LYCIA
The Lycians were a small nation in the southwest of Asia Minor, between Caria and Pamphylia. They alone among the peoples of this region preserved their independence against the Lydian kings, but they succumbed to Harpagus, the general of Cyrus, in 545 B.C.
After a while they recovered their independence, and in a degree maintained it by joining the Athenian Maritime League. Alexander had no difficulty in conquering this people, and in his empire they were ruled sometimes by the Ptolemies and sometimes by the Seleucidæ. Nevertheless, they managed to preserve their federal institutions, even when subject to and controlled by Rome. Not until the time of Claudius was Lycia formally annexed to the Roman Empire.
MYSIA
The Mysians were a race allied to the Lydians. They formed part of the conquests of Alyattes and Crœsus, and passed with Lydia into the Persian empire.
At Alexander’s death the country was annexed to the Syrian monarchy, of which it formed part until the defeat of Antiochus the Great. The Romans transferred the country to the dominions of Eumenes of Pergamus as a reward for his services during the war. Pergamus was the most important city of Mysia, and under Alexander’s successors became the seat of a flourishing Greek monarchy. It became prominent under Attalus I in the third century B.C. The successor of Attalus, Eumenes II, greatly extended and beautified the city. When Attalus III died, 133 B.C., he bequeathed the kingdom to Rome, and thus all Mysia became a portion of the province of Asia.
CAPPADOCIA
The Cappadocians were originally a Semitic people. They absorbed a portion of the invading Cimmerians in the eighth century B.C.
Our real knowledge of them goes back only to the Persian conquest in the middle of the sixth century. It was included in the third satrapy of Darius’s empire, although the satraps succeeded in making themselves virtually independent. Ariarathes I maintained himself on the throne after the conquest of Alexander. But at the latter’s death Perdiccas took him prisoner and put him to death. His son regained the throne, and his descendants ruled more or less in full possession of the kingdom. They fought against the Romans and afterwards with them, taking part in the struggles in Bithynia and Pontus. On the death of Archelaus (17 A.D.) the kingdom of Cappadocia was reduced to a Roman province.