The Province of Lycia and its Encounter with the War Driven Roman Empire By Emma Bowland Lycia was located in the country now known as Turkey, in Asia-Minor. It has been bounced around from being under Greek control, to under Rhodes, to under Roman control. Not much is known of Lycia before the Classical period, and before it was under the control of Greece, Rhodes and Rome. Even so there are indications that the Lycians were changed by the occupation by the Romans. The Lycian people were affected when Romans came and occupied them; it altered their cities and culture, via a slave trading center, their ability to defend themselves, their government, and their beliefs. Lycia became a large center for slave trading (Harris, 1980, pg. 127). …show more content…
The aristocrats particularly had difficulties with the Romans and the senate. The reason for this dislike is that the Lycian people had just moved from under one county’s power to be forced again under another’s control, and the Lycians were just given the illusion of freedom. The Roman senate placed governors in charge of Lycia, from within their own ranks, thus not allowing the aristocrats of Lycia to govern their own people (Milner, 1998, pg. 121). One possible issue with being unable to govern their own people is the culture clash between the Lycian culture and that of the Romans, causing a vast difference in ideology, beliefs, and societal norms. This would cause a pressure to conform to the ideas and such of the occupying power, in this case the Romans, which would cause confusion and would lead to more results due to the people being upset about this foreign govern who they believe does not understand them or their customs. Time and time again the Lycians are undermined and not heard, with one power taking advantage of them, to the next doing the same. There would be confusion among the common folk, from unaccustomed manners of ruling and controlling the …show more content…
Some were intentional while others just the pressure of a foreign belief system slowly merging into another’s. Through the development of a slave trading center, to the destruction of Lycian defenses, to the appointment of Roman political people, to the pressures of another’s religion, Lycia changed in both negative and positive ways, from the Roman occupation. References Balzart, J. (2014). Names in ERM- in Southern Asia Minor. A Contribution to the Cultural History of Ancient Lycia. Chiron, (44), 253-284. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/11018445/_Names_in_ERM-_in_Southern_Asia_Minor._A_Contribution_to_the_Cultural_History_of_Ancient_Lycia_in_Chiron_44_2014_253-284 Gruen, E. (1975). Rome and Rhodes in the Second Century B.C.: A Historiographical Inquiry. The Classical Quarterly, 25(01), 58-81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0009838800032900 Harris, W. (1980). Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade. Memoirs Of The American Academy In Rome, 36, 117-140. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4238700 Köktürk, H., & Milner, N. (2003). A land dispute from the Lycian borderland. Anatolian Studies, 53, 131-138.