Pamphylia
Pamphylia is a historical region located in southern Asia Minor, bordered by Lycia to the west, Cilicia to the east, the Taurus mountains to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Its coastal area extended approximately seventy-five miles, with fertile plains nourished by rivers, including the Eurymedon. The region's history is rich, as it was known in ancient times as Mopsopia, named after the legendary figure Mopsus who is said to have settled the area post-Trojan War. The indigenous Pamphylians, who had similarities to the non-Greek Cilicians, interacted with Greek settlers who brought their dialects, although these were eventually lost.
Over the centuries, Pamphylia fell under the control of various empires, including Lydia, Persia, and later, Alexander the Great. It was subsequently governed by the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids before becoming part of the Roman Empire. The region was notorious for piracy, which prompted military intervention from the Romans in the first century BC. Eventually, Pamphylia became integrated into the Roman provincial system, transitioning through various administrative statuses before gaining recognition as a separate province in the later empire. Its notable cities include Perga, Aspendus, Attaleia, and Side, each contributing to its rich cultural and historical heritage.
Subject Terms
Pamphylia
A region of southern Asia Minor, bounded on the west by Lycia, on the east by Cilicia, on the north by the Taurus (Toros) mountains, and on the south by the Mediterranean; its coastline covered seventy-five miles or (in earlier times) more, and the country extended about thirty miles inland
It included an alluvial plain watered by four rivers, one of which was the Eurymedon (qv). According to Pliny the Elder, Pamphylia's original name was Mopsopia, after Mopsus who, according to legend, colonized its territory after the Trojan War, in conjunction with Amphilochus and Calchas (seeMopsuestia). The Greek settlers who, in fact, arrived in the area, were said to have spoken a Greek dialect like Arcadian or Cypriot, though according to Arrian they forgot this form of speech.
The Pamphylians, who, although resembling the non-Greek Cilicians in their way of life, intermixed with these Greek settlers—and were known to Plato, whose Myth of Er is about one of them—belonged successively to the empires of Lydia and Persia until they surrendered to Alexander the Great (333). Subsequently they were subject to Ptolemy I Soter and II Philadelphus of Egypt, and then to the Seleucids. One of the Seleucid monarchs, Antiochus III the Great, ceded the country to the Romans (190/188), who transferred a strip of the Pamphylian coast to Eumenes II of Pergamum.
The maritime cities, however, engaged extensively in piracy. During the first century BC the Romans battled against these activities, and gradually established control over Pamphylia, which was first loosely connected and then formally attached (c 44) to the province of Asia. In 36 Pamphylia was given by Antony to Amyntas, king of Galatia, but then successively belonged to Rome's new Galatian province (25), to the province of Lycia-Pamphylia (AD 43), to Galatia again (under Galba), and then to Lycia again (under Vespasian), while nevertheless retaining a separate federal organization (koinon) of its own. In the later empire Pamphylia became a separate province. See alsoAspendus, Attaleia, Perga, Side.