Lydae

Lydae or Lydai (Ancient Greek: Λύδαι) was a town of ancient Caria or Lycia in the Rhodian Peraea. Ptolemy notes the city in Lycia under the name Chydae.[1] The Stadiasmus Maris Magni calls the city Clydae or Klydai (Κλυδαί) and places it in Caria.[2]

The family of Gaius Iulius Heliodoros from Lydae, which produced Lycian Federal Priests, an archiphylax, and a Roman Senator, is well-documented.[3] The demoi (subordinate urban units) of Lydae, Arymaxa and Kreneis are known in Roman imperial times; they used to be separate communities that merged with Lydae via sympoliteia.

Its site is located on the modern Kapıdağ Peninsula.[4][5] There are extensive Roman and Byzantine ruins. These include a theatre and an agora. Numerous tombs and mausoleums are scattered across the ruins.[6]

The site was identified by the British antiquaries Theodore and Mabel Bent in March 1888.[7]

  1. ^ Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 5.3.2.
  2. ^ Karl Müller: Geographi Graeci Minores (= Scriptorum graecorum bibliotheca. Band 45). Band 1. Paris 1855, S. 494 Nr. 295 f. (Digitalisat).
  3. ^ Tituli Asiae Minoris 2,1 138.
  4. ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
  5. ^ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 65, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
  6. ^ Werner Tietz (2003). Der Golf von Fethiye (in German). Bonn. ISBN 978-3-7749-3146-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ J.T. Bent, ‘Discoveries in Asia Minor’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1888, Vol. 9, pp. 82-7; The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J Theodore Bent, vol. 1, Oxford, 2006, pp. 225-54.