Greek and in Lycian characters. It was natural, in the first instance, to suppose that the language might be Phoenician, as colonies of that nation were known to have established themselves along the Lycian coast, and as the poet Choerilus, in a passage we have already quoted, describes the language of the Solymi as Phoenician. On this principle M. Saint Martin proceeded in a paper which was published in the Journal des Savans for April 1821, and it was under a similar belief that Mr Sharpe commenced his inquiries. Having succeeded, however, to some extent in determining the alphabet, he was struck with the number of vowels, nearly corresponding with the long and short vowels in the Persian and Indian languages. The peculiarities of the declension of the nouns, and the conjugation of the verbs, soon convinced him that the new language belonged to the family of the IndoGermanic tongues, and bore a nearer resemblance to the Zend, than to any other known dialect. The Persian origin of the language may therefore be regarded as proved by an examination of the inscriptions themselves, and receives additional confirmation from the very strong resemblance of the sculptures which accompany them, to those which are found in the neighbourhood of Persepolis. Nor are other corroborations wanting: many of these cities seem to have two names. Thus Xanthus was also called Arna, and the river, Sirbes or Sibros; Pinara had also the name of Artymnessus; Phaselis, of Pityusa; Antiphellus, of Hebessus; and Cragos, probably of Sidyma. One set of these names have very much a Persian air, but we cannot fix a Persian derivation positively on any one of them, except Sirbes, which, according to Bochart, is derived from a word in that language, signifying sandy-coloured, which is the meaning of the Greek Xanthus. But this one instance forms a strong presumption that the same is true of the rest. Again, it appears that the Lycians were skilled in the Persian language. Pharnuches, whom Alexander employed as an interpreter, was a Lycian,* and the guide who conducted his army to the frontiers of Lycia, was a native of that country, but by the mother's side a Persian. The language in question then, seems to have been spoken not by the most ancient inhabitants of Lycia, who were supplanted by the Greek colonists, but by the Persians, who, after the conquests of Cyrus, were settled in the country. Herodotus tells us, that the Xanthians of his day were all strangers, the original population of the city having been cut off, almost to a man, in the manner we have already described. These strangers Arrian iv. 3. +Plutarch. See p. 373. must have been Persians, and to them the inscriptions must be attributed. That the language was not universally used over the country is plain, for otherwise bilingual inscriptions would not have been employed; and we only find the traces of it in those districts which were colonized by the Persians, and not in those parts of the country which were inhabited by the Milyae and Solymi. The cities, among the ruins of which the remains of this language are found, are also distinguished by a peculiar coinage of which they made use, and which, as we shall see, is certainly of Persian origin. Almost all the inscriptions in this language are funeral, and are therefore entirely uninteresting in a historical point of view. There is, however, one of another character, which promises to lead to important results. It is sculptured upon the four sides of an obelisk at Xanthus, and has been as yet only partially copied, as the monument is lying prostrate and broken. A few lines are in Greek, but are hardly legible, and the progress which has hitherto been made in deciphering the Lycian language, only enables us to conjecture that the obelisk presents the transcript of a decree of the "king of kings;" a title which more than once occurs, and that it relates in some manner or other to a "son of Arpagus," whose name is lost, but who is spoken of as a prince or a governor. We detect also the names of Auremez, or Ormuzd, the deity of the fire-worshippers: of Arina, the ancient name of Xanthus; of the Median nation, and of the Tramila (the Termila of Herodotus,) and the Troues, (or Tloans,) the two principal tribes who inhabited the country known to the Greeks as Lycia. No precise information can be gleaned from these imperfect notices. The Arpagus mentioned, may have been that Harpagus to whom Cyrus committed the subjection of Asia Minor, and who was afterwards probably appointed governor of that province; or, perhaps the name may belong to an individual who flourished at a later period. There is, however, one circumstance which is strongly in favour of the supposition, that the general of Cyrus is intended. The Lycian coins belonging to the Persian period, and struck by those very cities who have used the Lycian language in their inscriptions, bear on one side a threearmed instrument, which has been named by antiquarians a triquetra, and the use of which has been discontinued in the period which immediately succeeded. The Xanthian obelisk appears to have been coeval with the earliest of these coins, and while it bears the name of Harpagus, the impress of the triquetra seems to refer their origin to the same individual. "It has been most happily and ingeniously suggested by a gentleman interesting himself with the late researches in this country, that the instrument to which the name of triquetra has been given, is in reality a grappling-iron, a hook—åρπауos,—that the Persian general, finding himself governor of a district in which his language was as yet not spoken, and desiring to make his name known as the lord of the district in all the cities which owed him allegiance, and in which his followers took up their abode, instead of engraving his name or his portrait, put a symbol upon his coins, which must immediately remind all employing the coinage, and acquainted with the Greek language, that АPIAгOE was the governor.'" Vol. ii. pp. 56, 57. These inscriptions, therefore, are nearly of the same period with the cuneiform inscriptions which have been lately interpreted by Major Rawlinson. Unfortunately, however, the Lycian language differs to so great an extent from that of the arrow-headed writing, that but little light is thrown by the one upon the other, and our only resource is to wait patiently till further information shall enable us to decipher a document which cannot fail to illustrate a portion of ancient history at present very obscure. Besides its antiquities, Lycia presents many other attractions for the traveller. Sir Charles Fellowes gives his testimony that the most beautiful scenery he had ever met with is to be found there. His ride to Pinara is described as having been amidst well-grown fir trees, and enriched with underwood in bloom,the white and the lilac cistus eclipsing many of the more beautiful flowers of the vetch tribe which blossomed beneath their bushes. His temporary residence in the neighbourhood of the ruins commanded an extensive view over a country thickly planted with bushes of pomegranate, while the middle distance of wooded hills added richness and beauty to the more distant view of the valley of the Xanthus, with its lofty barrier of mountains rising to the height of the ancient Massicytus, which is perpetually capped with snow. Olives, lemon and orange trees, figs and quinces, perfumed the air with their fragrance, or delighted the eye with the varying tints of their foliage. The hedges are composed of the native vegetation of the soil allowed to remain for the protection of the fields which have been cleared beyond them: they vary therefore at every bush, the predominant shrub being the myrtle, next the small prickly oak; the pomegranate, the orange, the wild olive, oleander, and gum storax; these are matted together by the vine and the clematis, while in the fields are left standing for their shade as well as their fruit, the carob, the fig, and the oak. “The mere mention of mountain scenery," he says, speaking of the valley of the Arycandus, "cannot give any idea of the mountains here, which are broken into sections forming cliffs, whose upheaved strata stand erect in peaks many thousand feet high, uniting to form a wild chaos, but each part harmonized by the other, for all is grand yet lovely. Deep in the ravines dash torrents of the purest water, and over these grow the most luxuriant trees; above are the graver forests of pines upon the grey cliffs, and higher than these are ranges of mountains capped with snow, contrasting with the deep blue of the cloudless sky." Let us add a sentence or two from the work before us: "A gigantic ravine wound a serpentine course into the very heart of Cragus, its mural sides formed of enormous precipices, their summits crowned with pines, and their faces strangely streaked, like painted giants, with bright yellow and jet-black. They towered above us to the very snow, in some places overhanging, whilst a great gulf opened beneath the narrow path or ledge on which we travelled. For two hours our road lay through this grand scene." Vol. i. p. 20. "On waking in the morning we found that, in the darkness of the night before, we had come unawares upon a scene of surpassing grandeur. Beneath our dwelling sank a tremendous ravine cleft down to the very sea, the waves of which were dashing against the margin of a small flat plain, buried in the gloom of the abyss. Immense masses of rocks, torn, rent, and broken up, lay scattered and hanging on every shelving ledge, while tremendous precipices towered upwards to the snow-crowned summit of Anticragus, which rose majestically over this wondrous gulf seven thousand feet above the sea, the waves of which and the mountain-top were visible to us at once from the same spot. There seemed no passage to the other side, and none but a native of this rugged solitude could have guessed where a route might be. A way there was, however, but a dizzy one, and in places the horses could scarcely get along, sometimes clambering over slippery ledges not two feet broad, sometimes bending under gigantic impending blocks, which had fallen from above, and been arrested in their descent. One of the great boundary precipices presented a most singular aspect, in consequence of being partly formed of beds of shale, contorted so as to show as many as fifty doublings, which lay pressed. as it were, between great masses of horizontal strata of scaglia. There is not in all Europe a wilder or grander scene than this pass through the Seven Capes of Cragus." Vol. i. pp. 22, 23. The following is a description of the view from the ruins of Tlos: "In front was a flat grassy court-yard, being the levelled summit of the acropolis. At sunset, the view from this platform was surpassingly beautiful. The distant snow became tinged of the brightest crimson, and rested on mountains of the deepest purple. The valley which lay outspread far below seemed a sheet of dark golden green, through which wound tortuously the silver thread of Xanthus. Cragus, towering between us and the sun, was a mass of the darkest blue. In the far distance lay the golden sea; and the few clouds which hung in a sky of azure above and gold below, were like fire altars suspended in the heavens. Poor Daniell, whose spirit was deeply imbued with the love and appreciation of art the friend and enthusiastic admirer of Turner-would sit and gaze with intense delight on this gorgeous landscape; and, eloquently dilating on its charms, appeal to them as evidences of the truth and nature which he maintained were ever present in the works of the great living master, whose merits he thoroughly understood." Vol. i. pp. 37, 38. The inhabitants availed themselves of this beautiful scenery in a way which rather startles our modern conceptions. Each of the cities had its theatre, generally built of massive masonry, but sometimes partly hewn out of the rock, and always in a position to command the finest prospect in the neighbourhood; and if the situation of the city did not permit of this, then looking forth on the broad expanse of the ocean. Some of these theatres were very large; that of Myra is 360 feet in diameter; and they contain sometimes from thirty to forty rows of seats, the upper rows being divided from the under by a diazoma or broad passage giving access to both. On such a stage, open to the heavens, were the works of the Greek dramatist performed, and our classical readers will not fail to recal passages which seem to have been written with the view of being thus represented. When reading the description of one of them, the soliloquy of Prometheus vividly occurred to our remembrance. Ω διος άιθηρ και ταχύπτεροι πνοαι, Aesch. Prom. Vinct. 1. 88. We can hardly doubt that this interesting country is destined to become better known to the western world. Commerce is beginning to return to its ancient routes. Steam navigation and railroads have already made the discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope of minor importance. And when the wealth of India is poured into Europe, as in former ages, by the natural channel of the Mediterranean, Lycia must rise to its former importance, its cities be again the marts of trade, and its harbours resorted to by ships of burden. The appointment of a British consul at Adalia, is a significant indication of greater things to come. Even at present there exists an export trade to Egypt in the commodities of the country, consisting of wood, corn, tobacco, honey, and wax. The timber is large and fine, and fitted for masts and building; but for convenience of transport is cut into lengths of from ten to fifteen feet, and carried by mules from the mountains to the coast, where it is shipped for Alexan |