'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎343] (416/905)

CHAP. XV.] ANCIENT LANGUAGE AND INHABITANTS. 343
body politic of Lycia. 1 It seems evident, however, that the
federal government, so highly praised by Strabo, was but the
continuation of the celebrated league which was founded upon
the ancient laws 2 of the Lycians, and which existed under
the satraps of the great king. The tombs and excavations of
Xanthus, as well as the vestiges of Tlos, and other ruins, dis
play a different style of architecture from that of the Greeks or
Romans ; and we find that a separate language, and a peculiar
written character, likewise prevailed in the country. 3
By some, the Lycian language is supposed to be derived Ancient
from the Syro-Phoenician, whilst, from its resemblance to the language -
Sanscrit and Zend, Grotefend and others conclude that it
belongs to the extensive Indo-Germanic family, 4 which would
seem to link the inhabitants of this portion of the peninsula
with those of ancient Assyria, and consequently with the
Phoenicians of the latter region. 5
According to Herodotus, the Lycians derived their name First inhabi-
from Lycus, the son of Pandion, who came into the country tante '
on being expelled from Athens ; but after the arrival of the
Cretan chief, Sarpedon, they bore the name of Termilae.
Previously they were called Solymi, and at an earlier period
Milyans, from Milyas the first name of the territory. 6 But
the colony conducted into Lesbos by Xanthus, and the contin
gents sent, about five centuries later, to the Trojan war by
the Termilae and Troes, 7 the two principal nations of Lycia,
claim for that people a more remote origin. The Lycians had
the peculiar custom of tracing their genealogy through the
females, who had the singular privilege of choosing their hus-
1 Strabo, lib. XII., p. 665.
8 Idem, lib. XIV., pp. 664, 665; and Herod., lib. I., c. clxxiii.
3 See the Plates in Mr. Fellowes's works, 1839 and 1840; also the Marbles
recently deposited in the British Museum.
4 Remarks on the Lycian Alphabet, by Daniel Sharpe, Esq., in Mr. Fellowes's
Journal, 1840, pp. 428, 430.
5 The Phoenicians inhabited the shores of the Erythrean Sea or Persian
Gulf.—Strabo, lib. I., p. 42 ; and Herod., lib. I., c. ii. and vii.; lib. LXXXIX.
6 Herod., lib. I., c. clxxii.
7 Sarpedon led the former, and Pandarus, son of Lycaon, the latter.—Iliad.
II., 824, 827.