Podalia
| Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R). |
Podalia or Potamia is an Ancient Lycian city in Antalya Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. Arycandos River flows through it.
Variants of name
- Podalia - the more recent Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (1976) calls it Podalia.[1] The form "Podalia" is also what appears in the 1902 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica,[2] and is used by David Cunliffe Pointer[3] The city is called Podalia in Pliny the Elder's Natural History,[4]
Location
Smith reported the theory of Charles Fellows that the site of Podalia was at Eskihisar (Turkish for "old town"), near Almalec, where there are remains of ancient Cyclopean town walls and rock tombs; but the Princeton Encyclopedia dismisses that theory, and another that would place Podalia at Armutlu, as lacking evidence. A better theory, it holds, is that the town was situated at a place still called Podalia or Podamia on a hill at the northwest corner of the Avlan Gölü lake, 16 km south of Elmali. It sees as even more likely, and indeed almost certain, a site at Söğle, where there are remains of a large town for which no other identification is possible, since the only other candidate would be Choma, now positively identified with Hacimusalar, southwest of Elmali.
Origin of name
Potaka (पॊतक) was a Nagavanshi King - Adi Parva, Mahabharata/Book I Chapter 31 mentions the names of Chief Nagas...Potaka is listed in verse (I.31.7)....Nila, Anila, Kalmasha, Shabala, Aryaka, Adika, Shala, Potaka,.. [6] Potaka probably gave name to the place.
Jat clans
History
Inscriptions show that, in the 2nd century AD, Podalia received benefits from Opramoas of Rhodiapolis and that it honoured Jason of Kyaneai. The very few coins of Podalia that have been found of the time of Gordian III (238–244).[7]
The site is not determined with absolute certainty. Early locations at Eskihisar and at Armutlu are unsupported by evidence and are to be rejected. A more satisfactory suggestion was a site on a hill at the NW corner of the lake Avlan Gölü, 16 km S of Elmali; this is surrounded by a ring wall of ashlar masonry well preserved on the W side, enclosing a small tower and quantities of uncut building stones. There are also two small rock-cut tombs. Pottery on the hill is Hellenistic and later; on the plain below some Early Bronze pieces have been found. These remains are not in themselves suggestive of a city site so much as a military fortress; but the place was known locally as “Podalia,” with a variant “Podamia.” [8]
The site at Söğle is of quite different character. At the edge of the village is a hill, lower on the N side than on the S, strewn with abundant sherds ranging in date from the Early Bronze Age to Byzantine times. In the village are numerous evidences of urban occupation—altars, ex-votos, and many other carved blocks, and inscriptions of Roman and Byzantine date. Here is undoubtedly a city site, which can hardly be other than Podalia. In this part of Lycia only two cities are known, Podalia and Choma, and Choma is now located with certainty at Hacimusalar to the SW of Elmali. The plain of Elmali falls into two distinct parts, to the S and to the NE, both good fertile land; in the former is Choma, with Comba a little farther to the SW; if Podalia be placed at Avlan Gölü there are three cities in this region, while the NE plain remains blank. It seems that for Avlan Gölü the alternative name Podamia (Potamia) should be accepted; this is eminently suitable for a site close beside the spot where the river Akçay, the ancient Aedesa, runs into the lake. [9]
The Buddhist text Mahagovinda Suttanta mentions about a ruler of Assaka, Brahmadatta who ruled from Potali or Podana, which now lies in the Nandura Tehsil of Buldhana district in Maharashtra.[10]
References
- ↑ G.E. Bean, "Podalia" in Richard Stillwell et alii (editors), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton University Press, 1976)
- ↑ E.H. Bunbury, "Lycia" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 1902
- ↑ .David Cunliffe Pointer, "The Lycian Federation"
- ↑ Pliny, Natural History, book 5, chapter 28
- ↑ Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography:Podalaea
- ↑ नीलानीलौ तथा नागौ कल्माषशबलौ तथा, आर्यकश चादिकश चैव नागश च शल पॊतकः (I.31.7)
- ↑ G.E. Bean, "Podalia" in Richard Stillwell et alii (editors), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton University Press, 1976)
- ↑ G.E. Bean, "Podalia" in Richard Stillwell et alii (editors), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton University Press, 1976)
- ↑ G.E. Bean, "Podalia" in Richard Stillwell et alii (editors), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton University Press, 1976)
- ↑ Raychaudhuri, Hemchandra (1972) Political History of Ancient India, University of Calcutta, Mumbai, p.80
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