Parerga to the Stadiasmus Patarensis (17): A Correction to the Course of the Road between Xanthos and Neisa

Abstract

The distance between Xanthos and Neisa in the Stadiasmus Patarensis (SP) is given as 176 stadia (ca. 32-33 km). As the results of our field surveys in 2009-2010, it is accepted that this road led through Islamlar and the Alacaisik Pass directly below Koybasi Hill. But such a route with a length of 39-40 km is much longer than that which the SP provides. Sencer Sahin, who accepted this route as the course of the road from Xanthos to Neisa in the SP, claimed that Koybasi, of which both eastern (Bezirgan) and western parts (Islamlar) belonged to Patara, remained within the territory of Xanthos. Therefore, it was obvious that both the difference in distances and the territorial borders around Koybasi present some problems. The only solution to these problems was a much shorter mountain route. In our recent field observations, we found a convenient road, which led to Neisa via the shortest possible course, over Mount Dumanli. This road reached Neisa from Xanthos through Cavdir, Itkeseri, Armutcukuru, Duman Spring, Duman Pass and the north of Lengume. The length of this route is ca. 33 km, which conforms with the distance recorded on the SP. In consequence therefore, as the road recorded on the SP was not through Islamlar and Alacaisik Pass by Koybasi, there remained no reason to assume that Koybasi was within the territory of Xanthos. On the contrary, accepting Koybasi as being within the territory of Patara removes territorial problems in the related regions. A further problem concerning this issue is the milestone found at the southwestern point of Lengume, from where the road leads to the Alacaisik Pass by Koybasi. On this milestone a distance of 16 MP (ca. 24 km) is given from a “metropolis”, which was accepted as Xanthos. But, since it is established that the road between Xanthos and Neisa took a mountain course passing through the norther point of Lengume, the destination on the milestone would not have been Xanthos, but rather Patara, being the only option from the southwestern end of Lengume. This distance of 16 MP (ca. 24 km) also conforms with the distance to Patara. The last question concerns the territorial affiliation of the land of today’s Lengume. Unfortunately, there is no direct evidence to affiliate it with any of the three possible options: Xanthos, Patara and Neisa. But because there is no road given between Patara and Neisa on the SP, this might have been because the territory of Xanthos lay in between, and, if this were the case, the Lengume Plain might well have belonged to Xanthos in antiquity. However, such a road might have been omitted from the SP as well, like the absence of record on the SP of a road between Pinara and Sidyma, even though they were closer neighbours.