Lycian Tours

It is said that the Lycians were a continuation of the dissolution of the Luwians, the oldest Indo-European people of Anatolia, who came to Anatolia in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC and lived in the Southern Anatolia region for the second millennium BC. Considering the closeness of the Luwian language to the Hittite language and the fact that the Luwis are related to the Hittites, the connection of Likçe to the Hittite language is understood. In the Hittite language, the name of Lycia is Lukka.

The Lycians, who were able to respond to the attacks of the Greeks from the beginning, were occupied by the Persians in the 6th century BC. However, in the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great conquered this region within his “Eastern Expedition çıktı. With the death of Alexander, one of his generals, Ptolemy took over this region, but he could not make his presence feel as before. The region was gradually influenced by Greek culture and social values.

Following the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, the Apameia peace was signed and the neighboring region was left with Rhodes in Rhodes during the war. The Lycian Union was founded in this year with the aim of resistance against Rhodes. In 168-167 BC the Roman Empire declared the independence of Lycia. During this century, many parts of Anatolia were organized as Roman provinces, but Lycia managed to maintain its independence. One of the important reasons for this is Mithridates VI. The anti-Rome campaign initiated by Eupator was that he did not participate in the action and was on the Roman side.

However, it was also influenced by the mixed Roman politics in the 1st century BC. As in the Persian invasions, the people of Xantos resisted the great military forces that attacked them during this period, and when they realized that they could not win the war, they burned themselves through collective suicide.