‘He who of all mankind set up the most numerous trophies to Zeus’ The Inscribed Pillar of Xanthos reconsidered

The Inscribed Pillar of Xanthos remains one of the most enigmatic monuments of ancient Lycia. This article addresses the problem of the monument's authorship, but tries also to shed some light on the relative chronology of its inscriptions (a Greek epigram, a long inscription in Lycian A and a short Lycian B inscription), the relationship between the decorative sculptures of the monument and the content of the inscriptions, the political intention of the Lycian A text, and the significance of the Greek epigram for our understanding of the process of Greek acculturation. We argue that the Pillar results from the interventions of different individuals at different times and its overall design, therefore, does not represent a single and unified concept. Viewed from this perspective, several aspects of the monument, while apparently inconsistent at first glance, reveal their own ‘consistency’, which allows us to resolve the contradictions of previous interpretations.