#lycians

Euripides, fr. 292.6 (Bellerophon)

“If the gods do a shameful thing, they are not gods.”

“Is there anyone who thinks there are gods in heaven? There are not. There are not, for any man who wishes Not to be a fool and trust some ancient story. Look at it yourselves, don’t make up your mind Because of my words. I think that tyranny Kills so many men and steals their possessions And that men break their oaths by sacking cities. But the men who do such things are more fortunate Than those who live each die piously, at peace. I know that small cities honor the gods, Cities that obey stronger more impious men Because they are overpowered by the strength of their arms.”

i love how HES MEANT TO BE WRONG BUT BROS FUCKING ESSENSE, dudes fucking style is so fucking cool that its like "yah no I'm WITH Bellerophon" its meant to be a story of hubris but he's so fucking cool I cant even blame him. of course lycia joined the trojans lmao. no one not a single fucking soul in greece Bellerophon:

Poem found on a tablet in the Xanthos excavations, translated by Azra Erhat

Rock tombs of Myra The ancient Lycians are among the most enigmatic people of antiquity because little historical record has been left behind them. But what has been discovered reveals a fascinating people culturally distinct from the rest of the ancient world at the time. Around twenty major sites remain today with the Lycians' unusual funerary architecture, including incredible rock-cut tombs carved into cliff faces dominating the breathtaking unspoiled land of Lycia.

(after being conquered by sarpedon/lycos) "then by the name taken from Lycos they were called after a time Lykians. The customs which these have are partly Cretan and partly Carian; but one custom they have which is peculiar to them, and in which they agree with no other people, that is they call themselves by their mothers and not by their fathers; and if one asks his neighbour who he is, he will state his parentage on the mother's side and enumerate his mother's female ascendants: and if a woman who is a citizen marry a slave, the children are accounted to be of gentle birth; but if a man who is a citizen, though he were the first man among them, have a slave for wife or concubine, the children are without civil rights"-Herodotus "when Bellerophon slew a certain wild boar, which destroyed the cattle and fruits in the province of the Xanthians, and received no due reward of his service, he prayed to Poseidon for vengeance, and obtained that all the fields should cast forth a salt dew and be universally corrupted, the soil becoming bitter; which continued till he, condescendingly regarding the women suppliants, prayed to Poseidon, and removed his wrath from them. Hence there was a law among the Xanthians, that they should not for the future derive their names from their fathers, but from their mothers."-Plutarch, Concerning the Virtues of Women, Moralia