Xanthos

Xanthos or Xanthus was the capital of ancient Lycia, which was a region in what is now the southern coast of Turkey. Ruins of the city still exist on a hill near the river Esen. There is an amphiteatre, various walls and pillar tombs. The city was once a cultural and commercial centre.

Evidence in the city takes us back to the 8^th century BC, but it may have existed as far back as the Late Bronze age (1500 BC). Lycia was known to the ancient Egyptians and the Hittites. The people of Lycia fought the Persians, later became a member of the Athenian Empire, from which it seceded to become independent for a while, until the Persians and then the Romans conquered them.

The people of Xanthos twice committed mass suicide rather than submit to invaders. A poem found on a tablet excavated at the city site refers to this event.

The city became an archbishopric in the 8^th century (AD or CE), but was deserted in the 7^th century during Arab raids.

Charles Fellows, a British archaeologist, discovered Xanthos in 1838 along with a number of other cities in Asia Minor. In the tradition of most other archaeologists of that time, he carried away many artifacts (Lion Tomb, Nereid Monument) from Xanthos. These are now in the British Museum.

Many ancient cities are no more, abandoned or destroyed for various reasons. I wonder how long our present cities will last and what might destroy them. Will it be food shortages resulting from environmental destruction or war? What sorts of ruins might we leave? Will our fragments of steel, concrete and glass interest people in the distant future?