Lycia in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Lycia

14 passages from 7 ancient authors that tell of Lycia, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Lycia was an area located in the region of Anatolia, on the southern coast of Turkey. It played a prominent role in various stories of Greek mythology... For the story in one place, read our article on Lycia.

Homer (7)

Homer, Iliad 6.119–236Diomedes and Glaucus exchange armourDiomedes and Glaucus meet between the armies, and Diomedes asks who he is, saying that he will not fight a god. Glaucus answers that the generations of men are like leaves, and tells how his forefather Bellerophon was sent to Lycia, where he overcame the Chimaera, the Solymi and the Amazons. Diomedes, learning that their grandfathers were guest-friends, plants his spear and they exchange armour, Zeus taking the wits of Glaucus so that he gives gold for bronze.
Homer, Iliad 12.290–377Sarpedon and Glaucus; Ajax is called to the wallSarpedon tells Glaucus that the honours they have in Lycia, the seats, meat and wine and the great estate on the Xanthus, oblige them to be foremost in the fighting. Menestheus, seeing them come against his tower, sends a herald to Ajax for help, and Ajax and Teucer hurry to the place.
Homer, Iliad 16.419–507The death of SarpedonZeus sees his son Sarpedon about to meet Patroclus and wonders aloud whether to snatch him from the battle and set him down in Lycia. Hera answers that if he saves Sarpedon the other gods will want to save their own sons, and Zeus yields, shedding drops of blood on the ground. Sarpedon's spear kills the trace-horse Pedasus, and Patroclus's spear strikes Sarpedon in the heart, and he falls like an oak or a tall pine, and dying he calls Glaucus to fight for his body.
Homer, Iliad 16.632–683Sleep and Death carry Sarpedon to LyciaThe fighting over Sarpedon goes on until the Achaeans strip off his armour. Zeus then tells Apollo to take the body out of the weapons, wash it in the river, anoint it with ambrosia and give it to Sleep and Death to carry to Lycia for burial. Apollo does as he is told.
Homer, Iliad 2.786–877The Trojan CatalogueIris, in the likeness of Polites, warns Priam's people that the Achaeans are advancing, and Hector breaks up the assembly and arms the Trojans. The poet lists the Trojan forces under Hector, Aeneas and Pandarus, and then the allies from Thrace, Paphlagonia, Phrygia, Maeonia, Caria and Lycia, the last led by Sarpedon and Glaucus.
Homer, Iliad 16.508–631The fight over Sarpedon's bodyGlaucus, wounded in the arm, prays to Apollo, who heals him, and Glaucus then rouses Polydamas, Agenor, Aeneas and Hector to fight for Sarpedon. Hector leads the Trojans against Patroclus, who calls on the two Ajaxes to hold the body, and the two sides fight round it. Zeus spreads deadly strife over the body, and Hector gives ground.
Homer, Iliad 17.108–232Hector takes the armour of Achilles; Glaucus rebukes himMenelaus gives ground and Ajax comes up and covers the body of Patroclus with his shield, and Hector falls back, sending the armour of Patroclus to Troy. Glaucus reproaches him for leaving Sarpedon's body and not standing his ground, and Hector puts on the armour of Achilles. Zeus pities him, saying that though he wears the armour of the best of men he will never return from battle to Andromache, and Hector then calls on the Trojans and their allies to drag the body to Troy, promising half the spoil and half the glory to the man who does so.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.3.1–2Bellerophon and the ChimaeraBellerophon, after killing a man by accident, is purified by Proetus, and Stheneboea falsely accuses him when he rejects her. Proetus sends him to Iobates in Lycia with a letter calling for his death, and Iobates sets him to kill the Chimaera, which he does from the air on the winged horse Pegasus. He then defeats the Solymi and the Amazons and kills the ambush set for him, after which Iobates gives him his daughter and the kingdom.

Apollonius Rhodius (1)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2.648–719Thynias and the epiphany of ApolloRowing on past the coast of Bithynia, the heroes reach the island of Thynias at dawn and see Apollo pass on his way from Lycia to the Hyperboreans. They build an altar, name the god Apollo of the Dawn, and swear to stand by each other.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.78.1–5.80.4Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon; the peoples of CreteMinos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon are sons of Zeus and Europa; Rhadamanthys is the most just of men and rules many islands and a stretch of the Asian coast. Minos' descendants include Idomeneus and Meriones, and the historian lists the peoples who later mixed with the Cretans.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.313–411The Lycian peasants; Marsyas; PelopsAfter Niobe's fate men worship Leto (Latona) more zealously, and one recalls the peasants of Lycia, who refused Leto water to drink when she came, wandering with her twins, and who were turned into frogs. Another tells of the satyr Marsyas, who challenged Apollo to a contest on the pipes and was flayed alive for his presumption. Pelops, the brother of Niobe, mourns for her, and his ivory shoulder, which the gods made for him after Tantalus served him up at a banquet, is shown.

Pausanias (1)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.43.1–6Pallantium: Evander and the Emperor Antoninus PiusPausanias explains why the Emperor Antoninus Pius raised Pallantium from a village to a free city: Evander, son of Hermes, is said to have led Arcadian colonists from Pallantium to the Tiber, where the quarter of Rome called Pallantium was named after it. He praises Antoninus as a peaceful ruler who nevertheless drove back the Moors and the Brigantians, restored earthquake-stricken cities in Lycia, Caria, Cos and Rhodes, and allowed provincial heirs to inherit. He notes the title Pius and the reign of the second Antoninus.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (2)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 4.1–117Glaucus carried to Lycia; Thetis sets the gamesThe Trojans lay Glaucus on his pyre, but Apollo snatches him away to Lycia, where the Nymphs make a spring that bears his name. The Argives go on mourning Achilles, and in heaven Hera reproaches Zeus for favouring Troy while he sits silent. At dawn Diomedes urges an attack, but Aias says they must wait for Thetis, who now comes out of the sea to set out the prizes for the funeral games.
Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 11.1–128The battle after Paris' deathThe Trojan women mourn in the city, but the young men go on fighting outside, for Strife and the Fates stalk through both armies. Neoptolemus, Aeneas, Philoctetes, Polydamas, Odysseus, Diomedes, Agamemnon, Thoas and Teucer kill in turn, and the dead are numbered.