Lycian orography

SUMMARY That which lies on the southeastern comer of Asia Minor, which is now Teke Peninsula, was named Lycia in the Antiquity. As revealed by the written documents which go back to 2nd millennium BC, as well as archeological evidence, Lycia became a peculiar stage of cultural and political development of herself. As to the most evident elements within the very scenery of that stage, those are no doubt the mountains of Lycia. As a matter of fact, the Lycians whose consciousness of freedom had been made a subject of numerous legendary stories, could show praiseworthy defences mat should be esteemed, against Croesus, Harpagus, Melasander, Alexander, Brutus and Mithridates as well, by the means of prophylaxis which the Lycian mountains supply. Mountains, moreover, seem to play an important role in the moral life of the Lycians. Such a phenomenon can easily be traced in their peculiar rock-tombs. Within that theme myths related to the Lycian mountains such as Chunaera, Cragus and Solyma may be seen as an other evidence. Of those the most well-known Chimaera, which attracted the interest of numerous ancient writers from Homer to Plato, preserved the mythological genuine of itself in question till down 19th century when it was rediscovered by the western scholars. Mountains determining the Lycians' political fate, as well as their cultural and social identity had a prominent role in their socio-economic structure. The Lycian mountains lying in tile western Taurus are formed into three principal chains which run parallel to each other extending from northeast to southwest. The alluvial plains which are broken by those chains being watered by the rivers which the mountains generate all the year round, have provided the most favorable areas for agriculture and urbanism. Furthermore, the products of Lycia, naturally, were gathered from that mountainous region. Its principle source of wealth was its forests, containing the pines which still clothe the slopes of the great ranges, as well as a variety, cedar which grows up at the altitude between 1500 and 2000 meters, and also has a vital importance for ship-building. In spite of significance for analysing the cultural and historical geography of Lycia, the Lycian mountains are not well-studied. One can see the mistakes related to the Lycian Orography which were preserved for over than one hundred years as an evident proof for such a state of investigation. Nevertheless, Stadiasmus Patarensis discovered in 1994 gave way topioneer investigations in order to solve those problems; so that the Lycian Oronyma can be reconstructed on a more accurate base. As a consequence, the main purpose of the thesis is to investigate Lycian Orography by analysing the political, cultural and economic history of the region by the means of ancient literary, numismatic and epigraphic evidence.