Tlos

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Tlos ¨ LDEN OLIVER HU

Tlos (Lycian Tlawa, now Kale Ko¨y) is a Lycian city situated in the upper XANTHOS Valley and beneath the Massikytos mountains. The place was settled during the late Bronze Age and could be identical with Dalawa mentioned in Hittite cuneiform texts. Also, some bronze weapons kept in the Ashmolean Museum may have come from there. However, our chief knowledge comes from the classical period. From the late fifth and early fourth centuries BCE are several rock-cut tombs. The most interesting is the “tomb of Bellerophon,” which is of the temple type and shows a relief of the heros on Pegasos in its antechamber. Although it was certainly not Bellerophon’s tomb, the heros was believed to be buried at Tlos (Quint. Smyrn. 10.162–3). Through Bellerophon a relationship may have existed

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with Mycenaean ARGOS, but it can also be a fiction by which the dynasts of Xanthos and Tlos sought to create a mythical connection to Greece putatively existing in the time of Homer (Sarpedon, the mythic king of Xanthos, who died at Troy, was the grandson of Bellerophon). Further important remains of the classical period include the “monument of Izraza,” with reliefs showing primarily war scenes and among them the siege of a Lycian town. In the middle of the fourth century BCE, Tlos participated in the campaign of the Carian dynast Pixodaros against KAUNOS. Two centuries later, the city was able to stop the Xanthian Eudemos, who was supported by Rhodes, from establishing a tyrannis (SEG 18.570). During the Hellenistic period, the town had three votes within the Lycian league, called itself a metropolis, and was one of the six most important Lycian cities. There is also evidence for an autonomous coinage until the first century CE. Furthermore, many

Rock-cut tomb of Bellerophon in Tlos, Turkey. Image © Chris Hellier/Corbis.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 6772–6773. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah14313

2 inscriptions of members of the imperial aristocracy have been discovered at Tlos, which points to good relations of the local e´lites. After Myra, Tlos was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the patronage of OPRAMOAS from Rhodiapolis, who made generous donations for the building of the theater, the baths, and the agora in the second century CE. During the Byzantine period, the bishops of Tlos took part in the councils of Chalcedon (451) and Nicaea (787). In the nineteenth century, the ancient acropolis of the city served as a stronghold of a brigand called Kanl (“¼bloodthirsty”) Ali Ag˘a. Since the 1990s, Tlos has been excavated by a team from the University of Antalya.

SEE ALSO:

Lycia; Patara.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Borchhardt, J. (1976) “Das Izraza-Monument von Tlos.” Revue arche´ologique: 67–90. Hellenkemper, H. and Hild, F. (2004) Lykien und Pamphylien 2, Tabula Imperii Byzantini 8, 2: 885–8. Vienna. I˙s¸kan Is¸k, H. (2009) “Tlos 2007 yl kaz etkinlikleri.” In 30. Kaz Sonuc¸lar Toplants, 4. cilt: 355–70. Ankara. Raimond, E. (2002) “Tlos, un centre de pouvoir politique et religieux de l’aˆge du bronze au IVe sie`cle av. J. C.” Anatolia Antiqua 10: 113–29.