Pamphylia (; , Pamphylía ) was a region in the south of Anatolia in West Asia, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was therefore a country of small extent, having a coast-line of only about 120 km (75 miles) with a breadth of about 50 km (30 miles). Under the Roman administration the term Pamphylia was extended so as to include Pisidia and the whole tract up to the frontiers of Phrygia and Lycaonia, and in this wider sense it is employed by Ptolemy.
Name
The name
Pamphylia comes from the
Greek language Παμφυλία,
[ Παμφυλία, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus] itself from (
pamphylos), literally "of mingled tribes or races",
[ πάμφυλος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus] a compound of πᾶν (
pan), neuter of πᾶς (
pas) "all"
[ πᾶς, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus] + φυλή (
phylē), "race, tribe".
[ φυλή, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus] Herodotus derived its etymology from a
Dorians tribe, the Pamphyloi (Πάμφυλοι), who were said to have colonized the region.
[Herodotus, The Histories, 5.68] The tribe, in turn, was said to be named after Pamphylos (Greek: Πάμφυλος), son of
Aegimius.
[ Πάμφυλος, William J. Slater, Lexicon to Pindar, on Perseus][George Grote : A History of Greece. p. 286; Irad Malkin : Myth and Territory in the Spartan Mediterranean. Cambridge U Pr, 2003. p. 41.]
Origins of the Pamphylians
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Pamphylians were “a mixture of aboriginal inhabitants, immigrant
Cilicia () and
Greeks”.
[ Pamphylia, Encyclopædia Britannica] However,
Herodotus and
Strabo record that the Pamphylians were descended from Greeks who came with
Calchas and Amphilochos after the
Trojan War.
Additionally, Pausanias states that they were a Greek race.
[Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7.3.7 "Καρῶν δὲ κατὰ φιλίαν ἐκ παλαιοῦ πρὸς Μίνω, Παμφύλων δὲ ὅτι γένους μέτεστιν Ἑλληνικοῦ καὶ τούτοις"] Theopompus, as well, informs us that Pamphylia was inhabited by Greeks.
Some modern scholars suggest that they migrated to Pamphylia from Arcadia and generally the
Peloponnese in the 12th century BC.
[Ahmad Hasan Dani, Jean-Pierre Mohen, J. L. Lorenzo, and V. M. Masson, History of Humanity-Scientific and Cultural Development: From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century B.C (Vol II), UNESCO, 1996, p.425] The significance of the Greek contribution to the origin of the Pamphylians can be attested alike by tradition and archaeology,
[Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, The cities of the eastern Roman provinces, Clarendon Press, 1971, p.123] and Pamphylia can be considered a Greek country from the early
Iron Age until the early
Middle Ages.
[John D. Grainger, The cities of Pamphylia, Oxbow Books, 2009, p.27]
There can be little doubt that the Pamphylians and Pisidians were the same people, though the former had received colonies from Greece and other lands, and from this cause, combined with the greater fertility of their territory, had become more civilized than their neighbours in the interior. But the distinction between the two seems to have been established at an early period. Herodotus, who does not mention the Pisidians, enumerates the Pamphylians among the nations of Asia Minor, while Ephorus mentions them both, correctly including the one among the nations on the coast, the other among those of the interior.[
]
A number of scholars have distinguished in the Pamphylian Greek important isoglosses with both Arcadian and Cypriot (Arcadocypriot Greek) which allow them to be studied together with the group of dialects sometimes referred to as Achaean since it was settled not only by Achaean tribes but also colonists from other Greek-speaking regions, Dorians and Aeolians.[A.-F. Christidis, A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.427] The legend related by Herodotus and Strabo, which ascribed the origin of the Pamphylians to a colony led into their country by Amphilochus and Calchas after the Trojan War, is merely a characteristic myth.[
]
History
During the Late Bronze Age, the region was on the western edge of the Hittite Empire sphere of influence. A treaty between the Hittite king Tudḫaliya IV and his vassal, the king of Tarḫuntašša, defined the latter's western border at the city Parha in later Pamphylia and the Kastaraya River.[, no. 18C] West of Parha were the Lukka lands.[, 75]
In the historical era, the region's population spoke Pamphylian Greek, an idiosyncratic dialect of Greek seemingly influenced by Anatolian languages spoken nearby. On Cyrus's defeat of Croesus, Pamphylia passed to the Persian Empire. Darius included it in his first tax-district alongside Lycia, Magnesia, Ionia, Aeolia, Mysia, and Caria.
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Upon Alexander the Great's defeat of Darius III, Pamphylia passed back to Greek rule, now Macedonians. After the defeat of Antiochus III in 190 BC they were included among the provinces annexed by the Romans to the dominions of Eumenes of Pergamum; but somewhat later they joined with the Pisidians and Cilicians in piratical ravages, and Side became the chief centre and slave mart of these freebooters. Pamphylia was for a short time included in the dominions of Amyntas, king of Galatia, but after his death lapsed into a district of a Roman province.[
]
As of 1911, the district was largely peopled with recently settled Ottoman Muslims from Greece, Crete, and the Balkans, as a result of the long-term consequences of the Congress of Berlin and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.[
]
Notable people from Pamphylia
-
Diodorus of Aspendos, Pythagorean philosopher (4th century BC)
-
Apollonius of Perga, astronomer, mathematician (c. 262 - c. 190 BC)
-
Artemidorus of Perga, proxenos in Oropos (c. 240 -180 BC)
[Epigr. tou Oropou 148]
-
Aetos (son of Apollonius) from Aspendos, Ptolemaic commander, founder of Arsinoe (Cilicia) (c. 238 BC)
[SEG 39:1426 - The Hellenistic Monarchies: Selected Papers
]
Page 264 By Christian Habicht
-
Mnaseas (son of Artemon) from Side, sculptor (end 3rd century BC)
[IK Side I 1]
-
Orestas (son of Erymneus) from Aspendos, proxenos in Dreros (Crete), (end 3rd - beginning 2nd century BC)
[BCH 1936:280,1]
-
Thymilus of Aspendos, stadion (distance of 180–190 m) running race victor (winner) in Olympics 176 BC
-
Apollonios (son of Koiranos) from Aspendos, Ptolemaic commander, proxenos in Lappa and Aptera (Crete) (1st half - 2nd century BC)
[SEG 23:573 R.S. Bagnall (1976) The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions outside Egypt, p. 124. Brill Archive.]
-
Asclepiades (son of Myron) from Perga, physician honoured by the people of Seleucia (3rd - 2nd century BC)
[Epigr.Anat. 11:104,5 Inscriptions for Physicians ]
-
Plancia Magna from Perga, influential citizen, benefactress, high-priestess of Artemis (1st and 2nd century AD)
[Elaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy & H. Alan Shapiro (1995) Women in the Classical World: Image and Text, Oxford University Press]
-
Menodora (daughter of Megacles) from Sillyon, magistrate and benefactor (c. 2nd century AD)
[Riet van Bremen: Women and Wealth Chapter 14, p. 223 in "Images of Women in Antiquity" Page 223 Editors Averil Cameron, Amélie Kuhrt ]
-
Zenon (son of Theodorus) from Aspendos, architect of the Aspendos theatre (2nd century AD)
-
Apollonius of Aspendos (son of Apollonius), poet (2nd/early 3rd century AD)
[IG VII 1773 - The Context of Ancient Drama
]
Page 192 By Eric Csapo, William J. Slater
-
Aurelia Paulina from Perga, prominent noblewoman of Syrian origin, donator, high-priestess of Artemis (2nd and 3rd century AD)
-
Probus from Side, martyr (died c. 304 AD)
-
Philip of Side, historian (c. 380 - after 431)
-
Matrona of Perge, saint, abbess of Constantinople, (late 5th - early 6th century AD)
-
Antony I Kassymatas from Sillyon, patriarch of Constantinople (c. 780 - 837)
Archaeological sites
See also
External links
