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The Lycians are as great a racial and linguistic puzzle as the Carians. Their language is usually thought to be Indo-European, on account of the resemblance of its inflexions to those of Greek; but it has not yet been satisfactorily explained, and its connexion with Greek is very doubtful, Meyer i. 476.

The name ‘Lycian’ may be explained: (1) As that of a conquered Anatolian tribe. Cf. the Luka of the great Egyptian invasions (App. X. 8), and the sea-roving Lukki of the Tell El-Amarna Tablets. (2) Or, more probably, as a Greek name derived from a confusion of Apollo Λύκειος (the wolf god) with the deity of Patara (Farnell, G. C. iv. 113). The geographical position of the Lycians on the sea-coasts seems to confirm the tradition of their origin as immigrants ἐκ Κρήτης. They borrowed much from Greece, includ ing partially their alphabet, but retained their nationality and political individuality (for the Lycian League cf. Freeman, F. G. p. 208 seq.). Their abundant coinage is evidence of great prosperity in fifth and fourth centuries (Head, H. N. 688 seq.).


This Sarpedon is grandfather (Diod. v. 79) of the Homeric hero, the leader of the Lycians (Il. pass.).

Milyas (iii. 90. 1) is in historic times the high ground north-east of Lycia, as far as Pisidia (Strabo, 631). As no Lycian remains are found here, it was inhabited probably by a distinct people (cf. Arr. Anab. i. 24. 5 ἔστι μὲν τῆς μεγάλης Φρυγίας, συνετέλει δὲ ἐς τὴν Λυκίαν, οὕτως ἐκ βασιλέως μεγάλου τεταγμένον).

‘Solymi’ seems to be the name of the original inhabitants, who were driven into the mountains; so in Il. vi. 184, 204, they are enemies of the Lycians. Strabo (631) says the neighbouring tribe, the Kabaleis (iii. 90 n.), were thought to be ‘Solymi’, and Steph. Byz. (s. v. Πισιδία) says the same of the Pisidians.


The name Τερμίλαι is confirmed by quotations from Hecataeus and Panyasis (fr. 364, F. H. G. i. 30; iii. 236), and by the TRXM*lI of the Harpagus obelisk in the British Museum.

The aetiological myth as to the name ‘Lycians’ is part of the expansion of the Theseus story (Aegeus was the human father of Theseus), which accompanied the rise of Athenian power under and after the Pisistratidae (Bury, i. 213).


For explanations of, and parallels to (e.g. Tacitus, Germania, c. 20), this interesting survival of primitive usage cf. Westermarck, cap. v; he argues that it does not prove (as McLennan thought) a time when promiscuity was the rule and paternity uncertain. In many most primitive tribes (W. gives a list, pp. 98 seq.) kinship through males was the rule. Kinship through females may be based on various ideas, e.g. the fact that ‘paternity is a matter of inference, maternity of observation’ (Maine), on the closer connexion between mothers and their children, or on primitive polygamy. It is confirmed for Lycia by Il. vi. 196-206; Sarpedon, the sister's son, is chief, and the male heir, Glaucus, subordinate.

Probably the usage belongs to the primitive Anatolian stock; cf. App. I. 3.

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