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ALIKARNASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Halikarnassos: Eth. Halikarnasseus, Halicarnassensis: Bodrun or Boudroum),
a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, on the Ceramian gulf. It was a colony
of Troezene in Argolis established on the slope of a precipitous rock, and one
of the six towns constituting the Doric hexapolis in Asia Minor, the five other
towns. being Cnidos, Cos, and the three Rhodian towns Ialysus, Lindus, and Camirus.
(Herod. vii. 99, iii. 14; Strab. xiv. pp. 653, 656; Paus. ii. 30. § 8; Ptol. v.
2. § 10; Pomp. Mel. i. 16; Plin. v. 29; Steph. B. s. v.) The isthmus on which
it was situated was called Zephyrium, whence the city at first bore the name of
Zephyria. Halicarnassus was the largest and strongest city in all. Caria (Diod.
Sic. xv. 90), and had two or even three very impregnable arces; the principal
one, called Salmacis, was situated on a precipitous rock at the northern extremity
of the city [p. 1027] (Arrian, Anab. i. 23; Vitruv. ii. 8; Diod. xvii. 23, foll.),
and received its name from the well Salmacis, which gushed forth near a temple
of Aphrodite at the foot of the rock, and the water of which was believed to exercise
an enervating influence (Ov. Met. iv. 302). But Strabo justly controverts this
belief, intimating that the sensual enjoyments and the delicious character of
the climate must rather be considered to have produced the effects ascribed to
the Salmacis. Another arx was formerly believed to have been in the island of
Arconnesus in front of the great harbour, which is now called Orak Ada; but this
belief was founded upon an incorrect reading in Arrian. (Strab. l. c.; Arrian,
Anab. i. 23; Hamilton, Researches, ii. p. 34.) Besides the great harbour, the
entrance to which was narrowed by piers on each side, there was a smaller one
to the southeast of it. Halicarnassus, as already remarked, originally belonged
to the Doric hexapolis; but in consequence of some dispute which had arisen, it
was excluded from the confederacy. (Herod. i. 144.) During the Persian conquests
it was, like all the other Greek towns, compelled to submit to Persia, but does
not appear to have been less prosperous, or to have lost its Greek character.
While the city was under the dominion of the Persians, Lygdamis set himself up
as tyrant, and his descendants, as vassals of the kings of Persia, gradually acquired
the dominion of all Caria. Artemisia, the widow of Lygdamis, fought at Salamis
in the fleet of Xerxes. The most celebrated among their successors are Mausolus
and his wife and sister Artemisia, who, on the death of Mausolus, erected in his
honour a sepulchral monument of such magnificence that it was regarded as one
of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This Carian dynasty, though subject
to Persia, had themselves adopted Greek manners and the Greek language, and had
a taste for the arts of Greece. But notwithstanding this, Halicarnassus was faithful
to Persia, and was one of the great strongholds of the Persians on that coast,
and a chief station of the Persian forces. This, and the gallant defence with
which the Halicarnassians defended themselves against Alexander, induced that
conqueror, after a protracted siege, to destroy the city by fire. He was, however,
unable to take the acropolis Salmacis, in which the inhabitants had taken refuge.
(Strab. and Arrian, l. c.; Died. Sic. xvii. 23, foll.; Curtius, ii. 9, foll.)
From this blow Halicarnassus never recovered, though the town was rebuilt. (Cic.
ad Quint. Frat. i. 1) In the time of Tiberius it no longer boasted of its greatness,
but of its safety and freedom from earth-quakes. (Tac. Ann. iv. 55.) Afterwards
the town is scarcely mentioned at all, although the Mausoleum continued to enjoy
its former renown. (Const. Porph. de Them. i. 14; see the descriptions of it in
Plin. xxxvi. 9, and Vitruv. ii. 8.) The course of the ancient walls can still
be distinctly traced, and remains of the Mausoleum, situated on the slope of the
rock east of Salmacis, and of the arx, as well as the spring Salmacis, still exist.
(Hamilton's Researches, ii. pp. 34, foil.) Among the numerous temples of Halicarnassus,
one of Aphrodite was particularly beautiful. (Diod.; Vitruv. l. c.) To us the
city is especially interesting as the birthplace of two historians, Herodotus
and Dionysius. Some interesting sculptures, brought from Boudroum, and supposed
to have originally decorated the Mausoleum, are now in the British Museum.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KARYANDA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Caryanda (Karuanda: Eth. Karuandeus). Stephanus (s. v. Karuanda) says
that Hecataeus, made the accusative singular Karuandan. He describes it as a city
and harbour (limen) near Myndus and Cos. But limen, in the text of Stephanus,
is an emendation or alteration: the MSS. have limne lake. Strabo places Caryanda
between Myndus and Bargylia, and he describes it, according to the common text,
as a lake, and island of the same name with it; and thus the texts of Stephanus,
who has got his information from Strabo, agree with the texts of Strabo. Pliny
(v. 31) simply mentions the island Caryanda with a town; but he is in that passage
only enumerating islands. In another passage (v. 29) he mentions Caryanda as a
place on the mainland, and Mela (i. 16) does also. We must suppose, therefore,
that there was a town on the island and one on the mainland. The harbour might
lie between. Scylax, supposed to be a native of Caryanda, describes the place
as an island, a city, and a port. Tzschucke corrected the text of Strabo, and
changed limne into limen: and the last editor of Stephanus has served him the
same way, following two modern critics. It is true that these words are often
confounded in the Greek texts; but if we change limne into limen in Strabo's text,
the word tauthe, which refers to limne, must also be altered. (See Groskurd's
note, Transl. Strab. vol. iii. p. 53.)
Leake (Asia Minor, p. 227) says there can be little doubt that the
large peninsula, towards the westward end of which is the fine harbour called
by the Turks Pasha Limani, is the ancient island of Caryanda, now joined to the
main by a narrow sandy isthmus. He considers Pasha Limani to be the harbour of
Caryanda noticed by Strabo, Scylax, and Stephanus. But it should not be forgotten
that the texts of Strabo and Stephanus speak of a limne, which may mean a place
that communicated with the sea. The supposition that the island being joined to
the main is a remote effect of the alluvium of the Maeander, seems very unlikely.
At any rate, before we admit this, we must know whether there is a current along
this coast that runs south from the outlet of the Maeander.
Strabo mentions Scylax the ancient writer as a native of Caryanda,
and Stephanus has changed him into the ancient logographus. Scylax is mentioned
by Herodotus (iv. 44): he sailed down the Indus under the order of the first Darius
king of Persia. He may have written something; for, if the Scylax, the author
of the Periplus, lived some time after Herodotus, as some critics suppose, Strabo
would not call him an ancient writer.
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
MYNDOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Myndus (Mundos: Eth. Mundiso), a Dorian colony of Troezen, on the
coast of Caria, situated on the northernmost of the three Dorian peninsulas, a
few miles to the northwest of Halicarnassus. It was protected by strong walls,
and had a good harbour. (Paus. ii. 30. § 8; Strab. xiv. p. 658; Arrian, Anab.
i. 20, ii. 5.) But otherwise the place is not of much importance in ancient history.
Both Pliny (v. 29) and Stephanus Byz. (s. v.) mention Palaemyndus as a place close
by Myndus; and this Palaemyndus seems to have been the ancient place of the Carians
which became deserted after the establishment of the Dorian Myndus. (Comp. Strab.
xiii. p. 611). Mela (i. 16) and Pliny (l. c.) also speak of a place called Neapolis
in the same peninsula; and as no other authors mention such a place in that part
of the country, it has been supposed that Myndus (the Dorian colony) and Neapolis
were the same place. But it ought to be remembered that Pliny mentions both Myndus
and Neapolis as two different towns. Myndian ships are mentioned in the expedition
of Anaxagoras against Naxos. (Herod. v. 33.) At a later time, when Alexander besieged
Halicarnassus, he was anxious first to make himself master of Myndus; but when
he attempted to take it by surprise, the Myndians, with the aid of reinforcements
from Halicarnassus repulsed him with some loss. (Arrian, l. c.; comp. Hecat. Fragm.
229; Polyb. xvi. 15, 21; Scylax, p. 38; Ptol. v. 2. § 9; Liv. xxxvii. 15; Hierocl.
p. 687.) Athenaeus (i. 32) states that the wine grown in the district of Myndus
was good for digestion. It is generally believed that Mentesha or Muntesha marks
the site of Myndus; but Col. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 228) identifies Myndus with
the small sheltered port of Gumishlu, where Captain Beaufort remarked the remains
of an ancient pier at the entrance of the port, and some ruins at the head of
the bay. (Comp. Rasche, Lex. Num. iii. 1. p. 1002, &c.; Eckhel, Doctr. Num. vol.
ii. pt. i. p. 585.) Ptolemy (v. 2. § 30) mentions a small island called Myndus
in the Icarian Sea.
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
TELMISSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Telmessus or Telmissus (Telmessos, Telmissos, or Telmisos: Eth. Telmisseus).
A small town of Caria, at a distance of 60 stadia from Halicarnassus, is likewise
sometimes called Telmessus, and sometimes Telmissus. (Suid. s. v.; Etym. Mag.
s. v.; Arrian, Anab. i. 25. § 8; Cic. de Div. i. 4. 1; Plin. v. 29, xxx. 2.) The
Carian Tehnessus has often been confounded with the Lycian, and it is even somewhat
doubtful whether the famous Telmessian soothsayers belonged to the Carian or the
Lycian town. But the former must at all events have been an obscure place; and
that it cannot have been the same as the latter is clear from the statement of
Polemo in Suidas, that it was only 60 stadia from Halicarnassus.
TERMERA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Termera (ta Termera or Termeron: Eth. Termereus), a maritime town
of Caria, on the south coast of the peninsula of Halicarnassus, near Cape Termerium.
(Herod. v. 37; Strab. xiv. p. 657; Plin. v. 29; Steph. B. s. v., who erroneously
assigns the town to Lycia.) Under the Romans this Dorian town was a free city.
According to Suidas (s. v.) the place gave rise to the proverbial expression Termeria
kaka, it being used as a prison by the rulers of Caria; but his remark that it
was situated between Melos and Halicarnassus is unintelligible. Cramer supposes
its site to be marked by the modern Carbaglar or Gumishlu.
VARGYLIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Bargylia (ta Bargulia: Eth. Barguliates: and Bargyletes, Cic. ad Farm.
xiii. 56), a city of Caria (Steph. s. v.), which the Carians name Andanus, calling
it a foundation of Achilles; and it is near Iasus and Myndus. Mela (i. 16), who
calls it Bargylos, also places it on the bay of lasus; and the bay of lasus was
also called Bargylieticus. (Liv. xxxvii. 17; Polyb. xvi. 12.) Chandler, who was
in these parts, could not find Bargylia. Leake conjectures that it may be on the
bay between Pasha Limane and Asyn Kalesi. There was at Bargylia a statue of Artemis
Cindyas under the bare sky, probably in a temple, about which statue the incredible
story was told, that neither rain nor snow ever fell on it. (Polyb. xvi. 12; comp.
the corrupt passage in Strabo, p. 658, and Groskurd's note, vol. iii. p. 54.)
Philip III. of Macedonia had a garrison in Bargylia, which the Romans required
him to withdraw as one of the terms of peace (Liv. xxxiii. 30; Polyb. xvii. 2,
xviii. 31); and the Bargyliatae were declared free.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ALIKARNASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
(Halikarnassos). The modern Budrum. A celebrated city of Asia
Minor, stood in the southwestern part of Caria, opposite to the island of Cos.
It was founded by Dorians from Troezen. With the rest of the coast of Asia Minor
it fell under the dominion of the Persians, at an early period of whose rule Lygdamis
made himself tyrant of the city, and founded a dynasty which lasted for some generations.
His daughter Artemisia assisted Xerxes in his expedition against Greece. Halicarnassus
was celebrated for the Mausoleum, a magnificent edifice which Artemisia II. built
as a tomb for her husband Mausolus (B.C. 352), and which was adorned with the
works of the most eminent Greek sculptors of the age. Fragments of these sculptures,
which were discovered built into the walls of the citadel of Budrum, are now in
the British Museum. Halicarnassus was the birthplace of the historians Herodotus
and Dionysius.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KARYANDA (Ancient city) TURKEY
A city of Caria, on a little island, once probably united with the mainland. It was the birthplace of the geographer Scylax.
MYNDOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
A Dorian colony on the coast of Caria, situated at the western extremity of the same peninsula on which Halicarnassus stood.
ALIKARNASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
City of Asia Minor.
Halicarnassus was one of six cities of Dorian origin in Caria
that had gathered in a confederacy having its common sanctuary, a temple to Apollo,
on the promontory on which Cnidus
was located, named the Triopion. Together they formed what used to be called the
Hexapolis (in Greek, “the six cities”) until, for some reason, Halicarnassus
was excluded and the remaining cities became the Pentapolis (in Greek, “the
five cities”).
Halicarnassus was the birthplace of the first historian whose works
have come down to us, Herodotus.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ALIKARNASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
TELMISSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
ALIKARNASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
A titular see of Caria, suffragan of Stauropolis. It was a colony from Tr?zen in Argolis, and one of the six towns that formed the Dorian Hexapolis in Asia Minor. It was situated on Ceramic Gulf and the isthmus known as Zephyrion, whence its original name, Zephyria, was protected by many forts, and was the largest and strongest town in Caria. Its harbour was also famous. The Persians imposed tyrants on the town who subdued all Caria, and remained faithful to Persia, though they adopted the Greek language, customs, and arts. Its queen, Artemisia, and her fleet were present with Xerxes at Salamis. Another Artemisia is famous for the magnificent tomb (Mausoleum) she built for her husband, Mausolus, at Halicarnassus, a part of which is now in the British Museum. The town was captured and burnt by Alexander. Though rebuilt, it never recovered its former prosperity, and gradually disappeared almost from history. The historians Herodotus and Dionysius were born there. It is the modern Bodrum, the chief town of a caza in the vilayet of Smyrna, and has 6000 inhabitants, of whom 3600 are Mussulmans and 2200 Greeks. Halicarnassus is mentioned (I Mach., xv, 23) among the towns to which the consul Lucius sent the letter announcing the alliance between Rome and the high-priest Simon. To its Jewish colony the Romans, at a later date, gave permission to build houses of prayer near the sea coast (Josephus, Ant. jud., XIV, x, 23). In the "Notiti? Episcopatuum" mention of it occurs until the twelfth or thirteenth century.. Lequien (Oriens Christ., I, 913) mentions three bishops: Calandion, who sent a representative to the Council of Chalcedon, 451; Julian, condemned in 536 as an Aphthartodocetist; Theoctistus, present at the Council of Constantinople, 553. At the Second Council of Nic?a in 787, the see was represented by the deacon Nicetas.
S. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Douglas J. Potter
This text is cited July 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
ALIKARNASSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
City in Caria on the N coast of the gulf of Kos. Originally one of
the three mainland members of the Dorian hexapolis, founded according to tradition
by Anthes or one of his descendants from Troezen. Later the city was expelled
from the hexapolis, ostensibly because of the misconduct of her citizen Agasikles,
who took home the tripod he had won at the Triopian games instead of dedicating
it on the spot to Apollo (Hdt. 1.144). Strabo (653) observes that after the death
of Kodros, king of Athens, Knidos and Halikarnassos were not yet in existence,
though Rhodes and Kos were. By the 5th c. the city had become wholly Ionian; the
inscriptions are in Ionic, and Herodotos and Panyassis wrote in that dialect.
At the same time there was a strong Carian element in the city; the citizens'
names are equally divided between Greek and Carian, and the two are often mixed
in the same families. Vitruvius (2.8.12) records a tradition that the Carians,
driven to the hills by the Greek settlers, were later attracted down to the city
by the excellence of the water of Salmakis, a suburb where a Greek had set up
a tavern, and so became civilized.
After the Persian conquest in the 6th c. Halikarnassos was ruled by
a Carian dynasty, represented at the time of Xerxes' invasion of Greece by the
queen Artemisia, who joined his forces in person and was regarded by him as one
of the wisest of his advisers (Hdt. 8.68-69, 101-3). She took part in the battle
of Salamis in her own ship (Hdt. 8.87-88). In the Delian Confederacy Halikarnassos
was assessed at one and two-thirds talents, indicating her modest importance in
the 5th c. Towards the middle of the century, as an inscription shows (SIG 45),
the government was in the hands of the tyrant Lygdamis II, grandson of Artemisia,
but the decree was issued at the same time by the Council of the Halikarnassians
and Salmakitans, apparently a first step towards a modified democracy. This Lygdamis
was subsequently expelled, with the help, it is said, of the historian Herodotos.
Halikarnassos became of real importance when Mausolos, satrap of Caria
from 377 to 353, made it the capital of his satrapy in place of Mylasa. The city
was rebuilt, with a wall over 4.8 m long, and manned by the forcible transplantation
of the inhabitants of six of the eight Lelegian towns on the Myndos peninsula
(Strab. 611). The Carian element in the city was in this way considerably strengthened.
Mausolos was succeeded by his sister--wife Artemisia II, who built (or at least
completed) his tomb, the Mausoleion. When the Rhodians attacked Halikarnassos
in an attempt to take Caria, Artemisia defeated them and retaliated by capturing
the city of Rhodes (Vitr. 2.8.14-15). On her death in 350 she was followed in
quick succession by the other children of Hekatomnos, Idrieus, who married his
sister Ada, and Pixodaros, who expelled Ada to Alinda and shared the rule with
the official Persian satrap Orontobates.
Halikarnassos was one of the few places which resisted Alexander in
334. After much fierce fighting the defenders set fire to the city and withdrew
to the headlands on either side of the harbor. Alexander sacked the city and passed
on to Lycia, leaving the task of blockading the headlands to Ada, with whom he
had previously had friendly dealings. When they surrendered, she was appointed
ruler of the whole of Caria (Arr. 1.20-23; Diod. 17.24-27). Pliny (HN 5.107) states
that Alexander incorporated six towns in Halikarnassos; their names are those
of the neighboring Lelegian towns. This however seems to be a confusion with the
Mausolean synoecism.
After Alexander's death the city came into the possession of the Ptolemies
until 190; after Magnesia she was left as a free city, and seems to have remained
so thereafter. Plundered by Verres in 80 B.C., restored by Quintus Cicero in 60,
plundered again by Brutus and Cassius, the city prospered less than most under
the Empire; the Imperial coinage is somewhat scanty and the title of neocorus
does not appear. Later the bishop of Halikarnassos ranked 21st under the metropolitan
of Staurupolis (Aphrodisias).
Distinguished citizens included the historians Herodotus and Dionysios,
Herakleitos the epigrammatist, and Phormio the boxer, Olympic victor in 392 B.C.
but found guilty of corruption four years later.
The ruins have been almost entirely obliterated by the town of Bodrum,
though much of the city wall is still standing; the masonry varies between polygonal
and a somewhat irregular ashlar. On the W side two solid towers remain from the
tripylon mentioned in Arrian's account of the siege by Alexander; the present
road to Myndos passes this point. On the NE, outside this line of wall, is a stretch
of exterior wall apparently belonging to an earlier scheme of defense that was
soon abandoned; this was probably the wall attacked by Alexander. The Mylasa gate
must have been in this region, but has not survived. The acropolis hill, now called
Goktepe, rises to a height of 160 m; on its SE slope is the theater, still fairly
well preserved in 1815 but now completely denuded, with only a few blocks of the
seats remaining. In 1857 the substructures of the Mausoleion and some of the sculptures
were discovered; the site was subsequently buried, but recently excavation has
begun again. Apparently the peribolos and associated buildings were never completed.
Of the other buildings investigated in the 19th c. virtually nothing remains,
though the modern town is full of ancient stones, many of them sculptured or inscribed.
Tombs are mostly rock-cut chambers; these are numerous on the slopes of Goktepe,
frequently arranged in groups.
Vitruvius gave a picture of the city in antiquity in the passage already
cited. He compared it to the cavea of a theater, with the agora by the harbor
representing the orchestra, and a wide street running across halfway up, like
a diazoma; at the middle point of this was the Mausoleion. On the summit of the
acropolis was a shrine of Ares with a colossal statue, on the right horn, by the
fountain of Salmakis, a temple of Aphrodite and Hermes, and on the left horn the
palace of Mausolos. From this palace there was a view to the right over the agora,
harbor, and wall circuit, while below it on the left, "hiding under the hills,"
was a secret harbor, to which the king could issue commands from the palace without
anyone being aware of it.
Apart from the Mausoleion, no building mentioned in this passage has
been located. The shrine of Ares (fanum, which need not have been a full-scale
temple) should be on the summit of Goktepe, where there is nothing now but an
oblong platform. Salmakis is placed with near certainty on Arsenal Point on the
W side of the harbor. The fountain is now under water; fresh water rises in the
harbor a short distance off the point, but there is no sign of the temple. The
street and agora have long since been obliterated, and no trace of the palace
has been found on or near the headland (originally called Zephyrion) which forms
the E horn of the harbor and now carries the castle of the Knights of St. John.
The smaller secret harbor played a part in Artemisia's defeat of the Rhodians;
hiding her ships in it, she led them by a canal (fossa facta) into the main harbor
to seize the Rhodian ships. This canal is apparently the river referred to by
Pseudo-Skylax (98); there is no river, or even stream, at or near Bodrum. The
position of this second harbor is a puzzle. "Under the hills" is in
any case unintelligible, and sub montibus has been emended to sub moenibus, but
even so no secret harbor is discoverable in the region of the castle headland.
There is a line of submerged wall on the E side of the main harbor which has been
attributed to it, but a situation actually inside the harbor is obviously inappropriate.
It seems that the secret harbor must be merely the open roadstead on the E side
of the headland, with a canal across the isthmus to the main harbor. Mausolos'
palace would then have stood on the landward side of the isthmus; looking S, the
main harbor would be on the right and the second harbor on the left.
The territory of Halikarnassos adjoined that of the independent cities
of Myndos on the W and Theangela on the E, but the exact boundaries are not determinable.
The great castle of the Knights of St. John was built in the 15th
c., largely of materials taken from the Mausoleion and other ancient buildings;
much of the stone came from quarries still to be seen at Koyunbaba a few miles
N of Myndos. The castle houses three small museums containing objects from the
surrounding countryside, including some from recent underwater explorations.
G. E. Bean, 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.
KARYANDA (Ancient city) TURKEY
An island between Myndos and Bargylia in Caria with a sheltered anchorage.
At its E end on a hill above a deserted village are considerable remains of a
town or city now buried in almost impenetrable scrub. A wall some 160 m long and
1 m thick runs N-S; it is built of dry rubble, with two facings and a filling
of small stones. Numerous other walls, from fortifications and houses, are to
be seen, but under present conditions it is hardly possible to determine the full
extent of the site. Tiles and sherds seem to be of the 4th c. B.C. So far as the
material evidence goes, this appears to be by far the most likely site for the
island of Karyanda. The location (Pseudo-Skylax, Strab. 658, Mela 1.85, Plin.
HN 5.107) has long been sought, and Pliny (HN 5.134) and Strabo make it clear
that two sites, one mainland and one island, are required. Strabo speaks of "Myndos
. . . and after this Bargylia, also a city, and in between these a lake Karyanda
and an island of the same name where the Karyandans used to dwell."
Apparently the Karyandans, early in the 3d c., crossed to the mainland
and settled on the shore around Gol, the only lake in this area, where there was
later a flourishing Byzantine township; they thus became citizens of Myndos (whose
territory had been depopulated by Mausolos' transference of the Lelegians to Halikarnassos),
in effect replacing the now deserted Lelegian site on the hill above (cf. Madnasa).
Their settlement, naturally unfortified, has left no traces, having been completely
covered by the Byzantine occupation.
G. E. Bean, 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.
MYNDOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
Carian city 18 km W of Bodrum. This, however, was not the site of
the original Lelegian town of Myndos, which was a small place paying one-twelfth
of a talent in the Delian Confederacy and contributing one ship to the fleet of
Aristagoras about 500 B.C. (Hdt. 5.33). That is probably to be located at Bozdag,
a modest Lelegian site on a hilltop about 3 km to the SE, where there remains
a circuit wall and the foundation of a tower. According to Strabo (611) Mausolos
incorporated six of the Lelegian towns in Halikarnassos, but "preserved"
Syangela and Myndos. In fact he refounded Myndos on a much larger scale on a new
site at Gumusuk; the old site was later remembered as Palaimyndos (Plin. HN 5.107;
Steph. Byz. s.v. Myndos). The new city claimed in Roman times to have been colonized,
like Halikarnassos, from Troezen, but this is palpably false.
Unsuccessfully attacked by Alexander, Myndos later passed into the
hands of the Ptolemies, and about 131 B.C. was temporarily occupied by Aristonikos.
In 43 it sheltered the fleet of Cassius. Under the Empire, though Myndians are
frequently found abroad, the city seems to have been less prosperous than most
of the cities of Asia. Coinage begins in the 2d c. B.C., but Imperial coins are
rare.
The harbor at Gumusuk;, sheltered from the prevailing NW wind by a
headland, is one of the best on the coast; a small island in the mouth leaves
only a narrow entrance passage. The city wall was originally some 3.5 km long,
enclosing the headland as well as a large area on the mainland, but the headland
portion has disappeared since the 19th c. On the mainland it still stands in large
part, in regular ashlar 3 m thick; on the more vulnerable SE side it is strengthened
with towers. Another wall runs down the spine of the headland; this also is about
3 m thick, but built of larger blocks less regularly fitted. It has been called
the Lelegian wall, but this is plainly a misnomer; its masonry is not Lelegian
in style, nor was this the site of the Lelegian town. It appears to belong to
an earlier scheme of fortification.
Nothing survives of the other ruins seen by early travelers, including
a theater and a stadium. Even in antiquity a large part of the area enclosed was
unoccupied (Diog. Laert. 5.2.57). Rock cuttings may be seen in various places
on the hillside, and a few tombs have been noticed outside the walls. Inscriptions
are remarkably scarce.
G. E. Bean, 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.
SIDE (Ancient city) TURKEY
Recorded by Stephanos Byzantios s.v. as a city of Caria and presumably
identical with the Side listed by Pliny (HN 5.107) among the six Lelegian towns
incorporated by Alexander (but really by Mausolos) in Halikarnassos. No other
mention occurs. It is not improbably to be identified with the site on Karadag
in the Myndos peninsula, where Telmissos had been placed. Here are two Lelegian
settlements close together, with walls of dry rubble masonry, numerous houses,
and sherds of 5th-4th c. date, but nothing later.
G. E. Bean, 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.
SYANGELA (Ancient city) TURKEY
City in Caria, a member of the Delian Confederacy when governed by
a dynast Pigres (Pikres, Pitres), with a tribute of one talent. It is recorded
by Strabo (611), following Kallisthenes, as one of the two Lelegian towns preserved
by Mausolos--not incorporated by him in Halikarnassos. It is now agreed that Mausolos
in fact refounded and greatly enlarged Syangela under the name of Theangela. The
new city stood on the lofty hill directly above the village of Etrim, 14 km E-NE
of Bodrum, and substantial ruins remain. On the question whether this was also
the site of Syangela opinions have differed. It has been proposed to recognize
Syangela in the ruins of the Lelegian town at AIazeytin, some 5 km to the SW;
but a more recent view prefers a newly discovered site on Kaplan Dag about half
this distance to the W. It is suggested that this site was destroyed by the Persians,
whereupon its inhabitants moved to the hill above Etrim and stayed there until
Mausolos' reconstruction.
The two sites are of similar size. At Alazeytin the circuit consists
partly of a fortification wall, partly of the outer walls of 60-70 houses; an
agora, several sanctuaries and public buildings, and the seats of a theaterlike
building are recognizable. The main occupation seems to have lasted from the 7th
to the 4th c.; a tower on the summit is in regular masonry of later date than
the rest. A short distance to the S is a group of six building complexes of the
kind now called Compound-Anlage; buildings of this kind were formerly supposed
to be tombs, but are now generally understood to be pens for the protection of
herds. On Kaplan Dag the ruined remnants of a once considerable settlement with
a massive fortification wall lie on top of the mountain, and on a neighboring
summit is a fort which evidently served as a refuge; here stood at least six grave
tumuli with dromos, one of which is still 4 m high. There are traces of other
buildings in the hollow between the two summits.
The site of Theangela at Etrim is long and narrow, occupying three
hilltops; it is 1300 m long from E to W, with an average width of 250 m. The city
wall is traceable for its entire length, and the three summits are separately
fortified. The masonry is variable and only in some places Lelegian in character.
At a point somewhat E of the middle the city is divided in two by a cross-wall
running N-S, with a gate in its S half. Almost all the buildings are E of this
wall; evidently the same trouble was experienced here as at Halikarnassos and
Myndos in manning the new city, and it was found expedient to reduce its size
by more than half. The main city gate, on the other hand, is in the S wall near
its W end; a road runs E from it. In two places in the N wall a gate may have
stood, but nothing tangible remains. At the extreme W end the walls run up to
a powerful fort on the summit of the W hill; it has a tower at each corner and
was evidently designed to resist artillery. The entrance to it from the city makes
a double right-angled bend. Just below this fort on W and S are two remnants of
curved wall, in dry rubble masonry, which appear to have belonged to an earlier
fortification surrounding the summit; if Kaplan Dag is in fact the site of the
early Syangela, this wall may have been erected by the refugees from the Persian
sack. In the S wall beside the fort is a postern gate; at the E end and on the
S the walls run out to other forts of more modest proportions.
The E summit is separately enclosed as a citadel by a ring wall and
joined to the city circuit by a slender wall on N and S. At the top is a rectangular
tower; on the E slope, which is terraced, are two fine cisterns and a mosaic floor.
A little below the citadel on the W is a remarkable and well-preserved tomb. It
is built in the hillside, running parallel to it; it is ca. 7 m long, with a corbeled
roof, and contained bones and fragments of 5th c. vases. The roof is exceedingly
solid, with several layers of stone blocks, and on it were found ca. 40 round
stone balls which seem to show that the roof was at some time used as an artillery
emplacement. It has been suggested that this may be the tomb of the dynast Pigres.
The principal public buildings stood between the E citadel and the
central cross-wall, but little survives of them above ground. Several statues
have been found here, including an archaic kore, and the Temple of Athena attested
by inscriptions must have stood in this area. There is also a stadiumlike building
surrounded by a wall 1.1 m thick; it is only 50 by 10 m, and no rows of seats
are to be seen. There are also two more cisterns, one of which is still used by
the fire guardian stationed on the W summit.
Apart from the vases found in the royal tomb the pottery is in the
main Hellenistic, with some sherds and tiles apparently of the middle and late
4th c. There seems to have been no occupation in Classical Roman times, but there
is some evidence of a later resettlement.
No necropolis has been discovered, but on the mountainside below the
city on the NE is a group of tomb chambers carefully built of squared blocks,
with vaulted roofs and paving slabs above. These also appear to be of Hellenistic
date.
G. E. Bean, 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.
TELMISSOS (Ancient city) TURKEY
One of the eight Lelegian towns incorporated by Mausolos in Halikarnassos.
It was noted especially for an oracle of Apollo and a priestly family of diviners.
These Telmessian soothsayers were consulted by the Lydian kings (Hdt. 1.78.84)
and are frequently mentioned. The town was situated 60 stades from Halikarnassos
(Suidas s.v.) in a particularly fertile country (Cic. Div. 1.42.94). It was formerly
believed to be located at the Lelegian town site on the Karadag above the village
of Belen, but a more probable identification is with another Lelegian site near
Gurice some 3 km W of Musgebi; both sites are at the required distance from Halikarnassos,
but the latter accords much better with Cicero's description than the wild and
bare hillsides of the Karadag. Apollo Telmisseus is figured on an imperial coin
of Halikarnassos and is mentioned in a local inscription (Michel 459) as "founder
of the race"--that is, of the family of diviners. After the incorporation
into Halikarnassos, Telmessos seems to have survived merely as a small community
centering around the Temple of Apollo.
G. E. Bean, 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.
TERMERA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Town in Caria, an early Lelegian foundation, in the hills above Aspat,
15 km SW of Bodrum. The name first appears on a silver drachma of the late 6th
or early 5th c., inscribed on the obverse with the name of Tymnes and on the reverse
Termerikon. Tymnes is probably identical with the Termeran tyrant mentioned by
Herodotos (5.37; 7.98). In the Delian Confederacy Termera paid two and a half
talents down to 447 B.C.; thereafter the tribute dropped to half a talent, but
the same sum was paid by "the Carians whom Tymnes rules." This is presumably
the grandson of the earlier Tymnes, expelled from Termera but controlling territory
elsewhere on the peninsula.
In Pliny's list of six Lelegian towns incorporated in Halikarnassos
by Alexander (really by Mausolos) Termera is not included (HN 5.107); this however
is generally agreed to be an error, as is certainly Pliny's later notice of Termera
libera. Sherds on the site make it clear that the main occupation ceased during
the 4th c., though the place continued in existence, probably as a guard-house.
Suidas observes that it was used by the tyrants (presumably the Hekatomnids) as
a prison. Both Suidas and Strabo (657) speak of it in the present tense.
Asarlik is a characteristic Lelegian site, with an inner citadel and
an outer wall circuit. The citadel wall, of smallish squared blocks, is only partially
preserved, with a gate on the NW; inside are some traces of buildings and a large
double cistern. The outer circuit is preserved chiefly on the E side, where a
wall of polygonal masonry, in places approximating ashlar, runs S from a rocky
knoll for ca. 100 m; it is continued farther S by a 60 m stretch of massive wall,
with a gate 2 m wide which tapers to form a corbeled arch now partly destroyed.
From the style of the masonry and the sherds this wall appears to date from the
5th c.
There are at least three tombs of varying styles on the site itself,
and many others to the E, W and especially S. They include chamber tombs, corbeled
tombs, and tomb enclosures; particularly notable is an extensive cemetery at the
head of the valley to the S, where the pottery goes back to the Bronze Age.
G. E. Bean, 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.
URANION (Ancient city) TURKEY
Town in Caria. Near Geris, 5 km NE of Myndos, a site of Lelegian type,
with a citadel some 50 m long enclosing a tower of squared masonry; outside this
on the N is a second tower and some stretches of polygonal wall evidently belonging
to an outer circuit. The pottery is of archaic and Classical date. On a peak to
the N is a handsome chamber tumulus. Uranion is mentioned in the Athenian tribute
lists with a very small tribute, and by Diodoros (5.23), who records that after
the Trojan War Carians fled from Syme to the mainland and occupied the place called
Uranion. According to Pliny (HN 5.107) it was one of the six Lelegian towns incorporated
by Alexander the Great (really by Maussolos) in Halikarnassos. The location at
Burgaz is conjectural.
G. E. Bean, 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.
VARGYLIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Town in Caria 7 km S of Kulluk, never apparently colonized from Greece.
Stephanos Byzantios says that the Carians, who called the city Andanos, attributed
its foundation to Achilles; the alternative tradition, that it was founded by
Bellerophon in honor of his friend Bargylos, is equally mythical. in the Athenian
tribute lists Bargylia normally paid 1000 dr., and in the 5th c. B.C. was evldently
of much less account than her neighbor Kindya. By the 3d c. the positions were
reversed: Bargylia became completely Hellenized, taking over the principal deity
of the Kindyans, Artemis, and sharing with lasos the control of the gulf (Polyb.
16.12). in 201 B.C. Philip V used the city as his base, though not without discomfort
(Polyb. 16.24); in 196 he was required to withdraw, and Bargylia was declared
free. When Aristonikos occupied Myndos after 133 B.C. Bargylia was also in danger,
but she was freed by an epiphany of Artemis Kindyas. Coinage exists from the 1st
c. B.C. to the time of Septimius Severus; the principal types are Artemis and
Pegasos.
The scanty ruins occupy a low hill with two summits at the angle of
an inlet in the form of a reversed L; the inner part of this is now silted up.
it is crossed at one point by a stone causeway. On the N summit, which formed
the acropolis, were the chief buildings of the Hellenistic and Roman city, but
they are in wretched condition. At the top was a Corinthian temple some 30 m long,
oriented NW-SE; only the foundations survive, but some of its architectural members
are strewn over the slope below. On the S slope of the hill stood a small odeion;
the vaulted passage under the seats remains. The theater, somewhat better preserved,
is on the E slope. An angle of the retaining wall is in excellent isodomic ashlar,
slightly bossed, but the rows of seats are gone. Something of the stage building
is still visible, and no doubt more is preserved underground. Farther down the
slope are the foundations of a stoa. Nearby is a short stretch of a Roman aqueduct
with low arches neatly formed; where the water came from is not clear. On the
S summit is a mediaeval castle and a fragment of the city wall dating perhaps
to the 4th c. B.C. The main necropolis is near the shore N and E of the city;
the tombs are mostly sarcophagi.
G. E. Bean, 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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