Page 85 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

able to enter with them. However, without understanding how,
the door suddenly closed and the other half of the Roman army
remained outside the city. Thereupon, the Roman soldiers in-
side panicked for a moment and took shelter inside the Temple
of Sarpedon, that is, in the Sarpedonion. Meanwhile, the Roman
soldiers outside tried to break through the door, but they could
not succeed, and during these efforts they lost their ladders.
But with great effort they built new ladders, while others tied
ropes to grappling irons and threw their ends over the battle-
ments; When the ropes caught, they began to pull themselves
up hand over hand. Others attempted to cross the steep bank
of the river; many jumped to their deaths because of this, while
a significant number of soldiers managed to get inside. They
later helped their friends outside to open the gate, and finally,
as the sun went down, the city fell to the Romans. Therefore,
the Xanthians rushed home immediately and killed their waiting
families without resistance. Brutus, who learned of this massa-
cre, regretted it; he ordered his men to withdraw and sent mes-
sengers to the periphery, proposing a ceasefire; The Xanthians,
who rejected this offer angrily, threw all their possessions on the
pre-prepared woodpile, set them on fire, and threw themselves
into the flames. Here, the grandchildren of the great Sarpedon,
who defended his country at the cost of their lives for the second
time, died together, but they did not break their promises, so
they became immortal together forever. The Romans captured
Xanthos, but the Xanthians still did not surrender at the cost of
death. Of course, there were some who were rescued alive by
Brutus’ soldiers. So much so that some of them were women
who came to Xanthos from the neighboring city of Patara. Bru-
tus, whose next target was Patara, did not want to experience
a similar situation, so he sent these women to their hometown
Patara and ordered them to tell them about their pain. Conse-
quently, the city of Patara surrendered directly to Brutus and his
army in order not to experience a similar sorrows.

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