Names in EPM- in Southern Asia Minor. A Contribution to the Cultural History of Ancient Lycia

Abstract

This contribution begins with the discussion of a new reading for the name of a dedicant of a ‹Lycian› Twelve Gods relief, published in LGPN V.B (2013). An analysis of the distribution of the names derived from the Hittite-Luwian divinity Arma in the Greek inscriptions of southern Anatolia then establishes the origin of the dedicant. The way in which, in Lycia, the Arma theophoric names came to meet, adapt and survive in an onomastic landscape that became predominantly Greek in the course of the Hellenistic period, is explored by looking at the influence between these names and Greek personal names derived from Hermes. This onomastic enquiry results in a more accurate definition of the features and borders of onomastic units in Lycia and her immediate neighbours, and helps to recover elements of the centuries-long history of the populations of these regions.