36 



*489th OEDIJSTAEY GENEEAL MEETING. 

 MONDAY, JANUARY 4th, 1909. 



D. HowAKD, Esq., D.L., F.C.S., F.I.C. (Yice-Pkesident), 

 IN THE Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed. 



J. W. Tliirtle, Esq., LL.D., M.R.A.S., was elected a Member, and 

 W. Dale, Esq., F.S.A.. F.G.S., Andrew P. Derr, Esq., M.A., The Rev. 

 Prof essor Heckler. Miss A. E, Hemming, John Schwartz, Esq., Junr., 

 The Bev. R. C. Turner, M.A., A. C. Turner, Esq., M.A., Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, were elected Associates of the Institute. 



The following paper was then read by the author : — 



A CO UNTR Y TO WN OF L YCA ONI A. A Description of the 

 Conditions of Christian Life under the Eastern Empire. 

 By Professor Sir William M. Eamsay, F.E.S., D.C.L. 

 Aberdeen University. 



MY subject is an attempt to set before you some slight 

 picture of the main facts in the life of a country town 

 in the centre of Anatolia in the province called in ancient time 

 Lycaonia, during the Byzantine Empire. Now we read a great 

 deal in books, in ancient history, and in the history of the 

 Church about that period, but historians concern themselves 

 chiefly with great men, the great religious leaders, generals, and 

 statesmen ; with the rarest exceptions we find nothing 

 whatsoever with regard to the practical facts of life among 

 the common people in that country during the period when 

 these great men were living and working. There is some 

 literary material, which has still to be collected, with regard to 

 tlie life of that i)eriod in the private letters of Basil and other 

 great men, which give a great deal of material for the facts of 

 ordinary life. The ordinary people made it possible for 

 Churchmen to exercise their leading power, for generals to Iiave 

 armies to conduct to victory or defeat ; and without tlie 

 knowledge of their common life, a knowledge of history becomes 



Held in the House of the Eoyal Society of Arts. 



