View source for Xanthos

{{Short description|Ancient Lycian city in southwest Turkey}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2023}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Xanthos
  |native_name ={{lang|tr|Ksantos}}
  |alternate_name = 
  |image = {{multiple image | direction = horizontal |perrow=2 | total_width= 300 | border = infobox | image1 =Mosaic of Xanthos.jpg | image2 = Xanthus, tomb of the Nereids, podium.jpg | image3 = Xanthos Roman Theatre 2019.jpg | image4 = Xanthos Harpy tomb and the pillared sarcophagus 7320.jpg}}
  |image_size=220
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  |map_type = <!-- Turkey -->
  |mapframe = yes |mapframe-zoom =5
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  |coordinates = {{coord|36|21|22|N|29|19|7|E|display=inline,title}}
  |location = [[Kınık, Kaş|Kınık]], [[Antalya Province]], Turkey
  |region = [[Lycia]]
  |type = Settlement
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  |length = 
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  |area = {{convert|126|ha|abbr=on}}
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  |epochs = <!-- actually displays as "Periods" -->
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  |public_access = 
  |website = [https://turkishmuseums.com/museum/detail/1975-antalya-xanthos-orenyeri/1975/1 turkishmuseums.com]
  |notes = 
  |designation1=WHS
  |designation1_offname = Xanthos-[[Letoon]]
  |designation1_date = 1988 (12th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])
  |designation1_type =
  |designation1_criteria =
  |designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/484 484]
  |designation1_free1name =
  |designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Europe|Europe and North America]]
}}

'''Xanthos''' or '''Xanthus''', also referred to by scholars as '''''Arna''''', its [[Lycian language|Lycian]] name,{{sfn|Fried|2004|p=145}} ({{langx|tr|Ksantos}}, [[Lycian language|Lycian]]: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', {{langx|el|Ξάνθος}}, [[Latin]]: ''Xanthus'') was an ancient city near the present-day village of [[Kınık, Kaş|Kınık]], in [[Antalya Province]], Turkey. The ruins are located on a hill on the left bank of the River Xanthos. The number and quality of the surviving [[tombs at Xanthos]] are a notable feature of the site, which, together with nearby [[Letoon]], was declared to be a [[UNESCO]] [[List of World Heritage Sites in Turkey|World Heritage Site]] in 1988. 

The city of Xanthos was a centre of culture and commerce for the [[Lycians]], and later for the [[Persians]], [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Roman Empire|Romans]] who in turn conquered the region. Xanthos influenced its neighbours architecturally; the [[Nereid Monument]] directly inspired the [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]] in the region of [[Caria]].

==History==

The acropolis of Xanthos dates from the 8th century BCE.{{sfn|Fried|2004|p=148}} The city was mentioned by [[ancient Greek]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] writers. The Greek historian [[Strabo]] noted that Xanthos was the largest city in [[Lycia]].<ref name="Pli2">{{cite web |title=Strabo, Geography: 6 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D14%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D6 |website=Perseus Digital Library |publisher=[[Tufts University]] |access-date=15 May 2023}}</ref> The important religious sanctuary of [[Leto]] at [[Letoon]], {{convert|4|km}} south of Xanthos, dates from the late 6th century BC,{{sfn|Dusinberre|2013|p=219}} and was closely associated with the city and linked by a sacred road.{{sfn|Kinsey|2012|p=173}}

===Under the Persian Empire===
The Greek historians [[Herodotus]] and [[Appian]] both described the conquest of the city by the [[Medes|Median]] general [[Harpagus]] on behalf of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]]. According to Herodotus, the [[Persians]] defeated a small Lycian army in the flatlands to the north of the city in {{circa|540 BC}}.<ref name="Pli1">{{cite web |title=Herodotus, The Histories, A.D. Godley, ed.: 176 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%201.176&lang=original |website=Perseus Digital Library |publisher=[[Tufts University]] |access-date=15 May 2023}}</ref> The Lycians retreated into the city, which Harpagus then besieged. The Lycians destroyed their [[acropolis]], and killed their wives, children and slaves, before engaging the enemy in a suicidal attack.{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=56}} 

During the Persian occupation, a local leadership was installed and by 520&nbsp;BC it was [[Mint (facility)|minting]] coins.{{sfn|Keen|1992|p=58}} By 516&nbsp;BC Xanthos had been included in the first ''Nomos'' of [[Darius I]] in the tribute list.{{sfn|Fitzpatrick-McKinley|2015|p=98}}

=== Conquest by Alexander the Great ===
From [[Telmessos]] the army of [[Alexander the Great]] marched over the mountains to Xanthos. There representatives from each of the cities of the Lycian League, including the port of [[Phaselis]], personally offered the Lycians' submission, which was accepted. Alexander was encouraged when he found a sacred spring close to the River Xanthus, and obtained from there an inscribed bronze tablet that predicted that the Greeks would destroy the Persian Empire.{{sfn|Freeman|2011|p=98}}

Reports differ on Xanthos's surrender to Alexander: [[Arrian]] describes a peaceful submission, but [[Appian]] claims that the city was sacked.{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=56}} After Alexander's death, Xanthos was captured by [[Ptolemy I Soter]] from [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus]].{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=58}}

=== Roman period ===
Xanthus was in the [[Roman province]] of [[Lycia]].{{sfn|Bunson|2014|p=335}} In 42 BC, during the [[Liberators' civil war]], [[Brutus]] came to Lycia to obtain funds before the [[Battle of Philippi]]. He besieged Xanthos after the Lycian League refused to contribute. The city was once again destroyed, and only 150 Xanthian men survived the carnage. Plutarch claims that the population of Xanthos deliberately set fire to their city in an act of mass suicide, comparable to their behavior during the Persian conquest generations earlier. Brutus and his Romans attempted rescue operations, and, in Plutarch's words, 150 men "did not escape having their lives saved".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=246{{ndash}}247}} The city was rebuilt under [[Mark Antony]].{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=60}}

Most of the buildings visible today were built during the later Empire. The town took on a grid plan. A large piazza with porticoes was built in the west, probably where the classical agora was. There was also a triple-naved building which may have started as a pagan basilica and then become a church. There was probably a large porticoed avenue terminated with a gateway.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Jacques |first1=des Courtils |last2=Cavalier |first2=Laurence |title=The City of Xanthos from Archaic to Byzantine Times |url=https://www.academia.edu/10481469 |journal=}}</ref>

===Byzantine period===
Xanthos, like the rest of Lycia, prospered in the later Roman period. Luxury houses were built on the Lycian acropolis. Several churches were also built, including a large basilica (74m x 29m), a small chapel, and another large basilica on the acropolis. In the sixth century, earthquakes damaged many buildings, and they were repaired. The city wall was also reinforced because of the Arab threat. The city was subsequently destroyed and deserted.<ref name=":0" /> 

===Ecclesiastical history===

Xanthus was a [[suffragan]] of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of [[Myra]].{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=60}}

In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], Xanthoupolis was a titular diocese under the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]], whose bishop assisted the Metropolitan Province of Smyrna, part of the larger Province of Asia Minor. Its last known bishop was Father Ignatios, later Metropolitan of Libya under the [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria|Patriarchate of Alexandria]], who presided over this diocese from 1863 to 1884.{{citation required|date=May 2023}}

In the Catholic Church, the diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as the [[Titular bishopric]] of {{lang|la|Xanthus}}.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Donovan |first1=Ned |title=The bishops who've never seen their dioceses |url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/issues/oct-5th-2018/bishops-whove-never-seen-their-dioceses/ |access-date=15 May 2023 |work=Catholic Herald |date=4 October 2018 |ref=Don |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724230510/https://catholicherald.co.uk/issues/oct-5th-2018/bishops-whove-never-seen-their-dioceses/ |archive-date=24 July 2019}}</ref>

==Archaeology==
{{Further|Tombs at Xanthos}}
[[File:The_Harpy_Tomb_reliefs,_about_480_BC,_Xanthos,_British_Museum,_London_(8825525382).jpg|thumb|The [[Harpy Tomb]] sculptures in the [[British Museum]]]]
Excavations at Xanthos have shown that wooden structures were destroyed in {{circa|470 BC}}, probably by the [[Athens|Athenian]] [[Kimon]]. Xanthos was later rebuilt in stone.{{sfn|Jenkins|2006|p=23}}

The [[Nereid Monument]], the [[Tomb of Payava]], and the original sculptures of the [[Harpy Tomb]] are exhibited in the [[British Museum]].<ref name="Bri1">{{cite web |title=Room 17: Nereid Monument 390–380 BC |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/nereid-monument |publisher=[[British Museum]] |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="Bri2">{{cite web |title=Room 20: Greeks and Lycians 400–325 BC |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/greeks-and-lycians-400-325-bc |publisher=[[British Museum]] |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="Bri3">{{cite web |title=Room 15: Greece: Athens and Lycia 520–430 BC |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/greece-athens-and-lycia |publisher=[[British Museum]] |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref> The Harpy Tomb itself is located in its original location at Xanthos, now with replica reliefs.{{sfn|Jenkins|2006|p=163}}

The [[archeology|archeological]] excavations and surface investigations at Xanthos have yielded inscriptions in both the [[Lycian language]] and Greek, including bilingual texts that are useful in the understanding of Lycian.{{sfn|Keen|1992|p=59}} The [[Xanthian Obelisk]], otherwise known as the Inscribed Pillar, is a trilingual [[stele]] which was found in the city; it records an older Anatolian language conventionally known as the [[Milyan language|Milyan]].{{sfn|Dusinberre|2013|p=192}}

==Location==
[[File:Xanthos Fluss.JPG|The [[Eşen River|River Xanthos]], as seen from the ruins|thumb]]
Xanthos is located near to the modern village of [[Kınık, Kaş|Kınık]].{{sfn|Akşit|2006|p=60}}

==World Heritage Site==
Xanthos was added as a [[List of World Heritage Sites in Turkey|UNESCO World Heritage Site]], along with nearby  [[Letoon]], in 1988.<ref name="UNE">{{cite web |title=Xanthos-Letoon |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/484 |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |access-date=11 May 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Hermogenes of Xanthos]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book |last1=Akşit|first1=İlhan |editor1-last=Kline |editor1-first=Stuart |title=Lycia: The Land of Light |date=2006 |publisher=Aksit Kultur Turizm Sanat Ajans Lt |location=Istanbul |isbn=975-7039-11-X}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bunson |first1=Matthew |title=Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire |date=2014 |publisher=Facts on File, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=978-14381-1-027-1 |edition=Revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC }}
* {{cite book |last1=Dusinberre |first1=Elspeth R. M. |title=Empire, Authority, and Autonomy in Achaemenid Anatolia |date=2013 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-11070-1-826-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Eb5fIvwS6oC}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fitzpatrick-McKinley |first1=Anne |title=Empire, Power and Indigenous Elites: A Case Study of the Nehemiah Memoir |date=2015 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90042-9-222-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIC9BwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Philip |title=Alexander the Great |date=2011 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-14391-9-328-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApzbQNITyPcC}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fried |first1=Lisbeth S. |title=The Priest and the Great King: Temple-palace Relations in the Persian Empire |date=2004 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-15750-6-090-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fvz9jnaKuPIC}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jenkins |first1=Ian |title=Greek Architecture and its Sculpture |date=2006 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-06740-2-388-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLego4eAgZUC}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Keen |first1=Antony G. |title=The Dynastic Tombs of Xanthos: Who Was Buried Where? |journal=Anatolian Studies |date=1992 |volume=42  |pages=53{{ndash}}63 |doi=10.2307/3642950 |jstor=3642950 |s2cid=161228800 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3642950|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Kinsey |editor1-first=Brian |title=Gods and Goddesses of Greece and Rome |date=2012 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish Reference |location=Tarrytown, New York |isbn=978-07614-9-980-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBlfEAAAQBAJ}}
* Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p.&nbsp;450
* {{cite book |last1=Tempest |first1=Kathryn |title=Brutus: The Noble Conspirator |date=2017 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-300-18009-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mmo3DwAAQBAJ}}
<!-- * Strabo, 14.3.6
* Herodotus, 1.176
* Appian, ''Bell. Civ.'', 4.10.76–80, 5.1.7
* Arrian, ''Anab''. 1.24.4
* Diodorus 20.27.1
* Dio Cassius, 47, 34.1–3
* Plutarch, ''Brutus'' 30–31
* Marinos, ''Vita Procli'' 6–8
* Quintus Smyrn. 11.22–26 -->

==Further reading==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Xanthus}}
* {{cite web | url=http://www.xanthos.hst.ulaval.ca/eng/index_eng.html | title=Canadian Epigraphic Mission at Xanthos-Letoon (Lycia) | first1=Patrick | last1=Baker | first2=Gaétan | last2=Thėriault | date=2006–2011 | publisher=[[Université du Québec à Montréal]]; [[Université Laval]] | ref=none | access-date=2011-02-10 | archive-date=2021-06-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607060707/http://www.xanthos.hst.ulaval.ca/eng/index_eng.html | url-status=dead }} 
* {{cite book |last1=Bayburtluoğlu |first1=Cevdet |title=Lycia |date=2004 |publisher=Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations |location=Antalya |isbn=978-97570-7-820-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bean |first1=George Ewart |author1-link=George Ewart Bean |title=Lycian Turkey: An Archaeological Guide |date=1978 |publisher=Benn |location=London |isbn=978-05100-3-205-0 |page=|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lycianturkeyarch0000bean/page/n5/mode/2up |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bryce |first1=Trevor |last2=Zahle |first2=Jan |title=The Lycians |date=1986 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |location=Copenhagen |isbn=978-87728-9-023-4 |page=|volume=1: The Lycians in literary and epigraphic sources |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRKmN6PzvDoC |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=des Courtils |first1=Jacques |title=News of Archaeology from Anatolia's Mediterranean Areas |date=2005 |publisher=Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations |pages=41{{ndash}}46 |url=https://akmedmedia.ku.edu.tr/ANMED/ANMED_3.pdf |language=tr, en |chapter=Excavations and Research at Xanthos and Letoon in 2004|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Le Quien |first1=Michel |title=Oriens christianus, in quatuor patriarchatus digestus; quo exhibentur ecclesiae, patriarchae, caeterique praesules totius orientis |date=1740 |location=Paris |pages=981{{ndash}}984 |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/lequienorienschristianus1/page/n7/mode/2up |language=la|ref=none}}
* McDonald, W.L., "Xanthos, Lycia, Turkey", in Richard Stillwell et al., ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0006%3Aentry%3Dxanthos full text at Perseus]
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Potts |editor1-first=D.T. |title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East |date=2012 |publisher=Wiley |location=Oxford |isbn=978-14443-6-077-6 |pages=|volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5q7DDqMbF0C |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1989.htm Titular Episcopal See of Xanthus] from ''gcatholic.org''
* [http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/letoon Images of Xanthos] from PBase.com
* [https://turkisharchaeonews.net/site/xanthos Information about Xanthos] from Turkish Archaeological News
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_h=307.9921738854604&sv_p=2.6108338530838466&sv_pid=DfS00xyiDnlXQ4gsitRKFg&sv_lid=3582009757710443819&sv_lng=-0.12787338381815516&sv_lat=51.519015828288225&sv_z=0.691129249945928 A virtual tour of Room 17] at the [[British Museum]], which contains the reliefs from the [[Nereid Monument]].

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[[Category:Greek colonies in Anatolia]]
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[[Category:Populated places in ancient Lycia]]
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