Milyas ( grc, Μιλυάς) was a mountainous country in ancient south-west

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

(modern Turkey). However, it is generally described as being mostly in the northern part of the successor kingdom of

Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is t ...

, as well as southern

Pisidia Pisidia (; grc-gre, Πισιδία, ; tr, Pisidya) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of A ...

, and part of eastern

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empire ...

. According to

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

, the boundaries of Milyas were never fixed. Its inhabitants used the

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...

Milyae (Μιλύαι), or Milyans. However, the oldest known name for inhabitants of the area is '' Sólymoi'' (Σόλυμοι), Solymi and Solymians – names that are probably derived from the nearby Mount Solymus. L. Feldman suggested that the Solymoi originally spoke an unattested

Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant and ...

(this opinion is not commonly supported), whereas the

Milyan language Milyan, also known as Lycian B and previously Lycian 2, is an extinct ancient Anatolian language. It is attested from three inscriptions: two poems of 34 and 71 engraved lines, respectively, on the so-called Xanthian stele (or Xanthian ...

was an

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...

Toponymy

Later the name Milyas was sometimes used to describe only as a part of Lycia. However, after the accession of the dynasty of the Seleucidae in Syria, the name Milyas was limited to the south-western part of Pisidia, bordering upon Lycia, that is, the territory extending from

Termessus Termessos (Greek Τερμησσός ''Termissós'') was a Pisidian city built at an altitude of more than 1000 metres at the south-west side of the mountain Solymos (modern-day Güllük Dağı) in the Taurus Mountains (modern-day Antalya pr ...

northward to the foot of Mount Cadmus. This district, the western part of which bore the name of Cabalia, is afterwards described, sometimes as a part of Lycia (as by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

) and sometimes as part of

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north b ...

(as by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ...

). After the conquest of

Antiochus the Great Antiochus III the Great (; grc-gre, Ἀντίoχoς Μέγας ; c. 2413 July 187 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire, reigning from 222 to 187 BC. He ruled over the region of Syria and large parts of the r ...

, the Romans gave the country to

Eumenes Eumenes (; grc-gre, Εὐμένης; c. 362316 BC) was a Greek general and satrap. He participated in the Wars of Alexander the Great, serving as both Alexander's personal secretary and as a battlefield commander. He later was a participant in ...

, though Pisidian princes still continue to be mentioned as its rulers.

Geography

The Solymi appear to have taken their name from a mountain in Anatolia named

Solymus In Greek mythology, Solymus or Solymos (Ancient Greek: Σολύμου) may refer to two individuals: * Solymus, an ancestral hero and eponym of the Solymi, who inhabited Milyas (i.e the area around Solyma), in south-west Anatolia. He was a son ...

(later Güllük Dagi). The greater part of Milyas was rugged and mountainous, but it also contained a few fertile plains. The name, which does not occur in the

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

ic poems, probably belonged to the remnants of the Milyae, who had been driven into the mountains by invaders from Crete, known as the Termilae, who later referred to themselves as

Lycians Lycians is the name of various peoples who lived, at different times, in Lycia, a geopolitical area in Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor). History The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the '' Solymoi'' (or ''Solymi''), also kno ...

. Important cities and towns in Milyas included Cibyra, Oenoanda,

Balbura ''Balbura'' is a genus of moths in the subfamily Arctiinae. Species * ''Balbura dorsisigna'' Walker 1854 * ''Balbura fasciata'' * ''Balbura fresini'' * ''Balbura intervenata ''Balbura intervenata'' is a moth of the subfamily Arctiinae. It ...

, and Bubon, which formed the Cibyratian tetrapolis. Some authors also mention a town named Milyas, which must have been situated north of Termessus in Pisidia.Polyb. v. 72; Ptol. v. 2. § 12; Steph. B. ''s. v.'' Μιλύαι

References

Geography of ancient Lycia Pamphylia Pisidia Geography of Phrygia Historical regions of Anatolia {{AncientPhrygia-geo-stub