This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Religion and Cultural Conservatism in Lycia: Xanthos and the Letoon Marc Megrelis Ph.D. Thesis School of History, Classics and Archaeology The University of Edinburgh 2013 1 Abstract: In Lycia, Xanthos and its main sanctuary, the Letoon, have throughout centuries kept some very particular features which have survived intense cultural upheavals and influences both Persian and Greeks. The infrastructures and shape of the Letoon indicates that there is more to the sanctuary’s rituals and architecture than normalised Greek divinities and temples. Lycia, following the Persian invasion in the 540s, remained a remote region of the empire and benefited from an autonomous status. Nevertheless the outside contacts and cultural exchanges multiplied and intensified, especially with the Persian ruling class, but also with the Greeks who took an increasing part into the trade and artistic influence of Lycia. The most important city of the region, Xanthos was the focus of the Persian presence in Lycia but also at the spearhead of Hellenic influence in western Lycia. This underlying Greek presence became ever more pregnant under the rule of the last dynasts of Xanthos at the turn of the fourth century and under the rule of the Carian satraps under the power of whom Lycia was put in the 360s. The Hellenistic period only confirm the prior trend. To begin with, we are trying to define how the Persians had an impact on the Lycian culture and conclude that it was a great influential force but stayed somewhat limited to the higher classes of the Xanthian society. The parallel with the Greek influence is contrasting. The arrival of Greek trends was more insidious but also more widespread to the lower classes of society and lasted longer. We will conclude that none of those influences were imposed but rather chosen by the Xanthian society. We will continue by trying to understand how those cultural manifestations affected local religious beliefs. By exposing the successive evolutions of the Letoon and of the divinities residing here, we will see that the syncretic divinities of the Letoon kept a lot of their ancestral attributes and places of worship are keeping track with their sacred past. In this process we are trying to show that religion holds a peculiar place in a nation or a city’s culture. In this attempt we are concluding that religion is the most stable aspect of a local culture and is the recipient for the safeguard of a nation’s identity. I declare that the following work is mine and that I have composed it alone under the supervision of Pr Andrew Erskine and Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. It does not include any previously submitted works for any other degree. I declare to have followed the guidelines of the University of Edinburgh and of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology for the submission of a PhD thesis. Marc Megrelis 81,634 words 2 Preface: In this thesis the attempt is to do an interdisciplinary comparative study of the culture and religion of Xanthos and to isolate religion as the main factor and recipient of cultural conservatism. From this perspective I use primary and secondary sources as well as evidence from outside Xanthos to parallel evolutions in our Xanthian materials to other sites where studies have already gone further into describing cultural phenomena. In my previous research up to this point, I have been confronted with a number of difficulties mostly related to the lack of decisive materials. I had focused my attention on Cilicia. My Maîtrise dissertation in Paris was a monography on Tarsus and religious evolution was one of the great interests of mine, while my MPhil dissertation in Cambridge was concentrated on the main divinities of Cilicia, Aspera and Tracheia. This region presents a number of interesting situations in which native divinities and local culture were replaced by foreign ones without losing the core substance of what were the native culture and cults, or so I theorised. Unfortunately none of the cases could offer such a wide spectrum of evidence as Xanthos does. Therefore none of my hypotheses were conclusive enough for my liking. Xanthos provides a well-documented case of culture and religion which are ever-changing due to frequent political changes. There the evidence and its analysis is rich and growing thanks to the extensive and yearly excavations. It therefore gives us the opportunity to have better understanding of the phenomena in action in an evolving Anatolian culture in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.The knowledge of the sites has been enhanced by two trips to Xanthos during the length of this PhD and therefore some of the pictures added are mine. I would also like to apologise to the readers of this thesis for the awkwardness of my English. I have been in the UK for the last six years, unfortunately, to add to my inadequacies, most of my readings were in French and I have had difficulties separating the two languages. Despite the numerous advices I have received from my PhD supervisors, Pr. Andrew Erskine and Dr. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, the readers might still find it arduous to read and I sincerely hope it will not impede my ability to put arguments through. 3 As well as being grateful to Andrew for his constant reminders of my goals, his well- needed advice and his support when the end of the tunnel seemed quite far, I would like to thank again Dr. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Dr. Sandra Bingham and Dr. Ulf- Dietrich Schoop for their advice and corrections. I would like also to thank Jean- Marie Bertrand whose guidance was well-needed. Without them I would never have been able to finish this thesis. I would like to thank my fellow PhD student John Horton for his corrections. Thank you to all the people who showed me support and understanding, friends or family. NB-During the course of this thesis, if the era of the dates is not mentioned, the reader should assume they are before the Christian era. 4 5 Table of Contents : - Introduction , p. i- The excavations in Xanthos and the Letoon: two combined sites ii- ii-Bibliography iii- iii-Materials and sources iv- Geography v- v-Origins and identity vi- vi-The major phases of the Letoon vii- vii-Ethnicity and origins of the Lycians viii- viii-The native divinities ix- ix- Adaptation of Foreign religions to political and cultural changes - Chapter 1: The Letoon and the Lycian identity: an early history , p. i- The first traces of settlements: archaic Arnna at the spearhead of Lycian urbanisation, p. ii- The division of roles between the Letoon and Xanthos, p. iii- Eni mahanahi (annis massanassis), eni qlahi ebiyehi : the rise of the Letoon as the Lycian religious centre, p. iv- The Persian invasion and the role of the Xanthians: already a people apart in Lycia, p. - Chapter 2: The dynasty and the Achaemenidisation of the Xanthian society , p. i- The Dynasts and the political institutions of the Lycian City, p. ii- Achaemenidisation of occupied society: the example of Sardis and its comparison with Xanthos, p. iii- Arbinnas and the last dynasts of Xanthos, p. - Chapter 3: The transition towards the Hellenistic period: Perikles of Limyra, the satrapal era and the Trilingual , p. i- Perikles of Limyra, the change of regime in Lycia and the growing Hellenic influence in the fourth century, p. ii- The Trilingual Stele and its significance for Lycian society and status within the Persian empire, p. iii- The Letoon as a regional focal point, p. iv- Persian and Greek migrations and the onomastics in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, p. 6 - Chapter 4: the progressive acculturation of Xanthos and the Letoon: the cultural Greek and Persian elements , p. i- The Achaemenids and the Xanthian culture and religion, p. ii- The Greco-Persian artefacts of Xanthos, p. iii- The Greek idea of Lycia and the Lycian perception of Greek culture, p. iv- The Letoon, the successive developments and adjustments of the sanctuary, p. v- The new role of the Letoon, a Lycian symbolic regional centre, p. - Chapter 5: The divinities of the Letoon: evolutions and developments , p. i- Leto of Xanthos, the great Lycian Mother-Goddess and its spring, p. ii- Artemis of Xanthos and of the Letoon, p. iii- Apollo, p. - Conclusion , p. - Image Appendix , p. - Bibliography , p. 7 List of Illustrations (in the Appendix): Figure 1: Map of Ancient Lycia Fig. 2: Map of Ancient Lycia with reliefs Fig.3: The ‘Inscribed Pillar’ Fig.4 : The Letoon seen from the south Fig. 5 : Map of the site of Xanthos from the archaeological team (as of the 2009 excavations plans) Fig. 6 : One of the four reliefs of the Harpy tomb, now at the British Museum Fig. 7 : Coin of Kuprilli (SNG Von Aulock 8479) Fig.