The Lukka were a decentralized group of raiders and rebels described in 13th century BC Egyptian records as part of the Sea People. They fought against the Hittite Empire and their lands never formed a unified kingdom.
An army of Xanthian Greeks burned all property and dependents before dying to a man fighting Harpagus forces. Herodotus recorded that 80 families survived by being away with herd animals in alpine summer pastures and later repopulated the area.
The Roman senate issued a decree freeing the Carians and the Lycians during the Third Macedonian War. This action established an early federation with republican principles that retained ancestral laws under Roman suzerainty.
Claudius annexed Lycia in 43 AD because he reduced the Lycians to servitude due to internal feuds. Cassius Dio wrote that Claudius incorporated them into the prefecture of Pamphylia while Suetonius stated he deprived them of independence for the same reason.
Four ridges extend from northeast to southwest forming the western extremity of the Taurus Mountains including Boncuk Dağlari and Akdağlari peaks. Tahtali Dağ rises to 2,368 meters and was dubbed Mount Olympus by the Greeks where Yanartaş sits on the slopes.
A substantial Christian community of Greeks lived in Lycia until forced migration occurred following the Greco-Turkish War in the 1920s. Abandoned Greek houses still stand in regions like Kayaköy serving as ghost towns reminding visitors of this exodus.