LEUCOSYRI
Eth.
LEUCOSYRI (Eth.
Λευκόσνροι), the ancient name of the Syrians inhabiting Cappadocia, by which they were distinguished from the more southern Syrians, who were of a darker complexion. (
Hdt. 1.72,
7.72;
Strab. xvi. p.737;
Plin. Nat. 6.3; Eustath.
ad Dionys. 772, 970.) They also spread over the western parts of Pontus, between the rivers Iris and Halys.
In the time of Xenophon (
Xen. Anab. 5.6.8, &c.) they were united with Paphlagonia, and governed by a Paphlagonian prince, who is said to have had an army of 120,000 men, mostly horsemen.
This name was often used by the Greeks, even at the time when it had become customary to designate
[p. 2.172]all the inhabitants of the country by their native, or rather Persian name, Cappadoces ; but it was applied more particularly to the inhabitants of the coast district on the Euxine, between the rivers Halys and Iris. (Hecat.
Fragm. 194, 200,. 350; Marcian. Heracl. p. 72.) Ptolemy (
5.6.2) also applies the name exclusively to the inhabitants about the Iris, and treats of their country as a part of the province of Cappadocia. The Leucosyri were regarded as colonists, who had been planted there during the early conquests of the Assyrians, and were successively subject to Lydia, Persia, and Macedonia; but after the time of Alexander their name is scarcely mentioned, the people having become entirely amalgamated with the nations among which they lived.
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L.S]
