Editing Lycia (section)

===Dynastic period===

====Acquisition by Cyrus the Great (circa 540 BC)====
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| caption1 = Charioteers on a tomb at Kizilbel near [[Elmali]], Lycia, c. 525 BC
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| caption2 = Detail of the frescoe: Lycian warrior painted in [[Archaic Greek]] style.
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Herodotus writes more credibly of contemporaneous events, especially where they concerned his native land. Asia Minor had been partly conquered by [[Iranian peoples]], first the [[Scythians]], later the [[Medes]]. The latter were defeated by the [[Persians]], who incorporated them and their lands into the new [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]]. [[Cyrus the Great]], founder of the [[Achaemenid]] dynasty, resolved to complete the conquest of Anatolia as a prelude to operations further west, to be carried out by his successors. He assigned the task to [[Harpagus]], a Median general, who proceeded to subdue the various states of Anatolia, one by one, some by convincing them to submit, others through military action.

Arriving at the southern coast of Anatolia in 546&nbsp;BC, the army of Harpagus encountered no problem with the Carians and their immediate Greek neighbors and alien populations, who submitted peacefully. In the [[Xanthos]] Valley an army of Xanthian Greeks sallied out to meet them, fighting determinedly, although vastly outnumbered. Driven into the citadel, they collected all their property, dependents and slaves into a central building, and burned them up. Then, after taking an oath not to surrender, they died to a man fighting the Persians, foreshadowing and perhaps setting an example for Spartan conduct at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] a few generations later.

[[File:Kybernis north BM B287.jpg|thumb|Probable depiction of the Lycian ruler [[Kybernis]] (520–480 BC), [[Harpy Tomb]]. [[Archaic Greek]] style.]]
Archaeological evidence indicates there was a major fire on the acropolis of Xanthos in the mid-6th century BC but, as Antony Keen points out, there is no way to connect that fire with the event presented by Herodotus. It might have been another fire.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=73}}.</ref> The Caunians, says Herodotus, followed a similar example immediately after.<ref>''Histories'', Book I, Section 176.</ref> If there was an attempt by any of the states of Lycia to join forces, as happened in Greece 50&nbsp;years later, there is no record of it, suggesting that no central government existed. Each country awaited its own fate alone.

Herodotus also says or implies that 80 Xanthian families were away at the time, perhaps with the herd animals in alpine summer pastures (pure speculation), but helped repopulate the place. However, he reports, the Xanthians of his time were mainly descended from non-Xanthians. Looking for any nuance that might shed light on the repopulation of Xanthos, Keen interprets Herodotus' "those Lycians who now say that they are Xanthians" to mean that Xanthos was repopulated by other Lycians (and not by Iranians or other foreigners).<ref name=Keen76>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=76}}.</ref> Herodotus said nothing of the remainder of Lycia; presumably, that is true because they submitted without further incident. Lycia was well populated and flourished as a Persian satrapy; moreover, they spoke mainly Lycian.

====The Harpagid theory====
The Harpagid Theory was initiated by [[Charles Fellows]], discoverer of the [[Xanthian Obelisk]], and person responsible for the transportation of the Xanthian Marbles from Lycia to the [[British Museum]]. Fellows could not read the Lycian inscription, except for one line identifying a person of illegible name, to whom the monument was erected, termed the son of Arppakhu in Lycian, equivalent to Greek [[Harpagos]]. Concluding that this person was the conqueror of Lycia in 546, Fellows conjectured that Harpagos had been made permanent satrap of Lycia for his services; moreover, the position was hereditary, creating a Harpagid Dynasty. This theory prevailed nearly without question for several generations.

[[File:Xanthos sarcophagus (cropped).jpg|thumb|The "[[Harpy Tomb]]" of [[Kybernis]], a solid sandstone pillar with the sarcophagus of Kybernis on top (c. 480 BC).]]
To the inscriptions of the Xanthian Obelisk were added those of the [[Letoon trilingual]], which gave a sequel, as it were, to the names on the obelisk. Studies of coin legends, initiated by Fellows, went on. Currently, most (but not all) of the Harpagid Theory has been rejected. The Achaemenids utilized no permanent satrapies; the political circumstances changed too often. The conqueror of new lands was seldom made their satrap; he went on to other conquests. It was not the Persian custom to grant hereditary satrapies; satrap was only a step in the ''[[cursus honorum]]''. And finally, a destitute mountain country would have been a poor reward for Cyrus' best general.<ref name=Keen76/> The main evidence against the Harpagid Theory (as Keen calls it) is the reconstruction of the name of the Xanthian Obelisk's deceased as Lycian Kheriga, Greek Gergis ([[Nereid Monument]]), a king reigning approximately 440–410&nbsp;BC, over a century later than the conqueror of Lycia.

The next logical possibility is that Kheriga's father, Arppakhu, was a descendant of the conqueror. In opposition, Keen reconstructs the dynastic sequence from coin inscriptions as follows.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|pp=78, 116–117}}.</ref> Kheriga had two grandfathers, Kuprlli and Kheriga. The younger Kheriga was the successor of Kuprlli. The latter's son, therefore, Kheziga, who was Kheriga's uncle, must have predeceased Kuprlli. Arppakhu is listed as regnant on two other inscriptions, but he did not succeed Kuprlli. He must therefore have married a daughter of Kuprlli, and have also predeceased the long-lived Kuprlli. The latter then was too old to reign de facto. On the contemporaneous deaths of both him and his son-in-law, Kheriga, named after his paternal grandfather, acquired the throne.

Kuprlli was the first king recorded for certain (there was an earlier possible) in the coin legends. He reigned approximately 480–440. Harpagos was not related by blood. The conqueror, therefore, was not the founder of the line, which was not Harpagid. An Iranian family, however, producing some other Harpagids, did live in Lycia and was of sufficient rank to marry the king's daughter. As to whether the Iranian family were related to any satrap, probably not. Herodotus said that Satrapy 1 (the satrapies were numbered) consisted of Ionia, Magnesia, Aeolia, Caria, Lycia, Milya, and Pamphylia, who together paid a tax of 400 silver talents. This satrapy was later broken up and recombined.<ref>Herodotus, The Histories, 3.90</ref> Keen hypothesizes that since Caria had responsibility for the King's Highway through Lycia, Lycia and Caria were a satrapy.<ref name="Keen 1998 84">{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=84}}.</ref>

====The Lycian monarchy====
[[File:Karaburun Elmali dignitary 470 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Lycian dignitary in Achaemenid style, at the Karaburun tomb near [[Elmalı]], Lycia, c. 475 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520247314 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA46}}</ref>]]
The [[Achaemenids|Achaemenid Persian]] policy toward Lycia was hands-off.<ref name="Keen 1998 84"/> There was not even a satrap stationed in the country. The reason for this tolerance after such a determined initial resistance is that the Iranians were utilizing another method of control: the placement of aristocratic Persian families in a region to exercise putative home rule. There is some evidence that the Lycian population was not as docile as the Persian hand-off policy would suggest. A section of the [[Persepolis Administrative Archives]] called the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, regarding the redistribution of goods and services in the Persepolis [[palace economy]], mentions some redistributed prisoners of war, among whom were the Turmirla or Turmirliya, Lycian Trm̃mili, "Lycians." They lived during the reign of [[Darius I]] (522–486), the tablets dating from 509.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=86}}.</ref>

{{multiple image
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| image1 = The tomb of Payava, a Lykian aristocrat, about 375-360 BC, from Xanthos, British Museum (9504934234).jpg
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| caption1 = The [[tomb of Payava]], a Lykian aristocrat, about 375–360 BC, from [[Xanthos]], [[British Museum]].
| image2 = Tomb at Pinara.jpg
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| caption2 = Ogival (pointed [[Barrel vault|barrel-vaulted]]) rock-cut tomb at [[Pinara]], Lycia, highly reminiscent of Indian [[Chaitya]] arches.<ref name="GHA">{{cite book |last1=Ching |first1=Francis D.K |author-link1=Frank Ching |last2=Jarzombek |first2=Mark M. |author-link2=Mark Jarzombek |last3=Prakash |first3=Vikramaditya |title=A Global History of Architecture |date=2017 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781118981603 |page=707 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPqKDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT707}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Coomaraswamy |first1=Ananda K. |title=History of Indian and Indonesian art |date=1972 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.52349/page/n313 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.52349}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bombay |first1=Asiatic Society of |title=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay |date=1974 |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bombay |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7NW1AAAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote=The Lydian tombs at Pinara and Xanthos, on the south-coast of Asia Minor, were excavated like the early Indian rock-hewn chaitya-hall. |last1=Joveau-Dubreuil |first1=Gabriel |title=Vedic antiquites |date=1976 |publisher=Akshara |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcEtAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>
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For closer attention to their conquered, the Persian government preferred to establish a [[client state]], setting up a monarchy under their control. The term "[[dynast]]" has come into use among English-speaking scholars, but that is not a native term. The Lycian inscriptions indicate the monarch was titled xñtawati, more phonetically khñtawati. The holders of this title can be traced in coin legends, having been given the right to coin. Lycia had a single monarch, who ruled the entire country from a palace at Xanthos. The monarchy was hereditary, hence the term "dynast." It was utilized by Persia as a means of transmitting Persian policy. It must have been they who put down local resistance and transported the prisoners to Persepolis, or ordered them transported. Some members of the dynasty were Iranian, but mainly it was native Lycian. If the survivors of 546 were in fact herdsmen (speculation), then all the Xanthian nobility had perished, and the Persians must have designated some other Lycian noble, whom they could trust.<ref name=Keen87>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=87}}.</ref>

The first dynast is believed to be the person mentioned in the last line of the Greek epigram inscribed on the [[Xanthian Obelisk]], which says "this monument has brought glory to the family (genos) of ka[]ika," which has a letter missing. It is probably not *karikas, for Kherika, as the latter is translated in the [[Letoon trilingual]] as Gergis. A more likely possibility is *kasikas for Kheziga, the same as Kheriga's uncle, the successor to Kuprlli, who predeceased him.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=81}}.</ref>

Herodotus mentioned that the leader of the Lycian fleet under [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]] in the [[Second Persian War]] of 480&nbsp;BC was ''Kuberniskos Sika'', previously interpreted as "Cyberniscus, the son of Sicas," two non-Lycian names.<ref>Herodotus, The Histories, 7.98.</ref> A slight regrouping of the letters obtains ''kubernis kosika'', "Cybernis, son of Cosicas," where Cosicas is for Kheziga.<ref name=Keen87/> Cybernis went to the bottom of the Straits of Salamis with the entire Lycian fleet in the [[Battle of Salamis]], but he may be commemorated by the [[Harpy Tomb]]. According to this theory, Cybernis was the KUB of the first coin legends, dated to the window, 520–500.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=89}}.</ref> The date would have been more towards 500.<ref>{{harvnb|Hill|1897|p=xxvi}}. – Coin Series I of the British Museum, bearing the KUB, is dated by Hill to the window 520–480, somewhat less precisely than the 520–500.</ref>

There is a gap, however, between him and Kuprlli, who should have had a father named the same as his son, Kheziga. The name Kubernis does not appear again. Keen suggests that [[Darius I]] created the kingship on reorganizing the satrapies in 525, and that on the intestate death of Kubernis in battle, the Persians chose another relative named Kheziga, who was the father of Kuprlli. The Lycian dynasty may therefore be summarized as follows:<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=221}}.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!width=25% |Greek Name !! Lycian "Kings" (at Xanthos) !! Local Lycian rulers !!Coinage!!width=35% | Status !!Date BC
|-
|Pre-dynastic period (c.540–c.530 BC) ||  ||  ||[[File:LYCIA,_Phaselis._Circa_550-530-20_BC.jpg|center|60px]]||Initial Achaemenid control since circa 542/539 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=224}}.</ref>|| c.540–c.530
|-
|Kosikas || Kheziga I ||  ||[[File:Lycia_coin_Circa_520-470_BCE.jpg|center|60px]] ||First of the line. || c.525
|-
|[[Kubernis]] || KUB ||  ||[[File:Kybernis_north_BM_B287.jpg|center|50px]] ||Second in succession, son of the former.|| c.520–480
|-
|Kosikas ||  || Kheziga II ||[[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Uncertain dynast coinage. Circa 490-80-440-30 BC.jpg|center|60px]] || Third in succession, unknown relative (possibly son of Kheziga I ?). || fl. c.500
|-
| rowspan="3" | ? || rowspan="3" valign="top" | [[Kuprlli]] (ΚΟ𐊓, pronounced "coupe") ||  || [[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Kuprilli. Circa 480-440 BC.jpg|center|60px]]|| Kuprlli, son of Kheziga II, was fourth in succession. First monarch identifiable through coin legends.|| 480–c.440
|-
| colspan="3" | During Kuprlli's long reign at least a dozen local Lycian rulers started to mint their own coins,<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|pp=113–114}}.</ref> among them [[Teththiweibi]]: ||
|-
| Teththiweibi ||[[File:Coin of Teththiweibi, dynast of Achaemenid Lycia.jpg|center|60px]] || || c.450–430/20
|-
| Kosikas || (Kheziga III: heir-apparent) ||  ||  || Son of Kuprlli, first in line to succeed him, but died young. || † c.460
|-
| Harpagus (Iranian name) || (Arppakhu: regent for Kuprlli) ||  ||  || Son-in-law of Kuprlli. The elderly Kuprlli, when he became incapacitated, remained nominal king, but real power rested with Arpakkhu as his regent.<ref>{{harvnb|Keen|1998|p=117}}.</ref> || fl. c.450
|-
| [[Kheriga|Gergis]] || [[Kheriga]] ||  ||[[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Kheriga. Circa 450-410 BC.jpg|center|60px]]|| Fifth in succession, son of Arppakhu. Probably regent for Kuprlli in his last years, after his death Kheriga became king himself. || c.440-c.410
|-
|? ||[[Kherei]]  ||  ||[[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Kherei. Circa 440-30-410 BC.jpg|center|60px]]|| Sixth in succession, brother of Kheriga.|| c.410–c.390
|-
|[[Arbinas]] (Iranian name)|| [[Arbinas|Erbbina]]  ||  ||[[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Erbbina. Circa 430-20-400 BC.jpg|center|60px]]||Seventh in succession, son of Kheriga. The last known of the line.|| c.390–c.380
|-
| Artembares (Iranian name, *Rtambura, self-identified as "the Mede.") || [[Artumpara|Arttum̃para]]  ||  ||[[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Artumpara. Circa 400-370 BC.jpg|center|60px]]|| Ruler of western Lycia from Telmessos. Ousted by Perikle. || c.380–c.360
|-
|Mithrapata ||  || [[Mithrapata]] ||[[File:DYNASTS_of_LYCIA._Mithrapata._Circa_390-370_BC.jpg|center|60px]]|| Ruler in eastern Lycia. || c.390–c.370
|-
|Pericles (Greek name) || [[Pericles, Dynast of Lycia|Perikle]]  ||  ||[[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Perikles. Circa 380-360 BC.jpg|center|60px]]|| At first ruler of eastern Lycia from Limyra, then victor over Arttum̃para, rebel in the [[Revolt of the Satraps]], last Lycian king. || c.360
|}