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Name

The settlement's name appears in Greek sources as Hyllarima (Ancient Greek: Ὑλλάριμα). This is thought to derive from the epithet of the local deity Zeus Hyllos; Hyllos may originally have been a native Anatolian god which merged with Zeus through syncretism. Similar processes can be seen at Panamara and Labraunda in Caria, whose chief sanctuaries were for Zeus Panamaros and Zeus Labraundos respectively.⁸

The Carian name of Hyllarima is attested as yλarmi- in an inscribed list of "priests of the gods of Hyllarima", qmoλš msoτ yλarmiτ (ʘ𐊪𐊫𐊣𐤭 𐊪𐊰𐊫𐋇 𐊤𐊣𐊠𐊪𐊹𐋇).⁹ The form yλarmiτ is inflected, resulting in the syncope of the original medial vowel /i/ which survives in the Greek form.¹⁰

The archaic form of Hyllarima might be Wallarima, which is attested in Hittite texts of the 2nd millennium BCE as the name of a community in this region, alongside nearby Iyalanda (Alinda).¹¹

It is thought that the otherwise-unknown toponym Kaprima (Ancient Greek: Κάπριμα), the site of Eupolemus' defeat by Ptolemaeus according to Diodorus Siculus, is a corruption of Hyllarima.¹²¹³ This corruption corresponds with the well-known alternation between initial /h-/ and /k-/ in Carian toponyms, such as in Hydai/Kydai or Hyromos/Kyramos/Euromos.¹⁴

History

If Wallarima is an early mention of Hyllarima, the community may have existed as early as the 14th century BCE.¹⁵ Excavations have shown that the community moved from one fortified hilltop settlement (modern Asarcıktepe) to another nearby (modern Kapraklar) sometime in the 4th century BCE.¹⁶¹⁷

The political history of Hyllarima is poorly known before the Hellenistic period. The earliest known inscription from the vicinity shows that it recognised the conquest of Alexander the Great; it gives its date of creation "(in) the kingship of Philip". Carian: (𐊾𐊠) 𐊽𐊾𐊲𐊸𐊫 𐊷𐊹𐋃𐊹𐊷𐊲𐊰, (δa) kδuśo Pilipus.¹⁸

Because Philip III Arrhidaeus was only king in name, Hyllarima was probably under the control of Asander, satrap of Caria since the Partition of Babylon, at this time (c. 323 – c. 313 BCE). Antigonus I subsequently conquered Caria.¹⁹ Hyllarima was later governed by the dynast Pleistarchus, who fortified the hilltop in the 290s BCE.²⁰ A proxeny inscription from the time of Pleistarchus shows that Hyllarima had adopted the institutions of a Greek polis by the 3rd century, whose chief magistrate was the eponymous archon.²¹²²

Hyllarima fell under Seleucid control by the 260s BCE, during the joint rule of Antiochos I and his son, the future Antiochos II.²³ It then became part of the Rhodian Peraia as a result of the Treaty of Apamea and was eventually absorbed into Roman Asia. Hyllarima remained an important local religious centre throughout the Roman period; a dedication of the 2nd century CE compares the emperor Antoninus Pius to Zeus Hyllos.²⁴ After converting to Christianity, Hyllarima was the seat of a bishop in antiquity. It no longer has a residential bishop today but still remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.²⁵

Excavations

The site was excavated by a joint French-Turkish team led by Pierre Debord and Ender Varinlioğlu from 1997. Their findings were published in 2018.²⁶

The main theatre, built in the 2nd–1st centuries BCE, suggests that the town had a maximum population of approximately 1,500 at the time.²⁷ It is still visible today.²⁸

References

1. Ray, John D. (1988). "Ussollos in Caria". Kadmos. 27 (1): 156–160. doi:10.1515/kadmos-1988-0208. S2CID 163387467. https://doi.org/10.1515/kadmos-1988-0208 ↩

2. Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier; Debord, Pierre; Varinlioğlu, Ender. "La Stèle Caro-Grecque d'Hyllarima (Carie)". Revue des études anciennes. 107 (2): 501–653. ↩

3. Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 61, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9. 978-0-691-03169-9 ↩

4. Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 61, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9. 978-0-691-03169-9 ↩

5. Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire. /wiki/Lund_University ↩

6. Laumonier, Alfred (1958). Les cultes indigènes en Carie. Paris: E. de Boccard. ↩

7. Hyllarima (Caria) https://topostext.org/place/375283UHyl ↩

8. Laumonier, Alfred (1958). Les cultes indigènes en Carie. Paris: E. de Boccard. ↩

9. Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier (2019). "A Kingdom for a Karian Letter". In Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier; García Trabazo, José Virgilio; Vernet, Mariona; Obrador-Cursach, Bartomeu; Martínez Rodríguez, Elena (eds.). Luwic dialects and Anatolian. Inheritance and Diffusion. Institut del Pròxim Orient Antic. pp. 11–50. ISBN 9788491683759. 9788491683759 ↩

10. Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier (2007). The Carian Language. Leiden: Brill. p. 477. ISBN 9789004152816. 9789004152816 ↩

11. Jewell, Elizabeth Ruth (1974). The Archaeology and History of Western Anatolia During the Second Millennium, BCE (PhD). University of Pennsylvania. p. 267. ↩

12. Diodorus. Bibliotheca historica. 19.68.5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) /wiki/Template:Cite_book ↩

13. Debord, Pierre; Varinlioğlu, Ender (2018). Hyllarima de Carie : état de la question. Pessac: Ausonius. ISBN 9782356132123. 9782356132123 ↩

14. Konuk, Koray (2019). "'Coin Legends in Carian'". In Adiego, Ignasi-Adiego (ed.). The Carian Language. Brill. p. 477. ISBN 9789004152816. 9789004152816 ↩

15. Jewell, Elizabeth Ruth (1974). The Archaeology and History of Western Anatolia During the Second Millennium, BCE (PhD). University of Pennsylvania. p. 267. ↩

16. Carbon, Jan-Mathieu (2012). Mixobarbaroi: Epigraphical Aspects of Religion in Karia (6th-1st centuries BCE) (PhD). University of Oxford. pp. 154–156. ↩

17. Debord, Pierre; Varinlioğlu, Ender (2018). Hyllarima de Carie : état de la question. Pessac: Ausonius. ISBN 9782356132123. 9782356132123 ↩

18. Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier (2019). "A Kingdom for a Karian Letter". In Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier; García Trabazo, José Virgilio; Vernet, Mariona; Obrador-Cursach, Bartomeu; Martínez Rodríguez, Elena (eds.). Luwic dialects and Anatolian. Inheritance and Diffusion. Institut del Pròxim Orient Antic. pp. 11–50. ISBN 9788491683759. 9788491683759 ↩

19. Diodorus. Bibliotheca historica. 19.75.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) /wiki/Template:Cite_book ↩

20. Brun, Patrice (1994). "Les fortifications d'Hyllarima, Philon de Byzance et Pleistarchos". Revue des Études Anciennes. 96 (1–2): 193–204. doi:10.3406/rea.1994.4571. https://doi.org/10.3406/rea.1994.4571 ↩

21. Roos, Paavo (1975). "Alte und neue Inschriftenfunde aus Zentralkarien". Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts. 25: 339–341. ↩

22. Debord, Pierre; Varinlioğlu, Ender (2018). Hyllarima de Carie : état de la question. Pessac: Ausonius. ISBN 9782356132123. 9782356132123 ↩

23. Adiego, Ignasi-Xavier; Debord, Pierre; Varinlioğlu, Ender. "La Stèle Caro-Grecque d'Hyllarima (Carie)". Revue des études anciennes. 107 (2): 501–653. ↩

24. Laumonier, Alfred (1958). Les cultes indigènes en Carie. Paris: E. de Boccard. ↩

25. Catholic Hierarchy http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2h49.html ↩

26. Debord, Pierre; Varinlioğlu, Ender (2018). Hyllarima de Carie : état de la question. Pessac: Ausonius. ISBN 9782356132123. 9782356132123 ↩

27. Carbon, Jan-Mathieu (2012). Mixobarbaroi: Epigraphical Aspects of Religion in Karia (6th-1st centuries BCE) (PhD). University of Oxford. p. 155. ↩

28. Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire. /wiki/Lund_University ↩