Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "KYZIKOS Ancient city TURKEY".
Total results on 14/5/2001: 47 for Kyzikos, 227 for Cyzicus, 1 for Cyzikos.
A celebrated city of Mysia, on the island of the same name,
situated partly in the plain which extended to the bridges connecting the island
with the continent, and partly on the slope of Mount Arcton Oros. Its first foundation
was ascribed to a colony of Pelasgi from Thessaly, under the conduct of Cyzicus,
son of Apollo. In process of time the Pelasgi were expelled by the Tyrrheni, and
these again made way for the Milesians, who are generally looked upon by the Greeks
as the real settlers, to whom the foundation of Cyzicus is to be attributed. Cyzicus
became, in process of time, a flourishing commercial city, and was at the height
of its prosperity when, through the means of the kings of Pergamus, it secured
the favour and protection of Rome. Florus speaks of its beauty and opulence. The
Cyzicene commonwealth resembled those of Rhodes, Marseilles, and Carthage. The
Romans, in acknowledgment of the bravery and fidelity displayed by the Cyzicenians
when besieged by Mithridates (B.C. 75), granted to them their independence and
greatly enlarged their territory. Under the emperors, Cyzicus continued to prosper,
and in the time of the Byzantine sway it was the metropolis of the Hellespontine
province. Cyzicus gave birth to several historians, philosophers, and other writers.
The coins of this place, called Kuzikenoi stateres, were so beautiful as to be
deemed a miracle of art. Persephone was worshipped as the chief deity of the place,
and the inhabitants had a legend among them that their city was given by Zeus
to this goddess as a portion of her dowry.
Cyzicus (he Kuzikos: Eth. Kuzikenos) and Cyzicum (Plin. v. 32; Mela,
i. 19), a city on the Propontis in Mysia, on the neck of a peninsula as Mela says.
The peninsula, which projects into the Propontis or sea of Marmora on the south
coast, is joined to the mainland by a sandy isthmus. Crossing this isthmus from
the mainland, a traveller finds on his left the miserable town of Erdek, the ancient
Artace. The site of Cyzicus is near the isthmus on the east side, hi 40° 22? 30?
N. lat. (Hamilton, Researches, &c. vol. ii. p. 103.) The Turks call the ruins
of Cyzicus Bal Kiz, the second part of which seems to be a part of the ancient
name; and Bal is probably a Turkish corruption of the Greek Palaia. (Leake, Asia
Minor, p. 271.) There is a place called Aidinjik near the isthmus, on the mainland
side, where there are many marble fragments which have been brought from the neighbouring
site of Cyzicus.
Strabo (p. 575) says that Cyzicus is an island in the Propontis, which
is joined to the mainland by two bridges, and very fertile: it is about 500 stadia
in circuit, and contains a city of the same name close to the bridges, and two
closed harbours, and shiphouses (neosoikoi) above 200: one part of the city is
on level ground, and the other is close to a hill, which they call Bear Hill (Arkton
oros): there is another hill that lies above the city, a single height called
Dindymon, which contains a temple of Dindymene the mother of the gods, which was
founded by the Argonauts. Stephanus (s. v. Kuzikos) says that the town was also
called Arkton nesos. The junction of the island with the main is attributed to
Alexander by Pliny (v. 32), who does not say how the junction was made. Apollonius
Rhodius, who wrote after Alexander's time, still calls it an island (Argon. i.
936), but he also speaks of an isthmus. He names one of the ports Chytus; the
other was named Panormus, as the Scholiast tells us. It is said that there are
no signs of the bridges. The isthmus is above a mile long, and less than half
a mile broad. It seems probable that moles were pushed out some distance, and
then the opposite shores were connected by bridges. The whole passage is now a
sandy flat. Hamilton (Researches, &c. vol. ii. p. 98) says, we crossed the sandy
isthmus which connects Cyzicus with the mainland; near the south end, many large
blocks of stone, dug up in clearing a neighbouring vineyard, had been collected
into a heap. The east side of the isthmus is now an extensive marsh, covered with
reeds, and probably marks the site of the principal port of Cyzicus, separated
from the sea-shore by a low ridge of sand hills thrown up by the united efforts
of the winds and waves. Near the northern extremity, a long ditch runs from E.
to W. full of water, with a wall of great strength, fortified by towers along
its northern bank; its opening towards the sea is choked up by drifted sand, but
it seems to be the entrance through which the galleys of Cyzicus were admitted
to her capacious port. (Hamilton.)
The ruins of Cyzicus are among cherry orchards and vineyards. There
is a heap of ruins covered with brushwood, where there are many subterraneous
passages, some of which may be explored to the length of more than a hundred feet.
These passages are connected with each other, and appear to be the substructions
of some large buildings. Cyzicus in Strabo's time had many large public buildings
(Strab. p. 575), and it maintained three architects to look after them and the
machinery (organa). It possessed three store-houses, one for arms, one for the
machinery or engines, and one for corn. The masonry of these substructions is
chiefly Hellenic, but in some places the walls are only cased with blocks of stone:
in the roof of one of the vaults is a small square opening, regularly formed with
a keystone, all belonging to the original construction. (Hamilton.) If these substructions
are not those of the public granary, they may belong, as Hamilton suggests, to
the great temple described by Aristides in his oration on Cyzicus (vol. i. p.
237, ed. Jebb); but the extravagant bombast of this wordy rhetorician diminishes
our confidence in what he says. The Agora, he says, contained a most magnificent
temple, and he speaks of the parts below ground being worthy of admiration. Xiphilinus
(Dion Cass. vol. ii. p. 1173, ed. Reimarus) says that the great temple of Cyzicus
was destroyed by an earthquake in the time of Antoninus Pius; but this must be
a mistake, and he means to speak of the great earthquake that destroyed Smyrna
and other cities in the time of Marcus, the successor of Pius. Aristides wrote
a letter on the calamity of the city of Smyrna, addressed to Aurelius and Commodus.
This temple is described by Xiphilinus as of extraordinary dimensions: the columns
were fifty cubits high, and of one stone. The Cyziceni used the white marble of
Proconnesus for building. (Strab. p. 588.) About a mile NE. by N. from these substructions
are the remains of an amphitheatre, built in a wooded valley to the north of the
plain, where are the principal ruins of the city. Many of the pilasters and massive
buttresses have yielded to the influence of time, but seven or eight are still
standing on the west side of the valley, by which the circular form of the building
may be distinctly traced. (Hamilton.) A small stream flows through the middle
of the arena; which circumstance, and the character of the masonry at the upper
end of the building, led Hamilton to suppose that the place was also used as a
Naumachia. On a wooded hill to the east of the city, situated above the ruins,
and near the apex of the city walls, there are only blocks of marble and broken
columns built into the walls of the cottages. The site of the theatre, which faces
the SW., is almost overgrown with luxuriant vegetation. It is very large, and
appears to be of Greek construction, but it is in a very ruined state. Some parts
of the substructions can be traced, but there is not a block of marble to be seen,
nor a single seat remaining in its place. There are vestiges of the city walls
in various parts, but it does not appear easy to trace their whole extent. Hamilton
in one place speaks of heaps of ruins, long walls, and indistinct foundations,
but so overgrown with vegetation that it was impossible to make them out. He only
found one inscription, a Greek one, of the Roman period. On the whole, says Hamilton,
I must say that the loose and rubbly character of the buildings of Cyzicus little
accords with the celebrity of its architects; and although some appear to have
been cased with marble, none of them give an idea of the solid grandeur of the
genuine Greek style. It seems likely that the larger blocks of marble have been
carried away, though there is no large modern town near Cyzicus; but the materials
of many ancient towns near the sea have doubtless been carried off to remote places.
There are quarries of fine marble on the hills about Cyzicus, and near Aidinjik
on the mainland; but granite was much used in the buildings of Cyzicus, and it
is of a kind which is rapidly decomposed. The consequence is, that a rich vegetation
has grown up, which itself destroys buildings and buries them. The sea-sand also
that has been blown up on both sides of the isthmus may have covered the basements
at least of many buildings. It seems likely, then, that excavations would bring
to light many remains of a rich city, of which Strabo says, that in his time it
rivals the first cities of Asia in magnitude, beauty, and its excellent institutions,
both civil and military, and it appears to be embellished in like fashion with
the city of the Rhodii, the Massaliotae, and the Carthaginians of old.
The origin of this town seems unknown. A people called Doliones or
Dolieis (Steph. s. v. Doliones) once lived about Cyzicus, but Strabo says that
it was difficult to fix their limits. Conon (Narrat. 41, apud Phot.) has a story
of Cyzicus being settled by Pelasgi from Thessaly, who were driven from Thessaly
by Aeolians. Their king and leader was Cyzicus, a son of Apollo, who gave his
name to the peninsula which he occupied; for it may be observed that it seems
somewhat doubtful, if we look at all the authorities, whether Cyzicus was considered
by the Greeks to have been originally an island or a peninsula. If it was originally
a peninsula, we must suppose that a canal was cut across it, and afterwards was
bridged. This king Cyzicus was killed by Jason on the voyage to Colchis, and after
the death of Cyzicus, perhaps some time after according to the legend, Tyrrheni
seized the place, who were driven out by Milesians. Cyzicus was reckoned among
the settlements of Miletus by Anaximenes of Lampsacus, and also Artace on the
same island or peninsula. (Strabo, p. 635.) Cyzicus is not mentioned in the Iliad.
The Cyziceni are said to have surrendered to the Persians after the
conquest of Miletus. (Herod. vi. 33.) The place afterwards became a dependency
on Athens; for it revolted from the Athenians, who recovered it after the battle
of Cynossema (B.C. 411),--at which time it was unwalled, as Thucydides observes
(viii. 107). These scanty notices of Cyzicus, and the fact of its having no fortifications
near the close of the Peloponnesian War, seem to show that it was still an inconsiderable
city. The Athenians, on getting the place again, laid a contribution on the people.
The next year (B.C. 410) the Cyziceni had the same ill luck. Mindarus the Spartan
admiral was there with his ships, and Pharnabazus the Persian with his troops.
Alcibiades defeated Mindarus, and the Cyziceni, being deserted by the Peloponnesians
and Pharnabazus, again received the Athenians, and again had to part with their
money. We learn from the notice of this affair in Xenophon (Hell. i. 1. § 16)
that Cyzicus had a port at this time. After the defeat of the Athenians at Aegospotami,
Cyzicus seems to have come again under the Lacedaemonians; but as the peace of
Antalcidas (B.C. 387) gave all the cities in Asia to the Persian king, Cyzicus
was among them.
Cyzicus appears to have obtained its independence after the time of
Alexander, but the notices of it are very scanty. Attalus I. of Pergamum, the
father of Eumenes, married a woman of Cyzicus, named Apollonias, who was distinguished
for her good sense (Polyb. xxiii. 18); and we read of the Cyziceni sending twenty
ships to join the fleet of Athenaeus, the brother of Attalus II., King of Pergamum.
(Polyb. xxxiii. 11.) We know nothing of the fortunate circumstances which gave
this town the wealth that it had, when Mithridates attempted to take it B.C. 74.
It is probable that it had become one of the outlets for the products of the interior
of the Asiatic peninsula, and it is said to have been well administered. The Cyziceni
sustained a great loss in a fight with Mithridates at Chalcedon, and soon after
the king attacked Cyzicus. He posted his troops on the mainland opposite to the
city, at the foot of the mountain range of Adrasteia; and with his ships he blockaded
the narrow passage that separated the city from the main. The strength of the
walls, which had been built in the interval since the Peloponnesian war, and the
abundant stores of the citizens enabled them to hold out against the enemy. The
Roman commander L. Lucullus was in the neighbourhood off Cyzicus, and he cut off
the supplies of Mithridates, whose army suffered from famine, and was at last
obliged to abandon the siege with great loss. (Plut. Lucull. c. 9, &c.; Appian,
Mithridat. c. 72, &c.; Strab. p. 575; Cic. pro Arch c. 9) The Romans rewarded
Cyzicus by making it a Libera Civitas, as it was in Strabo's time, who observes
that it had a considerable territory, part of it an ancient, possession and part
the gift of the Romans. He adds that they possessed on the Troad the parts beyond
the Aesepus about Zeleia; and also the plain of Adrasteia, which was that part
of the mainland that was opposite to Cyzicus. They had also part of the tract
on the Lake Dascylitis, and a large tract bordering on the Doliones and Mygdones,
as far as the Lake Miletopolitis and the Apolloniatis. Strabo (p. 587) speaks
of a place at the common boundary of the territory of Priapus and Cyzicus, from
which it appears that the possessions of these two towns bordered on one another,
on the coast at least, in the time of Strabo. Indeed Priapus, according to some
authorities, was a colony of Cyzicus. It appears that the greatest prosperity
of Cyzicus dates from the time of the defeat of Mithridates. It possessed a large
tract on the south side of the Propontis, and there were no other large cities
on this side of the Propontis in the Roman period, except Nicomedia and Nicaea.
The produce of the basin of the Rhyndacus would come down to Cyzicus. Tacitus
(Ann. iv. 36) says that Tiberius (A.D. 25) deprived Cyzicus of its privilege of
a free city (Dion Cass. liv. 7, 23; Sueton. Tib. c. 37) for not paying due religious
respect to the memory of Augustus, and for ill treating some Roman citizens. This
shows that Strabo must have written what he says of Cyzicus being Libera before
the revocation. The effect of the revocation of this privilege would be to place
Cyzicus altogether and immediately under the authority of the Roman governor of
Asia. Cyzicus, however, continued to be a flourishing place under the empire,
though it suffered from the great earthquake which has been already mentioned.
In the time of Caracalla it received the title of Metropolis. It also became a
bishop's see under the later empire.
Cyzicus produced some writers, a list of whom is given in a note on
Thucydides (viii. 107) by Wasse. (Cramer, Asia Minor, i. 47, note.) It had also
some works of art, among which Cicero (Verr. ii. 4. c. 60) mentions paintings
of Ajax and Medea, which the dictator Caesar afterwards bought. (Plin. viii. 38.)
At some period in their history the Cyziceni conquered Proconnesus, and carried
off from there a statue of the Meter Dindymene. It was a chryselephantine statue;
but the covering of the face, instead of being plates of ivory, was made of the
teeth of the hippopotamus. (Paus. viii. 46. § 4.) Cyzicus also produced a kind
of unguent or perfume that was in repute, made from a plant which Pliny calls
Cyzicena amaracus (Plin. xiii.; Paus. iv. 36. § 5); but Apollonius, quoted by
Athenaeus (xv. p. 688), speaks of it as made from an Iris. It was also noted for
its mint, which produced the gold coins or stateres called Cyziceni (Kuzikenoi),
which had a wide circulation. The Cyzicenus had on one side a female head, and
[p. 742] on the other a lion's head. (Hesychius, s. v. Kuzikenoi; Suidas, s. v.
Kuzikenoi stateres.) The head is supposed to be that of Cybele. The value of the
coin was 28 Attic drachmae. (Dem. in Phorm. p. 914.) The autonomous coins of Cyzicus
are said to be rare, but there is a complete series of imperial coins. It does
not appear where the Cyziceni got their gold from, but it is not improbable that
it was once found on the island or on the neighbouring mainland. Pliny (xxxvi.
15) says that there was in his time a temple at Cyzicus, in which the architect
had placed a golden thread along all the joinings of the polished stone. The contrast
between the gold and the white marble would probably produce a good effect. The
passage of Pliny contains something more about Cyzicus, and the story of the fugitivus
lapis, which was once the anchor of the Argonautae. The stone often ran away from
the Prytaneum, till at last they wisely secured it with lead.
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
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
