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PISIDIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 652 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PISIDIA , in See also:

ancient See also:geography, the name given to a See also:country in the See also:south of See also:Asia See also:Minor, immediately See also:north of See also:Pamphylia by which it was separated from the Mediterranean, while it was bounded on the N. by See also:Phrygia, on the E. by See also:Lycaonia, See also:Isauria and See also:Cilicia, and on the W. and S.W. by See also:Lycia and a See also:part of Phrygia. It was a rugged and mountainous See also:district, comprising some of the loftiest portions of the See also:great range of Mt See also:Taurus, together with the offshoots of the same See also:chain towards the central table-See also:land of Phry-gia. Such a region was naturally occupied from a very See also:early See also:period by See also:wild and lawless races of mountaineers, who were very imperfectly reduced to subjection by the See also:powers that successively established their dominion in Asia Minor. The Pisidians are not mentioned by See also:Herodotus, either among the nations that were subdued by See also:Croesus, or among those that furnished contingents to the See also:army of See also:Xerxes, and the first mention of them in See also:history occurs in the See also:Anabasis of See also:Xenophon, when they furnished a pretext to the younger See also:Cyrus for levying the army with which he designed to subvert his See also:brother's See also:throne, while he pretended only to put down the Pisidians who were continually harassing the neighbouring nations by their lawless forays (Anab. i. 1, 11; ii. 1, 4, &c.). They are afterwards mentioned frequently by later writers among the inland nations of Asia Minor, and assume a more prominent part in the history of See also:Alexander the Great, to whose See also:march through their country they opposed a deter-See also:mined resistance. In See also:Strabo's See also:time they had passed under the See also:Roman dominion, though still governed by their own See also:petty chiefs and retaining to a considerable extent their predatory habits (giving rise to such See also:wars as that carried on by Quirinius, about 8–6 B.C.). The boundaries of Pisidia, like those of most of the inland provinces or regions of Asia Minor, were not clearly defined, and appear to have fluctuated at different times. This was especially the See also:case on the See also:side of Lycia, where the upland district of Milyas was sometimes included in Pisidia, at other times assigned to Lycia. Some writers, indeed, considered the Pisidians as the same See also:people with the Milyans, while others regarded them as descendants of the Solymi, but Strabo speaks of the See also:language of the Pisidians as distinct from that of the Solymi, as well as from that of the Lydians. The whole of Pisidia is an elevated region of table-lands or upland valleys in the midst of the ranges of Mt Taurus which descends abruptly on the side of Pamphylia.

It contains several small lakes, and two of large See also:

size, See also:Bey-Sheher See also:Lake, the ancient Karalis, and the See also:double lake now called the Egerdir Geul, of which the ancient name was Limnai. The latter is a fresh-See also:water lake of about 3o M. in length, situated in the north of Pisidia on the frontier of Phrygia, at an See also:elevation o' f 3007 ft. Karalis is a larger See also:body, also of fresh water, and at a distinctly higher level above the See also:sea. The only See also:rivers of importance are the Cestrus and the See also:Eurymedon, both of which take their rise in the highest ranges of Mt Taurus, and flow down through deep and narrow valleys to the See also:plain of Pamphylia, which they See also:traverse on their way to the sea. Notwithstanding its rugged and mountainous See also:character, Pisidia contained in ancient times several considerable towns, the ruins of which have been brought to See also:light by the re-searches of See also:recent travellers (Arundell, See also:Hamilton, See also:Daniell, G. Hirschfeld, Radet, Sterrett, Lanckoronski, See also:Ramsay, &c.), and show them to have attained under the Roman See also:Empire to a degree of opulence and prosperity far beyond what we should have looked for in a country of predatory mountaineers. The most important of them are Termessus, near the frontier of Lycia, a strong fortress in a position of great natural strength and commanding one of the See also:principal passes into Pamphylia; Cremna, another See also:mountain fortress, north of the preceding, impending over the valley of the Cestrus; Sagalassus, a little farther north, a large See also:town in a strong position, the ruins of which are among the most remarkable in Asia Minor; Selge, on the right See also:bank of the Eurymedon, surrounded by rugged mountains, notwithstanding which it was in Strabo's time a large and opulent See also:city; and See also:Antioch, known for distinction's See also:sake as Antioch of Pisidia, and celebrated for the visit of St See also:Paul. This was situated in the extreme north-See also:east of the district immediately on the frontier of Phrygia, between Lake Egerdir and the range of the See also:Sultan Dagh and was reckoned in the See also:Greek and earlier Roman period, e.g. by Strabo, as a city of Phrygia. Besides these there were situated in the rugged mountain See also:tract See also:west of the Cestrus Cretopolis, Olbasa, Pogla, Isinda, Etenna and Comama. Pednelissus was in the upper valley of the Eurymedon above Selge. The only See also:place in the district at the See also:present See also:day deserving to be called a town is Isbarta, the See also:residence of a See also:pasha; it stands 'at the See also:northern See also:foot of the See also:main See also:mass of Mt Taurus, looking over a wide and fertile plain which extends up to the northern chain of Taurus. North of this and immediately on the See also:borders of Phrygia stood See also:Apollonia, called also Mordiaeum.

Large estates in Pisidia and the adjoining parts of Phrygia belonged to the Roman emperors; and their See also:

administration has been investigated by Ramsay and others. We have no See also:clue to the ethnic character and relations of the Pisidians, except that we learn from Strabo that they were distinct from the neighbouring Solymi, who were probably a Semitic See also:race, but we find mention at an early period in these mountain districts of various other tribes, as the Cabali, Milyans, &c., of all which, as well as the neighbouring Isaurians and Lycaonians, the origin is wholly unknown, and the See also:absence of monuments of their See also:languages must remain so. A few See also:short Pisidian See also:inscriptions have been published by Ramsay in Revue See also:des etudes anciennes (1895, pp. 353–362). No inscriptions in these other languages are known. (W. M.

End of Article: PISIDIA

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