Parerga to the Stadiasmus Patarensis (17): A Correction to the Course of the Road between Xanthos and Neisa

Abstract

In the Stadiasmus Patarensis (SP) the road from Xanthos to Neisa (R 6) is given as ἀπὸ Ξάνθου [εἰς Νεῖσα] ϋ στάδια ϋ ροϛʹ (176 stadia = ca. 32-33 km) in line 14 of face B. The air distance between two cities is 28-29 km, meaning that, if the distance of 176 stadia on the block is correct, the road should lead as direct as possible to accord with the SP. But, our research of 2009-2010 showed that this road led through Çavdır, Çayköy, Üzümlü (Margaz), İslamlar (Bodamya), near Lapaz, the Alacaışık Pass by Köybaşı/Gölbaşı, passing in western vicinity of İkizce, Akarkuyu, Lengüme (Çamlıova) and Sütleğen (see below Fig. 1), 1 covering a distance of no less than ca. 40 km (ca. 215/6 stadia). This is a much longer distance than that recorded by the SP, Şahin estimated this difference as 10,5 km, 2 as shown in the map below (Fig. 1). These extra lengths measured to Xanthos, both from Sütleğen and Lengüme, were explained as due to the possible different courses of the modern road on the mountainous sections, which extended the length of these routes. The milestone from Lengüme, which probably dates from no earlier than the Severan Period and is today lost, also played an important role on this consideration, inasmuch as it was erected on the southwestern point of Lengüme, and records 16 mp (= ca. 23/24 km) from its destination, which was repeatedly and confidently asserted to be Xanthos. 3 This distance, with an extra distance of 2-3 km, seems to correspond roughly to the actual length of ca. 25-26 km between the find spot of this milestone and Xanthos, following a route through Köybaşı. In any case, the length between Xanthos and Neisa in the SP and the length of the course proposed by Şahin and later adopted by Takmer and Oktan, which mostly corresponds with the modern road between Kınık and Sütleğen, diverge from each other. In