religions Article Of Winged Women and Stone Tombs: Identity and Agency through Iron Age Lycian Mortuary Architecture Stephanie Selover Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; [email protected] Abstract: The people collectively named the Lycians in modern scholarship are the best represented of the western Anatolian first millennium BC cultures in terms of philological, historical, and archaeological data. This article seeks to better understand the meanings behind Iron Age Lycian mortuary monuments and religious images, and how they reflect Lycian identity and agency in a time of political turmoil. By studying the Lycian mortuary landscape, tombs and images, we can begin to comprehend Lycian perceptions of the afterlife, religion and cultural identity. In particular, we look to the images of the so-called “Harpies” and “Running Men” to better understand evidence of the afterlife, connections to the past and the creation of their own identity of what it means to be Lycian. The study of Lycian mortuary trends, monumental architecture, and religion gives us a small but tantalizing view into the Lycian understanding of religion and death, and how they wielded their own culture as a tool for survival in a politically fraught world. Keywords: Lycia; mortuary architecture; mortuary landscape; religious images; stone tombs; winged women; western Anatolia Citation: Selover, Stephanie. 2021. Of Winged Women and Stone Tombs: 1. Introduction Identity and Agency through Iron Age Lycian Mortuary Architecture. Lycia, a region located in southwestern Anatolia, is sometimes called the Land of Religions 12: 643. https://doi.org/ Tombs. Modern visitors to the region easily understand why. Littered throughout the 10.3390/rel12080643 landscape are the remnants of hundreds of stone tombs, dating from the Early Iron Age through the Roman period. In terms of first millennium BC western Anatolian societies, Academic Editors: Sharon Steadman, the Lycians are perhaps the best represented in terms of philological, historical, and Nicola Laneri and Marica Cassis archaeological data. However, it is their tombs that tend to capture the imagination the most. Much scholarship has engaged with these religious and mortuary monuments; 19th Received: 10 June 2021 century scholarship, in particular, focused on how the Lycians and their tombs fit into Accepted: 9 August 2021 the Hellenistic world. Lycian culture was situated between the Greek and Achaemenid Published: 14 August 2021 spheres, and many aspects of their culture, particularly elite culture, were affected by these major powers. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral Lycian studies are often part of Classical rather than Near Eastern scholarship. As a with regard to jurisdictional claims in result, the carved scenes preserved on Lycian tombs, as well as any mentions of deities in published maps and institutional affil- tomb texts, are most often interpreted through the lens of Greek religion. Greek elements iations. tend to be over emphasized, as they are better known and attested, while Lycian traits are less well established in the literature. Kuban reports from his research into Greek versus Lycian traits across Lycian tombs that less than 10 percent of the recorded iconographic and architectural traits are Greek rather than Lycian, similar to that of Greek to Lycian Copyright: © 2021 by the author. inscriptions in the same datasets (Kuban 2016, p. 413). What is clear is that during the Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. eighth to fifth centuries BC, Lycian religion was not yet completely Hellenized. The Lycians This article is an open access article retained their own pantheon, religious practices and views of the afterlife, quite distinct distributed under the terms and from what is known elsewhere in the Mediterranean world. conditions of the Creative Commons While we have little textual evidence from the Lycian people themselves, these mon- Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// uments present our best insight into the sacred and the architecture created to celebrate creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ and remember the sacred. Mortuary material reflects the cultural moment in which it was 4.0/). Religions 2021, 12, 643. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080643 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 22 Religions 2021, 12, 643 While we have little textual evidence from the Lycian people themselves, these 2mon- of 21 uments present our best insight into the sacred and the architecture created to celebrate and remember the sacred. Mortuary material reflects the cultural moment in which it was created, though the ways a people treat their dead is also quite conservative. Aspects of created, though the ways a people treat their dead is also quite conservative. Aspects of religion and culture are directly reflected in the mortuary architecture of a people, from religion and culture are directly reflected in the mortuary architecture of a people, from placement in the landscape, to the various style of tombs and graves created, to the choice placement in the landscape, to the various style of tombs and graves created, to the choice of iconographic scenes invoked on the tombs themselves. of iconographic scenes invoked on the tombs themselves. This article seeks to better understand the meaning of mortuary landscapes, monu- This article seeks to better understand the meaning of mortuary landscapes, monu- ments and religious images utilized by the Lycians, how this reflects Lycian identity and ments and religious images utilized by the Lycians, how this reflects Lycian identity and agency in a time of often fluctuating political control and unrest, and impacts expressions agency in a time of often fluctuating political control and unrest, and impacts expressions ofof culturalcultural values values and and identity, identity, especially especially in in mortuary-related mortuary-related activities. activities By. studyingBy studying Lycian Ly- tombscian tombs and images, and images, we can we begin can tobegin comprehend to comprehend Lycian perceptionsLycian perception of the afterlife,s of the religion,afterlife, andreligion, cultural and identity. cultural identity. 2.2. TheThe LyciansLycians LyciaLycia isis locatedlocated inin thethe southwesternsouthwestern cornercorner ofof Anatolia,Anatolia, makingmaking upup thethe modern-daymodern-day provincesprovinces ofof AntalyaAntalya andand Mu˘gla(SeeMuğla (See FigureFigure1 ).1). Unlike Unlike the the other other western western Anatolian Anatolian Iron Iron AgeAge civilizationscivilizations (i.e.,(i.e., Lydia,Lydia, Caria,Caria, Phrygia),Phrygia), wewe havehave aa relativelyrelatively largelarge numbernumber ofof textstexts fromfrom Lycia:Lycia: aroundaround 400400 toto datedate ((TekoğluTeko˘glu 2016 2016),), primarily primarily found found at at thethe sitesite ofof XanthosXanthos andand fromfrom epigraphs.epigraphs. From thesethese texts, we knowknow the native name of the Lycians was Trmmis.. LateLate Bronze Age (ca. (ca. 1600 1600–1100–1100 BC) BC) texts texts in inHittite, Hittite, Egyptian, Egyptian, and and Ugaritic Ugaritic mention mention a peo- a peopleple called called the the LukkaLukka, generally, generally assumed assumed to to be be the the Bronze Bronze Age Age Lycians, Lycians, based based on thethe likelylikely locationlocation ofof the Lukka landslands and and the the similarity similarity in in name. name. The The LukkaLukka peoplepeople are are mentioned mentioned by bythe the Egyptians Egyptians as asfighting fighting on on the the side side of of the the Hittites Hittites during during the the Battle of Kadesh inin 12741274 BC,BC, andand laterlater asas partpart ofof thethe groupgroup collectivelycollectively knownknown asas thethe SeaSea PeoplesPeoples ((BryceBryce 19861986,, p.p. 7);7); theythey werewere alsoalso mentionedmentioned inin lettersletters fromfrom UgaritUgarit ( (GanderGander 2016 2016,, p. p. 80).80). BeyondBeyond thethe evidenceevidence ofof names,names, howhow connectedconnected areare thethe IronIron AgeAge peoples,peoples, calledcalled thethe Lycians,Lycians, toto thethe BronzeBronze AgeAge peoplepeople calledcalled thetheLukka Lukka?? FigureFigure 1. MapMap of of Lycia Lycia (By (By Caliniuc Caliniuc—This—This file filewas was derive derivedd from: from: Asia Minor Asia Minor in the inGreco the-Roman Greco- Romanperiod— period—generalgeneral map—regions map—regions and main and mainsettlements.jpg, settlements.jpg, CC BY CC-SA BY-SA 4.0, 4.0,https://commons.wiki- https://commons. media.org/w/index.php?curid=74974031 accessed on 14 February 2021). wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74974031 accessed on 14 February 2021). ArchaeologicalArchaeological datadata revealreveal aa continuationcontinuation ofof somesome culturalcultural aspectsaspects withinwithin Lycia,Lycia, fromfrom thethe BronzeBronze AgeAge throughthrough thethe HellenisticHellenistic era,era, includingincluding thethe designdesign andand materialsmaterials usedused inin architecture,architecture, burialburial typologies,typologies, andand religiousreligious materialmaterial culture,culture, asas willwill bebe furtherfurther discusseddiscussed later in this paper. The Lycian language, Trmilli, is descended from Luwian, an Indo- European language that originated in central Anatolia by ca. 1500 BC (Teko˘glu 2016). The earliest known levels of Lycian cities, in particular the large city of Xanthos, generally date to around the eighth to seventh centuries BC (Draycott 2015, p. 10),