Lyc'ia {AvKia, prob. from \vkoq, a wolf; according to some, from its earliest king, Lycus; for a Shemitic origin of the name, see Simonis, Onomast. N. T. p. 101 ; Sickler, Handh. p. 568), a province in the south-west of Asia Minor, opposite the island of Rhodes, having Pam- ]jhylia on the east, Phrygia on the north, Caria on the west, and the Mediterranean on the south. The last eminences of the range of Taurus come down here in majestic masses to the sea, forming the heights of Cra- gus and Anticragus, with the river Xanthus winding between them, and ending in the long series of promon- tories called by modern sailors the " Seven Capes," among which are deep inlets favorable to seafaring and piracy. It forms part of the region now called Tekeh. It was fertile in corn and wine, and its cedars, firs, and other trees were celebrated (Pliny, HiM. Nat. xii, 5). Its inhabitants were believed to be descendants of Cretans, who came thither under Sarpedon, brother of Minos. One of their kings was Bellerophon, celebrated in my- thology. Lycia is often mentioned by Homer {II. vi, 171; X, 430; xii, 312; Odys. v, 282, etc.), according to whom it was an ally of Troy. Herodotus assigns sev- eral ancient names to the country (i, 173). The Lj'cians ^vere a warlike people, powerful on the sea, and attached to their independence, which they successful!}' main- tained against Croesus, king of Lydia, and were after- wards allowed by the Persians to retain their own kings as satraps, and their ships were conspicuous in the great war against the Greeks (Herod, vii, 91, 92). After the death of Alexander the Great, Lycia was included in the (ireok Seleucid kingdom, and was a part of the ter- ritory which the Romans forced Antiochus to cede (Livy, xxxvii, 55). It was made, in the first place, one of the continental possessions of Rhodes [see Caria] ; but be- fore long it was politically separated from that island, and allowed to be an independent state. This has been railed the golden [leriod of the history of Lycia (see further in Smith's Did. of Class. Geog. s. v.). It is at this time that it is named in 1 Mace, xv, 23, as one of the countries to which the Roman senate sent its mis- sive in favor of the Jews. The victory of the Romans over Antiochus (B.C. 189) gave Lycia rank as a free etate, wliicii it retained till the time of Claudius, when it was made a province of the Roman empire (Sueton. Claud, i't; Vc'spas.S). At first it was comljined with Pamphylia, and the governor bore the title of " Procon- sul Lyci.T et Pamphyliie" (Grutcr, 7'lies. p. 458). Such seems to have been the condition of the district when Paul visited it (Acts xxi, 1 ; xxvii, 5). At a later pe- riod of the lioman empire it'was a separate province, with ^lyra for its capital. Lycia contained many towns, two of wliich are mentioned in the New Testament: Patara (Acts xxi, 1, 2) and Myra (Acts xxvii, 5) ; and
one, Phase lis, in the Apocrypha (1 Mace, xv, 23). This
Coin of Lycia.
region, abounding in ancient remains and inscriptions (the last copiously illustrated by Schmidt, Jena, 1868, foL), was first visited in modern times by Sir Chas. Fel- lows, See his Journal (London, 1839, 1841) ; Forbes, Travels (London, 1847) ; Texier, L'Asie Minture (Paris, 1838) ; Eneyd. of Useful Knoidedfje, xiv, 210 sq. ; Cra- mer's Asia Minor, ii, 282 sq. ; Mannert, Geoyr. YI, iii, 150 sq. ; Cellarius, Notit. ii, 93 sq.
Lych-gate or Lich-gate (Anglo-Sax. He or liee,a body or corpse), i. e. corpse-yale, is a covered gate erect- ed, especially in England, at the entrance of ?. church- yard, beneath Avhich the persons bearing a corpse for interment were wont to pause, sometimes to read the burial-service nnder tliis sheltered place. It is also ap- plied to the path by which a corpse is carried.
Lych- or Corpse-gate at Blackford Church, Perthshire. LychllOSCope (an opening for ^catching the light), a name assigned by conjecture to an unglazed window or opening, which is frequently foimd near the west end of the chancel, and usually on the south side, below the range of the other windows, and near the ground. AMiat purpose these low side windows served in churches is not now known. — Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop, s. v.
Lycus {Wolf), a river of Palestine, mentioned by ancient geographers as situated between ancient Bihlus and Berytus (Strabo, xvi, p. 755 ; Pliny, v, 20). This is evidently the modern Nahr el-Kelb (Dog River), at the mouth of which, about 2i hours N.E. of Beirut, are found the remarkable rock-tablets of ancient victorious kings (Wilson, ii, 405 ; Robinson, Later Ees. p. 619 sq.). Lyd'da (Ai'^^a, Acts ix, 32,35,38; from the Heb. " Lod,'"'i'b, strife ; Sept. AoS v. r. Ati^, 1 Chron. viii, 12 ; Avcciiiv v. r. AoSaol and AoSadiS, by union witJi the following name, Ezra ii, 33; Neh. vii, 37; Ai<cca,Kch. xi, 35 ; 1 Mace, xi, 34 ; so also Josephus), a town within the limits of the tribe of Ephraim; according to Eu- sebius and Jerome, nine miles east of Joppa, on the road between that port and Jerusalem ; according to the An- tonine liin., thirty-two miles from Jerusalem and ten from Antipatris. It bore in Hebrew the name of Lou, and appears to have been first built by the Benjamites, although it lay beyond the limits of their temtory (I Chron. viii, 12) ; and we find it again inhabited by Ben- jamites after the exile (Ezra ii, 33; Neh. xi, 35). In all these notices it is mentioned in connection with Ono. It likewise occurs in the Apocrypha (1 Mace, xi.34) as having been taken from Samaria and annexed to Juda?a In' Demetrius Nicator; and at a later date its inhabi- tants are named among those who were sold into slaT-