Xanthus (Kınık)

The river Xanthus (left) and the acropolis of Xanthus (right).

Xanthus: town in western Lycia; its real name was Arňna, its modern name is Kınık.

The Lycian town Xanthus was situated on a high hill near a river with the same name, about eight kilometer before it emptied itself in the sea. The town was the seat of a Lycian prince, who lost his independence when the town was captured by the Persian commander Harpagus in the mid-sixth century BCE. Archaeologists have found traces of the destruction.

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The Harpy Tomb

Although many people were killed, the town was repopulated and prospered during the Persian age. One of the monuments of this age is the Harpy Tomb, which is now in the British Museum in London. This Greek-style monument shows a soldier who hands over a helmet to a bearded man (a god or king?) on a throne. To the left and right you can see harpies carrying away human figures, who may or may not represent the souls of the people killed by the soldier.

Two monuments on the Xanthus agora: the Harpy tomb and a Lycian tomb.

Other monuments from this period are the city wall, rock tombs, and the monument of Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, who was venerated in Xanthus. This building activity confirms that the town was, in the Persian age, an important city.

The ruling dynasty was almost certainly the most powerful in Lycia, and acted as if it were independent from the Achaemenid Empire. For some time it, was a member of the Delian League. From inscriptions, we know the names of the princes:

Pillar of Kherei

Kuprlli	c.480-c.440
Kheriga (Gergis, son of Harpagus)	c.440-c.410
Kherei	c.410-c.390
Arbinas (Erbina)	c.390-c.380

The Pillar of Kherei also dates back the this age. It contains a long inscription in Lycian, recounting the life of prince Kherei. Because the Lycian language is poorly understood, the details of the text are not fully understood either.

In the first quarter of the fifth century, the ruling dynasty came to an end: Kherei's successor Arbinas had to reconquer Xanthus, Telmessus, and Patara, and became a subject of Pericles of Limyra, who called himself "king of Lycia".


The Acropolis	Lycian tomb, third century BCE	The agora	Pillar of Kherei

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