Presentation of the project

Discovery of the site

Xanthos was discovered by Sir Charles Fellows in 1838. This scientist’s surveys between 1840 and 1843 made this once-forgotten city known to the Western world (Fellows 1841 and 1852). Interesting vestiges were brought back to London, where they remain today in The British Museum. Though some inscriptions were copied or brought to England (four pieces), it was only at the end of the 19th century that researchers turned specifically to Xanthos’ written material. In 1881 Otto Benndorf copied the inscribed pillar; then between 1892 and 1894 an Austrian mission led by Eduard Hula made several trips to Xanthos during which more than a hundred inscriptions were copied and squeezed. No stone was moved, however. In 1920, from the notes and squeezes made during this mission, which also extended to the sectors surrounding the site, Ernst Kalinka published 134 texts in a collection entitled Tituli Asiae Minoris (TAM) (Volume II, Part 1).

Archaeological works in the 20th century

When archaeologist Pierre Demargne began his archaeological dig of the site in 1950, the mission did not include an epigraphist. The texts and fragments discovered were written down in a separate notebook and left in situ or well-stored in the storage room. Some were published in an Appendix to the volumes of the collection Fouilles de Xanthos (e.g. Demargne 1958) before Pierre Demargne and Henri Metzger entrusted Louis Robert with publishing the Xanthos and Letoon inscriptions (Robert 1966). As the years passed, the French archaeological mission soon turned its attention to Letoon. Starting in 1970, several sectors were opened at Xanthos, primarily Jean-Pierre Sodini’s dig of Byzantine religious buildings. In 1977, the mission’s leadership was passed to Christian Le Roy who actively continued the Letoon dig. André Balland took on the hefty task of recording Imperial era inscriptions (Balland 1981). During these missions, the essential texts both from Xanthos and Letoon were published individually (e.g. Le Roy 1986, Bousquet 1988, Christol & Drew-Bear 1991, Bousquet & Gauthier 1993 and 1994, Gauthier 1996, Bresson 2001). Though the majority of inscriptions discovered in digs were published, at the Letoon site many fragments and missing inscriptions remained unpublished. In the 1970s, André Balland focused one season on researching the Xanthos texts recorded in Pierre Demargne’s epigraphic notebook. Many stones remained unfound, including several that may have been taken to the Antalya Museum.

The Canadian Mission

In 1997, after accepting leadership of the mission, Jacques des Courtils wished to complete the epigraphic aspect of the project, including publishing yet unpublished texts, and rectifying the lack of a comprehensive study that had made it nearly impossible to use any of these texts. Patrick Baker accepted des Courtils' invitation to join the team for several days during the summer 2000 season. The goal was to establish an epigraphic survey program of the compound (city, sanctuary and surrounding area) and to prepare a request for funding from Québec and Canada (des Courtils et al. 2001). The project, which has been regularly financed since 2001, is now led in collaboration with Gaétan Thériault from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM).