Anatolia/Asia Minor in the Greco-Roman period. The classical regions, including Pamphylia, and their main settlements.
Pamphylia (/pæmˈfɪliə/; Ancient Greek: Παμφυλία, Pamphylía) was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the MediterraneantoMount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was therefore a country of small extent, having a coast-line of only about 120 km (75 miles) with a breadth of about 50 km (30 miles). Under the Roman administration the term Pamphylia was extended so as to include Pisidia and the whole tract up to the frontiers of Phrygia and Lycaonia, and in this wider sense it is employed by Ptolemy.[1]
The name Pamphylia comes from the Greek Παμφυλία,[2] itself from Ancient Greek: πάμφυλος (pamphylos), literally "of mingled tribes or races",[3] a compound of πᾶν (pan), neuter of πᾶς (pas) "all"[4] + φυλή (phylē), "race, tribe".[5] Herodotus derived its etymology from a Dorian tribe, the Pamphyloi (Πάμφυλοι), who were said to have colonized the region.[6] The tribe, in turn, was said to be named after Pamphylos (Greek: Πάμφυλος), son of Aigimios.[7][8]
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Pamphylians were “a mixture of aboriginal inhabitants, immigrant Cilicians (Greek: Κίλικες) and Greeks”.[9] However, Herodotus and Strabo record that the Pamphylians were descended from Greeks who came with Calchas and Amphilochos after the Trojan War.[10] Additionally, Pausanias states that they were a Greek race.[11] Theopompus, as well, informs us that Pamphylia was inhabited by Greeks.[12] Some modern scholars suggest that they migrated to Pamphylia from Arcadia and generally the Peloponnese in the 12th century BC.[13] The significance of the Greek contribution to the origin of the Pamphylians can be attested alike by tradition and archaeology,[14] and Pamphylia can be considered a Greek country from the early Iron Age until the early Middle Ages.[15]
There can be little doubt that the Pamphylians and Pisidians were the same people, though the former had received colonies from Greece and other lands, and from this cause, combined with the greater fertility of their territory, had become more civilized than their neighbours in the interior.[citation needed] But the distinction between the two seems to have been established at an early period. Herodotus, who does not mention the Pisidians, enumerates the Pamphylians among the nations of Asia Minor, while Ephorus mentions them both, correctly including the one among the nations on the coast, the other among those of the interior.[1]
A map showing Pamphylia's location within the Roman Empire15th-century map showing PamphyliaSlinger standing left, triskelion to right; reverse of a silver stater from Aspendos, Pamphylia
A number of scholars have distinguished in the Pamphylian dialect important isoglosses with both Arcadian and Cypriot (Arcadocypriot Greek) which allow them to be studied together with the group of dialects sometimes referred to as Achaean since it was settled not only by Achaean tribes but also colonists from other Greek-speaking regions, Dorians and Aeolians.[16] The legend related by Herodotus and Strabo, which ascribed the origin of the Pamphylians to a colony led into their country by Amphilochus and Calchas after the Trojan War, is merely a characteristic myth.[1]
In the historical era, the region's population spoke Pamphylian, an idiosyncratic dialect of Greek seemingly influenced by Anatolian languages spoken nearby. On Cyrus's defeat of Croesus, Pamphylia passed to the Persian Empire. Darius included it in his first tax-district alongside Lycia, Magnesia, Ionia, Aeolia, Mysia, and Caria.[19] At some point between 468 and 465 BC, the Athenians under Cimon fought the Persians at the Eurymedon, and won; thus adding Pamphylia to their "Delian League" empire. Toward the end of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were weakened enough that the Persians were able to retake it.[20]
Upon Alexander the Great's defeat of Darius III, Pamphylia passed back to Greek rule, now Macedonians. After the defeat of Antiochus III in 190 BC they were included among the provinces annexed by the Romans to the dominions of Eumenes of Pergamum; but somewhat later they joined with the Pisidians and Cilicians in piratical ravages, and Side became the chief centre and slave mart of these freebooters. Pamphylia was for a short time included in the dominions of Amyntas, king of Galatia, but after his death lapsed into a district of a Roman province.[1]
As of 1911, the district was largely peopled with recently settled Ottoman Muslims from Greece, Crete, and the Balkans, as a result of the long-term consequences of the Congress of Berlin and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.[1]
^Colvin, Stephen (2013). A Brief History of Ancient Greek. John Wiley & Sons. p. 84. ISBN978-1-118-61072-5. Herodotus and Strabo record the story that the Pamphylians were the descendants of Greeks who arrived with the seers Calchas and Amphilochos after the Trojan War.
^Ahmad Hasan Dani, Jean-Pierre Mohen, J. L. Lorenzo, and V. M. Masson, History of Humanity-Scientific and Cultural Development: From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century B.C (Vol II), UNESCO, 1996, p.425
^Elaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy & H. Alan Shapiro (1995) Women in the Classical World: Image and Text, Oxford University Press
As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pamphylia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 662.
