The Farewell Dance to the Dead: The Dancers on the Portal of Trysa’s Heroon and the Xanthos “Dancers Sarcophagus”

A new interpretation challenges the long-held identification of dancers depicted on Trysa’s Heroon portal and Xanthos’s 'Dancers Sarcophagus' as 'Kalathiskos Dancers.' Instead, these figures are proposed to represent a standardized dance template linked to cultic practices of Apollo, unique to Lycian necropolises. The study integrates archaeological, epigraphic, and philological evidence, suggesting that the cultural elites of Trysa and Xanthos were heroes aligned with trans-Aegean Apollo worship. This reinterpretation sheds light on the significance of these artifacts within Lycia’s death cult, contrasting them with broader Aegean traditions.

IŞIN, G. (2021). The Farewell Dance to the Dead: The Dancers on the Portal of Trysa’s Heroon and the Xanthos “Dancers Sarcophagus”. Adalya, (24), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.47589/adalya.1036648