Lycians

The Lycians were an ancient people inhabiting Lycia, a coastal region of southwestern Anatolia in what is now Turkey. They spoke Lycian, an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European family, and used a distinctive script derived from the Greek alphabet in inscriptions.

Geography and political organization: Lycia ran along the southern coast and centered on city-states such as Xanthos, Patara, Myra, Pinara, and Telmessos. In the Hellenistic period, Lycia formed the Lycian League, a federal association with shared institutions and a common assembly that facilitated political cooperation among its cities.

Language and writing: The Lycian language is known from inscriptions dating from the 5th century BCE onward. It is related to other Anatolian languages but is only sparsely attested. The Lycian script is derived from the Greek alphabet with several distinct letters.

History and culture: Lycia was part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, retaining local autonomy within the satrapy system. After Alexander the Great, it became part of the Hellenistic world and later the Roman Empire. The region produced notable monuments such as rock-cut tombs at Xanthos, the Harpy Tomb, and the temple complexes at Letoon, and it left inscriptions and coins that illuminate civic life and language.

Legacy: Under late antiquity, Lycia came under Roman and later Byzantine rule, and the Lycian language gradually disappeared as Greek and Latin became dominant. The term Lycians is used to refer to the inhabitants of Lycia in antiquity and in scholarly references.