In Lycia

No excavation was done in Lycia following the interest Fellows sparked briefly in the 1850's and most of the sites remained untouched save for a small amount of digging by villagers. The first sign of a resurgence of interest in Lycia was the publication of Akurgal's (a famous Turkish archaeologist) work on the sixth-century AD reliefs of Lycia in 1941. Lycian studies advanced a bit further in 1962 when a French team (Demargne and Metzgen) began the excavation of Xanthos and its associated nearby sanctuary, Letoon. In the last two decades excavations have reached a peak with archaeological work at a number of sites. Currently there is a French team excavating Xanthos and Letoon. There is an Austrian team working at Limyra which regularly produces monographs on Lycian matters. A German team (Kolb,1990 - 1995 and Marksteiner, 1997) recently worked at Kyaneai and its associated territory at Arycanda (Bayburtoglu, 1993 - 2000).

Two international conferences on Lycia were held in Paris in 1979 and Vienna in 1990.

Recent publications on Lycia include George Bean's Lycian Turkey, a comprehensive guide to the archaeological sites, Neumann's collection of Lycian inscriptions discovered this century and the first volume of a major work intending to encompass all aspects of Lycian culture (Bryce, 1986). Dynastic Lycia, A Politcal History of the Lycians and Their Relations With Foreign Powers C. 545-362 BC. by Antony G. Keen (1998) is a large and scholarly study.

Despite the recent interest in Lycia, many Lycian sites remain virtually untouched and no one really knows what is buried under their ground. It may be much - the Turkish archeologist Cevdet Bayburtluoglu has begun uncovering the formerly obscure Arycanda which may prove to be one of the most spectacular ruin sites in all of Turkey. Work is also ongoing at Patara, where an extensive city is being unearthed from the sand.

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