Introduction to site
What is Trmmilli Texts?
Trmmilli texts is a expanding systematic digital corpus of Lycian langauge epigraphic texts created by Dane Scott under the guidance of Dr. Neel Smith, College of the Holy Cross. This is an expanding database with the aim of being a comprehensive resource for Lycian inscriptions. This website is the public-facing resource that is generated from Dane Scott’s undergraduate senior thesis.
This website contains diplomatic and normalized editions of Lycian texts tied closely with citable images of the iscription istelf. Tied to each inscription is an automatically updating concordance of Lycian words and a lexicon based on Craig Melchert’s 2004 book A Dictionary of the Lycian Language. Also included is a companion of articles on the divinities mentioned in the epigraphic corpus. Forthcomming are resources for the morphology of Lycian terms that will be tied to the text in which each lexical token appears. Translation of these texts, though possible for a select number of inscriptions with the completion of the morphology, is beyond the scope of this project.
What is Lycian?
Lycian is an ancient Anatolian language that was spoken in Lycia, a geo-political area in the southwest of modern-day Turkey. Lycian is closely related to other Anatolian languages like Luwian, Carian, and (distantly) Hittite. It seems that Lycian maintained a strong written presence in Lycia during the 4th and 5th centuries BCE (the epichoric period), appearing on stone, tombs, monuments, and coins. But, by the first century, Greek had fully replaced Lycian the sole public and administrative language.
There are two forms of Lycian that have been discovered: Lycian A (simply called “Lycian”) and Milyan (Lycian B). Lycian A accounts for the majority of texts discovered, while Milyan appears only in a select number of sources, usually from the Milyas region in eastern Lycia. Given the small number of inscriptions containing Milyan, knowledge of the language is sparse. For that reason, Trmmilli Texts only deals with texts written in Lycian A.
The first non-deciphered Lycian texts were published by a French archaeological team in 1820, with the Lycian alphabet being deciphered later that year. The first extensive corpus of Lycian inscriptions was published by an Austrian expedition led by Ernest Kalinka in 1901. This corpus, called Tituli Asiae Minoris: Tituli Lyciae (shorted to TL in this collection), contianed 152 Lycian inscriptions, including bilingual Lycian-Greek texts.
The next significant publication of Lycian texts was by Guenter Neumann in 1979 called Neufunde lykischer Inschriften seit 1901 (abbreviated as N in this collection) which was modeled as a continuation of Kalinka’s corpus. There have been more recent publications, including a collection of small inscriptions from 2017 that have added to our understanding of Lycian, and there is an active effort by Austrian archaoelogists to collect and eventually publish recently discovered inscriptions.
Is Lycian fully deciphered?
No. Because of the relative small number of discovered attestations and the poor state of many of the sources, parts of the Lycian language remain unclear. Efforts to decipher Lycian have relied mainly on two strategies: bilingual texts and linguistic comparison with similar Anatolian languages. Both methods have lead to fantastic advancements in the full decipherment of Lycian, but each is limited by the dearth and state of the sources.
For instance, the Xanthos Stele—the longest trilingual text in Lycian, Greek, and Milyan—has been of little use because the Lycian text has been damaged and the Greek side seems to have very little resemblance to the Lycian text. However, undertanding of morphology and syntax has been greatly advanced by comparison with Luwian and Carian, and indeed many of the dicovered texts follow similar formulaic patterns that make it easy to understand. Perhaps the greatest hinderance to the complete decipherement of Lycian remains in the vocabulary. There is simply some words that we do not have enough information to transalate, though the scholar Craig Melchert has published a very helpful dictionary of the Lycian langauge.
What types of inscriptions are included in this collection?
This corpus focuses on epigraphic texts written in Lycian within the epichoric period (4th and 5th centuries BCE). These texts include stone monuments (e.g. TL 44 and N 320), tomb inscriptions, and scultpural pieces. The majority of these texts have been drawn from Kalinka’s and Neumann’s collections, but more recent published texts have been included (e.g. Gephyra 19). Texts containing names of Lycian divinities were given priority when starting this project. The Lycians mention their deities on almost every type of text and from every geographic area. Therefore, these “divine-name” texts present the perfect dataset with which to launch this project. Because of this, articles providing backround and details on these divinites have been included as well.
Milyan/Lycian B is not covered in this corpus, and the non-Lycian portions in bilingual inscriptions have been treated as their own text and therefore not included in this corpus yet.
The original prospectus for the Trmmilli Text project
I am proposing a tutorial in the Lycian language with Professor Neel Smith to build off of the rapidly-growing work I completed during the Fall semester, and to culminate in a systematic digital edition of Lycian epigraphic sources–a “Lycian Perseus Project.” The work done in this semester has laid the groundwork for further in-depth research into this rich–but often understudied–Anatolian language.
The Fall tutorial has been structured around primary-source based work. Using bilingual Greek-Lycian texts, I have systematically “deciphered” the Lycian alphabet. This was done to experimentally confirm the findings of previous Lycian scholars and increase my familiarity with the sources. I have also begun identifying key morphological and syntactical features by analyzing standard funerary formulaic language. Most recently, I have started the process of digitally editing these primary sources using XML and tying these editions to canonically cited digital images.
This coming tutorial will build upon the work started in the Fall tutorial. I will continue to expand the edited corpus of Lycian inscriptions. I will also build out a model of morphological analyses and a digital lexicon. All of these will be coordinated with canonical citation. Moreover, I plan to expand the corpus to include contextual information about each epigraphic source including its geographic, chronological, and political provenance. Throughout this process, I will compile an annotated bibliography of Lycian scholarship, which will be a useful resource for other scholars and students interested in Lycia.
When I have compiled enough information in this digital edition, I hope to use the findings to revisit important questions about Lycian religion. The last scholars to survey this area of Lycian culture broadly were Trevor Bryce in 1986 and, more briefly Anthony Keen in 1989. Since then, valuable archeological and linguistic evidence has expanded our understanding of the corpus. I plan to use the Lycian corpus and archaeological evidence to craft an updated picture of Lycian religious life, tied closely to primary sources, with a specific focus on its votive and funerary practices.
Who is Dane Scott?
Dane Scott is a current PhD student at Boston University studying ancient Mediterranean religions. He graduated summa cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross with a degree in Classics and a minor in religious studies. This project is based on his undergraduate senior thesis on the Lycian language.