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Lydian

File:Lydian_inscriptions.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ36095· pop 42· linked from 191 articles

Also known as Lydian language

language

Key facts

Region
Lydia
Ethnicity
Lydians
Era
attested ca. 700–200 BCE
Language family
Indo-European Anatolian Luwo -Lydian? Lydian
Writing system
Lydian alphabet
Iso 639 3
xld
Linguist list
xld
Glottolog
lydi1241

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Show 2 more facts
native label
𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤶𐤯𐤦𐤳
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via Wikidata · CC0

~16 min read

Article

Lydian is an extinct Indo-European Anatolian language spoken in the region of Lydia, in western Anatolia (now in Turkey). The language is attested in graffiti and in coin legends from the late 8th century or the early 7th century to the 3rd century BCE, but well-preserved inscriptions of significant length are so far limited to the 5th century and the 4th century BCE, during the period of Persian domination. Thus, Lydian texts are effectively contemporaneous with those in Lycian.

Strabo mentions that around his time (1st century BCE), the Lydian language was no longer spoken in Lydia proper but was still being spoken among the multicultural population of Kibyra (now Gölhisar) in southwestern Anatolia, by the descendants of the Lydian colonists, who had founded the city.

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