LICIA. - A peninsular region of southwestern Asia Minor, formed by an inland rugged plateau sparsely populated and surrounded by mountain ranges that descend steeply to the sea. Licia borders to the west with Caria, to the east with Pamphylia, and to the north with Phrygia. Its historical importance in the pre-Hellenistic and Roman ages is attested by the presence of its name in Egyptian, Hittite, and el-'Amarnah inscriptions.
It is mentioned among the countries to which the consul Lucius sent a letter in favor of the Jews (1 Macc. 15, 33). In the Roman age, it was favored by Augustus, and in 43 A.D. Claudius united Lycia and Pamphylia into a single province. In antiquity, ships sailing from the Phoenician or Egyptian coasts often made stops at the cities of Myra, the capital, or Patara, further west, to seek shelter from storms driven by westerly winds. St. Paul, on his final journey to Jerusalem, having embarked at Miletus, passed through Cos and Rhodes and then landed at Patara, near the mouth of the Xanthus, where he immediately found a ship bound for Phoenicia (Acts 21, 1-4). On the journey that led him as a prisoner to Italy (ibid. 27, 1), having embarked at Caesarea, he put in at Myra, where he was transferred to a ship coming from Alexandria and bound for Italy.