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KOMANA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Comana in Pontus (Komana ta en toi Pontoi or Komana ta Pontika: Gumenek),
a place in Pontus above Phanoroea, as Strabo says, who has a long notice of this
place. Ptolemy (v. 6) fixes it in Pontus Galaticus, but it afterwards belonged
to Pontus Polemoniacus. Justinian placed it in one of the four divisions of Armenia,
which division he called the Second Armenia, as appears from one of his Novellae
(Nov. 31. c. 1). The Table places Comana on a road that runs east from Tavium,
but it is not possible to make much of this route. Strabo, describing the course
of the river Iris, says that it flows from the country called Phanaroea, and has
its sources in Pontus itself: its course is through Comana Pontica, and through
the fertile plain Daximonitis to the west: it then turns to the north at Gaziura.
We thus learn that it was in the upper valley of the Iris, and we know from Gregorius
of Nyssa that it was near Neocaesarea (Niksar). In the book on the Alexandrine
War (c. 35), a lofty range of hills, covered with forests, is said to extend from
Pontic Comana to Armenia Minor, which range divides Cappadocia from Armenia. Hamilton
(Researches, &c., vol. i. p. 450) discovered at a place called Gumenek on the
Tocat-su, the modern name of the Iris, some remains of an ancient town, and part
of a bridge apparently of Roman construction. There seems no doubt that Gumenek
is the site of Comana Pontica. It is about seven miles north-east of Tocat. Pliny
simply speaks of Comana as a Manteium, or the seat of an oracle (vi. 3). It is
stated that it appears from inscriptions to have got the name of Hierocaesarea
under the Romans (Forbiger, vol. ii. p. 428, note), the prefix Hiero or sacred,
indicating the character of the place. The position of Comana made it a great
mart (emporeion) for the merchants that came from Armenia.
Comana was dedicated to the same goddess as Comana in Cappadocia,
and was said to be a colony or settlement from the Cappadocian city. The religious
ceremonial was nearly the same in both places, and the priests had like privileges.
Under the early kings of Pontus, there were annually two great processions in
honour of the goddess, on which occasions the chief priest wore a diadem, and
he was next in dignity to the king. Dorylaus, the son of a sister of the Dorylaus
who was an ancestor of Strabo's mother, once held the high-priesthood of Comana,
which Mithridates the Great gave him. After Cn. Pompeius succeeded L. Lucullus
in the command in these parts, he gave the high-priesthood to Archelaus, and he
added to the lands of the temple a district of 60 stadia, by which expression
Strabo probably means all the country round the temple within 60 stadia. Archelaus
was sovereign of the people within these limits, and he was the owner of all the
hieroduli, or temple slaves, within the city of Comana; but he had not the power
of selling them. These slaves seem to have been attached to the soil. Their number
was not less than 6000. This Archelaus was the son of the Archelaus who was honoured
by L. Sulla and the Roman senate, as Strabo has it, and he was the friend of A.
Gabinius. His father was, in fact, the best commander that Mithridates ever had.
The son Archelaus, the priest, contrived to marry Berenice, the elder sister of
Cleopatra, whose father, Ptolemaeus Auletes, had been driven out of Egypt; and
Archelaus had a six months' reign with her. He fell in battle against Gabinius,
who restored Auletes (B.C. 55). Archelaus was succeeded in the priesthood by his
son Archelaus (Strabo, pp. 558, 796), but C. Julius Caesar, who came into Pontus
after defeating Pharnaces, gave the priesthood to Lycomedes (Appian, Mithrid.
c. 121), who received an addition of territory, as Strabo says. The author of
the Alexandrine War (c. 61) says, that it was the priesthood of Comana in Cappadocia
that Caesar gave to Lycomedes. It seems that he is perhaps mistaken as to the
Comana, but it is clear that he means the Comana in Cappadocia. In a previous
chapter (c. 35) he had spoken of Comana in Pontus. He knew that there were two
places of the name; and in c. 66 it is certain, both from his description of the
place, and the rest of the narrative, that he means the Cappadocian Comana. Cleon,
a robber on Olympus, a friend of M. Antonius, deserted him in the war that ended
in the battle of Actium, and went over to Octavianus Caesar, who made a prince
and a priest of him. In addition to the priesthood of Zeus Abrettenus, Caesar
gave him the rich place at Comana. But he only held this preferment one month,
having died of an acute disease, brought on by excess, or the anger of the goddess,
it is not certain which, though the ministers of the temple attributed it to the
goddess. Within the circuit of the sacred ground (temenos) were the residences
of the priest and the priestess, and among other rules for securing the purity
of the place, it was forbidden to eat swine's flesh within the sacred enclosure:
indeed, no pig was allowed to come within the city. The robber priest, who had
been accustomed to eat swine's flesh in the forests of Olympus, broke the rule
immediately on entering on his new office; and it was supposed that his speedy
death was the consequence of it. (Strabo, p. 575.)
In Strabo's time Dyteutus was high-priest of Comana. He was the son
of Adiatorix, a Galatian chief, whom Octavianus Caesar exhibited in his triumphal
procession after the battle of Actium. Adiatorix was guilty of the crime of having
been on the side of M. Antonius; and accordingly Caesar, after his triumph, gave
orders to put to death the chief, and his eldest son. But the second son persisted
in declaring to the executioner that he was the eldest, and the two brothers disputed
which should die. Their parents induced the elder to yield, and thus the younger
died in his place. Caesar, on hearing this, rewarded the eldest son with the priesthood
of Comana. Thus we have a Gaul in the list of the priests of Comana.
Comana was populous. At the processions of the goddess, her exodoi,
as Strabo calls them, there was a great concourse of people from the towns and
country all around, men and women. The population was also increased by people
who resided there pursuant to their vows, and made sacrifices to the goddess.
The people were fond of good living, and their lands produced plenty of wine.
The number of prostitutes in Comana was large, most of whom belonged to the temple.
So it was, says Strabo, a kind of little Corinth, where people, merchants and
others, got eased of their money.
There are autonomous and imperial coins of Comana, with the legends
Komanon and Komaneon.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Site of the temple of Ma, in the valley of the Yesil Irmak (Iris fl.),
11 km upstream from Tokat on the road to Niksar (Neocaesarea). The cult of Ma,
identified with the Roman Bellona, was derived from Comana in Cappadocia, an old
Hittite sanctuary. The priest of Ma ranked second to the king of Pontus and wore
a diadem; the temple had 6000 serfs, including sacred prostitutes. Comana Pontica
was both a trading center for goods from Armenia and a resort. In Pompey's settlement
of Pontus (64 B.C.) Comana became an independent principality, and it so remained
under a succession of Roman nominees until it was annexed to Pontus Galaticus
in A.D. 33-34 or 34-35. Its importance as a religious center was marked by adopting
the additional name Hierocaesarea in or before the reign of Titus. Comana's territory
included the plains of Kazova and Tokatovasi (Dazimonitis) on the Yesil Irmak
as well as Artova farther to the S. The natural center of this region is not Comana
but Tokat (Dazimon), and after Comana had ceased to be a major religious site,
with the triumph of Christianity, it lost its ancient local importance also.
The actual site of Comana Pontica is a low natural hill beside the
bridge called Gomenek Koprusu. The Kazova irrigation canal cuts through the edge
of this hill. Eight columns of gray marble now supporting the porch of the 16th
c. mosque of Ali Pasa at Tokat may well be derived from the tetrastyle temple
of the goddess Ma. The Roman bridge and post-Roman buildings recorded at Comana
in the 19th c. no longer survive. A number of inscribed stones from Comana are
now in the museum at Tokat.
XIX. D. R. Wilson, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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