pedrita, the Lycian Aphrodite
urn:cite2:trmilli:divinities.v1:div_12
pedritaβs identification with the Greek Aphrodite comes from a silver kantharos depicting the judgment of Paris (N 307) where she sits beside maliya/Athena. Her Lycian name shows a clear borrowing from the Greek name with a common Anatolian aphaeresis of initial a-,1 which indicates that she was a direct import from Greece without a native Anatolian counterpart.2 In terms of cult, the Xanthos Stele (TL 44.b, 53) makes reference to a komeziya padritahi (ππππππππ πππ ππππππ), or an βaltar of padrita,β which suggests that there may be have been established cultic functions surrounding pedrita by the end of the 5th century BCE.3 Howevever, Laroche has pointed out that padritahi may be a theophoric name of a cityβperhaps a Lycian translation of Aphrodisias in Cariaβand that the Xanthos inscription merely refers to altars established in in a separate city bearing pedritaβs/Aphroditeβs name.4 Whichever the case, pedritaβs presence in art and inscriptions attests to the increasing influence of Greek mythology and culture in Lyica.5
Notes:
1 Payne (2004) 476
2 Bryce (1986) 181
3 ibid
4 Laroche (1980) 5
5 Keen (1998) 204
Sources:
Bryce, Trevor R. The Lycians in Literary and Epigraphic Sources, vol. 1, Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 1986.
Keen, Antony G. Dynastic Lycia: A Political History of the Lycians and their Relations with Foreign Powers C. 545-326 B.C..Mnemosyne, Supplements, Vol. 178, Brill, Leiden. 1998.
Laroche, E. βLes dieux de la Lycie classique dβapres les textes lyciens.β Metzger. 1980a.
Payne, Annick. βLycia - Crossroads of Hittite and Greek Traditions?.β Papers on Ancient Literatures: Greece, Rome, and the Near East, Eisenbrauns, 2008. pp. 471-487