Lycian Relations with Persians and Greeks in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries Re-examined

Between 547/6 and 541/0 Cyrus the Great defeated Croesus and the Persian Empire reached the Aegean. In the years following, his general, Harpagus the Mede, subdued the coastal Greek cities and sacked Xanthos which put up a struggle to the last. It is to be assumed that the rest of Lycia fell without event. Western and southwestern Asia Minor was divided into two administrative areas, Lydia and Ionia (Yauna). Although the Lydian satrapy was often predominant, the basic unit in the southwest was Ionia which comprised during much of its existance Ionia proper, Aeolia, Caria, Lycia, Milyas, and Pamphylia. This large area left Lycia without a satrap in the proximity and consequently without a provincial court with its attendant strong official influence.