Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "MYNDOS Ancient city TURKEY" .
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
A Dorian colony on the coast of Caria, situated at the western extremity of the same peninsula on which Halicarnassus stood.
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.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
