Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK V. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED., CHAP. 28.

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CHAP. 28.—LYCIA.

In Lycia, after leaving its promontory¹, we come to the town of Simena, Mount Chimæra², which sends forth flames by night, and the city of Hephæstium³, the heights above which are also frequently on fire. Here too formerly stood the city of Olympus⁴; now we find the mountain places known as Gagæ⁵, Corydalla⁶, and Rhodiopolis⁷. Near the sea is Limyra⁸ with a river of like name, into which the Arycandus flows, Mount Masycites⁹, the state of Andriaca¹⁰, Myra¹¹, the towns of Aperræ¹² and Antiphellos¹³, formerly called Habessus, and in a corner Phellos¹⁴, after which comes Pyrra, and then the city of Xanthus¹⁵, fifteen miles from the sea, as also a river known by the same name. We then come to Patara¹⁶, formerly Pataros, and Sidyma, situate on a moun- tain. Next comes the Promontory of Cragus¹⁷, and beyond it a gulf¹⁸, equal to the one that comes before it; upon it are Pinara¹⁹, and Telmessus²⁰, the frontier town of Lycia.

Lycia formerly contained seventy towns, now it has but thirty-six. Of these, the most celebrated, besides those already mentioned, are Canas²¹, Candyba, so celebrated for the Œnian Grove, Podalia, Choma, past which the river Ædesa flows, Cyaneæ²², Ascandalis, Amelas, Noscopium, Tlos²³, and Telandrus²⁴. It includes also in the interior the district of Cabalia, the three cities of which are Œnianda, Balbura²⁵, and Bubon²⁶.

On passing Telmessus we come to the Asiatic or Carpathian Sea, and the district which is properly called Asia. Agrippa has divided this region into two parts; one of which he has bounded on the east by Phrygia and Lycaonia, on the west by the Ægean Sea, on the south by the Egyptian Sea, and on the north by Paphlagonia, making its length to be 473 miles and its breadth 320. The other part he has bounded by the Lesser Armenia on the east, Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pamphylia on the west, the province of Pontus on the north, and the Sea of Pamphylia on the south, making it 575 miles in length and 325 in breadth.

1 Of Chelidonium, now Kheidonia, formed by the range of Taurus.

2 See B. ii. c. 116. The flame which continually burned on this mountain has been examined by Beaufort, the modern traveller. The name of the mountain is now Yanar: it is formed of a mass of scaglia with serpentine. Spratt says that the flame is nothing more than a stream of inflammable gas issuing from a crevice, such as is seen in several places in the Apennines. By Homer it is represented as a fabulous monster, which is explained by Servius, the commentator of Virgil, in the following manner. He says that flames issue from the top of the mountain, and that there are lions in the vicinity; the middle part abounds in goats, and the lower part with serpents. Simena appears to be unknown.

3 So called from ῞ηφαιστς, the Greek name of Vulcan. Pliny mentions this spot also in B. ii. c. 110. The flame probably proceeded from an inflammable gas, or else was ignited by a stream of naphtha.

4 More generally known as Phœnicus, a flourishing city on Mount Olympus; now Yanar Dagh, a volcano on the eastern coast of Lycia, with which it often exchanged names. Having become the head-quarters of the pirates, it was destroyed by the Roman general Servilius Isauricus. Its ruins are to be seen at a spot called Deliktash.

5 Mentioned again in B. xxxvi. c. 34, as the spot whence the gagates lapis or 'agate' took its name. The ruins at Aladja are regarded by Leake as marking the site of Gagæ; but Sir Charles Fellowes identifies the place with the modern village of Hascooe, the vicinity of which is covered with ruins.

6 On the road from Phaselis in Lycia to Patara. Its site is a village called Hadgivella, about sixteen miles south-west of Phaselis. The remains are very considerable.

7 The remains of Rhodiopolis were found by Spratt and Forbes in the vicinity of Corydalla.

8 On the Limyrus, probably the modern Phineka; the ruins to the north of which are supposed to be those of Limyra.

9 The modern Akhtar Dagh.

10 Now Andraki. This was the port of Myra, next mentioned. It stood at the mouth of the river now known as the Andraki. Cramer observes that it was here St. Paul was put on board the ship of Alexandria, Acts xxvii. 5, 6.

11 Still called Myra by the Greeks, but Dembre by the Turks. It was built on a rock twenty stadia from the sea. St. Paul touched here on his voyage as a prisoner to Rome, and from the mention made of it in Acts xxvii. 5, 6, it would appear to have been an important sea-port. There are magnificent ruins of this city still to be seen, in part hewn out of the solid rock.

12 From an inscription found by Cockerell at the head of the Hassac Bay, it is thought that Aperlœ is the proper name of this place, though again there are coins of Gordian which give the name as Aperrœ. It is fixed by the Stadismus as sixty stadia west of Somena, which Leake supposes to be the same as the Simena mentioned above by Pliny.

13 Now called Antephelo or Andifilo, on the south coast of Lycia, at the head of a bay. Its theatre is still complete, with the exception of the proscenium. There are also other interesting remains of antiquity.

14 Fellowes places the site of Phellos near a village called Saaret, west-north-west of Antiphellos, where he found the remains of a town; but Spratt considers this to mark the site of the Pyrra of Pliny, mentioned above—judging from Pliny's words. Modern geographers deem it more consistent with his meaning to look for Phellos north of Antiphellos than in any other direction, and the ruins at Tchookoorbye, north of Antiphellos, on the spur of a mountain called Fellerdagh, are thought to be those of Phellos.

15 The most famous city of Lycia. It stood on the western bank of the river of that name, now called the Echen Chai. It was twice besieged, and on both occasions the inhabitants destroyed themselves with their property, first by the Persians under Harpagus, and afterwards by the Romans under Brutus. Among its most famous temples were those of Sarpedon and of the Lycian Apollo. The ruins now known by the name of Gunik, have been explored by Sir C. Fellows and other travellers, and a portion of its remains are now to be seen in the British Museun, under the name of the Xanthian marbles.

16 Its ruins still bear the same name. It was a flourishing seaport, on a promontory of the same name, sixty stadia east of the mouth of the Xanthus. It was early colonized by the Dorians from Crete, and became a chief seat of the worship of Apollo, from whose son Patarus it was said to have received its name. Ptolemy Philadelphus enlarged it, and called it Arsinoë, but it still remained better known by its old name. This place was visited by St. Paul, who thence took ship for Phœnicia. See Acts xxi. 1.

17 This was more properly the name of a mountain district of Lycia. Strabo speaks of Cragus, a mountain with eight summits, and a city of the same name. Beaufort thinks that Yedy-Booroon, the Seven Capes, a group of high and rugged mountains, appear to have been the ancient Mount Cragus of Lycia.

18 Probably the Gulf of Macri, equal in size to the Gulf of Satalia, which is next to it.

19 This place lay in the interior at the base of Cragus, and its ruins are still to be seen on the east side of the range, about half-way between Telmessus and the termination of the range on the south coast.

20 Its ruins are to be seen at Mei, or the modern port of Macri.

21 Its site is unknown. That of Candyba has been ascertained to be a place called Gendevar, east of the Xanthus, and a few miles from the coast. Its rock-tombs are said to be beautifully executed. The Œnian grove or forest, it has been suggested, may still be recognized in the extensive pine forest that now covers the mountain above the city. The sites of Podalia and Choma seem to be unknown.

22 In some editions "Cyane." Leake says that this place was discovered to the west of Andriaca by Cockerell. It appears from Scott and Forbes's account of Lycia, that three sites have been found between port Tristorus and the inland valley of Kassabar, which from the inscriptions appeared anciently to have borne this name, Yarvoo, Ghiouristan, and Toussa. The former is the chief place and is covered with ruins of the Roman and middle-age construction. At Ghiouristan there are Lycian rock-tombs.

23 Its ruins are to be seen near the modern Doover, in the interior of Lycia, about two miles and a half east of the river Xanthus. Of the three places previously mentioned the sites appear to be unknown.

24 Mentioned by the geographer Stephanus as being in Caria.

25 Its site is fixed at Katara, on both sides of the Katara Su, the most northern branch of the Xanthus. The ruins are very considerable, lying on both sides of the stream. Balbura is a neuter plural.

26 It lay to the west of Balbura, near a place now called Ebajik, on a small stream that flows into the Horzoom Tchy. In B. xxxv. c. 17, Pliny mentions a kind of chalk found in the vicinity of this place. Its ruins are still to be seen, but they are not striking.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Commentary references to this page (1):
- E. T. Merrill, Commentary on Catullus, 64
Cross-references to this page (35):
- The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, CHOMA (Hacimusalar) Lycia, Turkey.
- The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, KADYANDA (Üzümlü) Lycia, Turkey.
- The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, KANDYBA (Gendeve) Lycia, Turkey.
- The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, KORYDALLA Lycia, Turkey.
- The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, LISSA Turkey.
- The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, SÖĞLE (“Podalia”) Lycia, Turkey.
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APHRODI´SIAS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARTEMI´SIUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), A´SIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AXON
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BUBASSUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CALYNDA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CA´RIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CAUNUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CNIDUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CRYA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), DORIS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), EURO´MUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HABESSUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HEPHAE´STION
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LI´MYRUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LY´CIA or Lyceia
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MASSICYTES
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), OENOANDA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PATARA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PINARA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PODALAEA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PYRNUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), RHO´DIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SIDYMA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TAURUS MONS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TELMESSUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TLOS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), XANTHUS
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), X´ANTHUS
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
- Lewis & Short, Phĭlaeni
- Lewis & Short, bŏrĕas

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 28.—LYCIA.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 28.—LYCIA.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.