Toriaion

TORIAION (Kozağaci) Turkey.

Town in Lycia, 5 km S of Kizilcadağ, 32 km N of Elmall. The name seems to be concealed in Hierokles (685: Komistaraos, i.e. κώμης Τοριαίουvel sim.), but since it is not otherwise recorded in the ancient literature the termination is uncertain. It is known from an inscription found in the village of Kozağaci, a dedication to Septimius Severus by the pentacomia of the Toriaeitae of the city of Balbura. Toriaeum itself appears to have had the title of colonia, and to have stood at the head of a community of five villages on the plain at the SE end of Lake Caralitis (Söğütgölü). The city of Balbura lies ca. 32 km to the W, and must accordingly have had a wide territory.

The immediate neighborhood is full of remnants of antiquity, though no actual buildings are standing. Directly above the village a stream falls down a precipitous cliff in a succession of cascades; this is perhaps the river Pyros mentioned in an inscription. In the face of this cliff and on the adjoining slopes is a remarkable series of rock-cut reliefs, many of Hellenistic date. They include a large number of rock-cut stelai, some with an inscription, some with decoration (wreath, olive-branches, bucranium), others quite plain; but most are groups of human figures, from one to five in number, some with an inscription, some without. These are simply commemorative monuments; the inscriptions consist of a name in the nominative followed by one or more names, usually of relatives, in the accusative. They are not strictly epitaphs, as no tombs are in evidence. There also are one or two votive dedications.

Higher up the mountain, some 300 m above the plain, is a little valley containing many ancient stones, including a list of contributions to the construction of a prostoon of the lord Mases. In the steep slope of the valley is a small sanctuary with four votive reliefs representing a horseman deity; one of these carries a dedication to Mases.

Tombs are scarce. High up on the mountain are a few simple graves, and on the plain below is a sarcophagus lid with recumbent lion of the type familiar in N Lycia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Schönborn reported in K. Ritter, Die Erdkunde. . . XIX (1859) 851; E. Petersen & F. von Luschan, Reisen in Lykien II (1889) 172-73; R. Heberdey & E. Kalinka, Bericht über zwei Reisen (1896) 9-11; G. E. Bean, BSA 51 (1956) 152-56.

G. E. BEAN