Antandrus
Encyclopedia
Antandrus was a Greek
city on the north side of the Gulf of Adramyttium in the Troad region of Anatolia
. Its surrounding territory was known in Greek
as (Antandria), and included the towns of Asponeus on the coast and Astyra to the east. It has been located on Devren hill between the modern village of Avcılar and the town of Altınoluk
in the Edremit district of Balıkesir
province, Turkey
.
located Antandrus in the Troad on the southern flank of Mount Ida, east of Assos
and Gargara
, but west of Asponeus, Astyra, and Adramyttium. The first clue which led to its rediscovery in modern times was found by the German geographer and Classical scholar Heinrich Kiepert
in 1842. He found an inscription relating to Antandrus in the wall of a mosque
at Avcılar. Returning in 1888, he found a further inscription at Avcılar and, due to the discovery by locals of many Greek
, Roman
, and Byzantine
era coins in the vicinity of a nearby hill called Devren, he was also able to locate the acropolis of Antandrus on this spot. The British archaeologist John Cook surveyed the site in 1959 and 1968, discovering further evidence of a Greek settlement.
at the turn of 7th century BC Antandrus was founded by the Leleges
, a people whom the Greeks believed to be aboriginal to Anatolia
. The 5th century BC historian Herodotus
likewise posited non-Greek origins for Antandrus, stating that it was a Pelasgian
foundation. Thucydides
, writing a few decades after Herodotus in the late 5th century BC, is our first source to give Greek origins to Antandrus by saying it was an Aeolian
foundation, a claim we also find in the Byzantine lexicographer Stephanus of Byzantium
, who posited a leader of the Aeolians
called Antandrus as the city's founder. However, a tradition of non-Greek origins persisted, a century later Aristotle
explained its epithets (Edonis) and (Kimmeris) as referring, respectively, to the city's foundation by a Thracian
tribe, the Edonians, and to a period of a century when the nomadic Cimmerians
from southern Russia
had controlled the city. Demetrius of Scepsis
(c. 205
- c. 130
BC) gives a different version again in which Antandrus was originally inhabited by Cilicians from the plain of Thebe facing the Gulf of Adramyttium (not to be confused with Cilicia
in south-east Turkey
).
Finally, in the reign of Augustus
the Greek mythographer Conon
provided two alternative explanations for the origins of Antandrus. Both etymologize (Antandros) as (ant' Androu), exploiting the meaning 'in the stead of' of the Greek
preposition (anti). In the first, Ascanius
the son of Aeneas
used to rule the city of Antandrus until he was captured by the Pelasgians
; the ransom for his release was to give over the city, thus meaning '(a city) in the stead of/in exchange for a man (so from , the Greek
genitive singular of , 'man', i.e. Ascanius)'. This interpretation combines the reference to the city's Pelasgian origins in Herodotus and its brief role in Virgil's
Aeneid
as the place from which Aeneas
and the Trojans
flee to the west. In the second explanation, the founders of Antandrus were exiles from the Cycladic
island of Andros
, who on being expelled set up a new home called Antandrus, hence meaning 'in place of Andros'.
, and so there was no archaeological evidence available to determine whether early Greek traditions about a pre-Greek settlement at this site had any historical validity. Recent Turkish excavations at the site may change this picture: finds of Greek pottery from the necropolis
have been announced on the excavation's website which date to the late 8th and early 7th century BC, pre-dating previous surface finds by almost two centuries. Early indications suggest that the material culture
of Antandrus in this period was overwhelmingly Greek, suggesting that it was already a Greek settlement at this period, rather than an Anatolian community which traded extensively with neighbouring Greek communities. However, firm conclusions regarding this and many other aspects of the site's archaeology must await the final publication of the site report.
controlled extensive parts of the Troad in the Archaic period, and so Alcaeus'
reference to Antandrus may suggest interest in or control over the city by Mytilene at the turn of the 7th century. Alternatively, the persistent early tradition of the city's Anatolian origins (e.g. in Alcaeus
, Herodotus
, Demetrius of Scepsis
) may indicate that its Anatolia
n population remained independent of Mytilene until later in the 6th century BC; the little archaeology which has been done on the site suggests Greek occupation at no earlier a date than this.
The first event of which we hear in Antandrus' history is when in 512
BC Otanes, the Persian
satrap
of Hellespontine Phrygia
, captured the city while subduing north-west Asia Minor
. Antandrus had access to large amounts of timber
from Mount Ida as well as pitch
, making it an ideal location for the construction of large fleets, giving the city strategic importance. In 424
BC during the Peloponnesian War
when the city had been captured by exiles from Mytilene
, the historian Thucydides
explains that:
This importance is likewise attested by Xenophon
later in the Peloponnesian War
in 409
and 405
BC, and is perhaps reflected in Virgil's
choice of the city as the place where Aeneas
builds his fleet before setting off to Italy. As late as the 14th century AD we hear of Antandrus being used by an Ottoman admiral to construct a large fleet of several hundred ships. Having joined the Delian League
in 425
BC, when Antandrus first appears in the Athenian tribute lists in 421/0 BC, it has an assessment of 8 talents, again indicating the city's relative prosperity.
In 411/10 BC Antandrus expelled its Persian
garrison with the help of Peloponnesian troops who were stationed at Abydos
on the Hellespont. Having briefly won its freedom, it quickly returned to Persian control, and in 409
BC the Pharnabazus constructed a fleet for the Peloponnesians here using the abundant timber of Mount Ida. We do not know how the Persians regained Antandrus, but in 409 BC the Syracusans gained the Antandrians' friendship by helping to rebuild their fortifications, suggesting that a siege had taken place in the previous year. In the summer of 399
BC Xenophon's
Ten Thousand
passed through on their way home from Persia, and he later wrote in his Hellenica of the city's continuing strategic importance during the Corinthian War
(395
-387
BC),
After the Classical
period, references to Antandrus become scarce in surviving sources. The next reference to events at Antandrus comes several centuries later c. 200 BC, when Antandrus was on the route of Delphi
c thearodokoi, and in the 2nd century BC an inscription from Antandrus tells us that the city sent judges to Peltai in Phrygia to arbitrate a dispute. From c. 440 - c. 284 BC, Antandrus had minted its own coinage; this began again in the reign of the Emperor Titus
(AD 79-81) and continued until the reign of Elagabalus
(AD 218-222). In the Byzantine
period Antandrus was an episcopal see
in the metropolis
of Ephesus
.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
city on the north side of the Gulf of Adramyttium in the Troad region of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. Its surrounding territory was known in Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
as (Antandria), and included the towns of Asponeus on the coast and Astyra to the east. It has been located on Devren hill between the modern village of Avcılar and the town of Altınoluk
Altınoluk
Altınoluk, formerly Papazlık, is a town and summer resort in the Edremit district of Balıkesir Province in western Turkey. It is located west of Edremit, at the northern coast of Edremit Bay and on Mount Ida hills....
in the Edremit district of Balıkesir
Balikesir
Balıkesir is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 265,747 inhabitants. Old name is Karesi or Karasi.- History :...
province, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Location
The geographer StraboStrabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
located Antandrus in the Troad on the southern flank of Mount Ida, east of Assos
Assos
Assos , also known as Behramkale or for short Behram, is a small historically rich town in the Ayvacık district of the Çanakkale Province, Turkey....
and Gargara
Gargara
Gargara is a city of the Troad, near Mount Ida. A titular see in the province of Asia, suffragan of Ephesus.-Gargara in literature:The Roman poet Vergil twice mentions the fertility of Gargara in the Georgics. Ovid, Seneca, and Sidonius Apollinaris follow Vergil and Gargara becomes a conventional...
, but west of Asponeus, Astyra, and Adramyttium. The first clue which led to its rediscovery in modern times was found by the German geographer and Classical scholar Heinrich Kiepert
Heinrich Kiepert
Heinrich Kiepert , German geographer, was born at Berlin as the son of a wealthy businessman.Already in his youth he traveled with his parents and had a particular interest in the geographic circumstances, which he carefully sketched...
in 1842. He found an inscription relating to Antandrus in the wall of a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
at Avcılar. Returning in 1888, he found a further inscription at Avcılar and, due to the discovery by locals of many Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, and Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
era coins in the vicinity of a nearby hill called Devren, he was also able to locate the acropolis of Antandrus on this spot. The British archaeologist John Cook surveyed the site in 1959 and 1968, discovering further evidence of a Greek settlement.
Foundation
Conflicting traditions regarding the foundation of Antandrus circulated in Antiquity. According to the Lesbian poet AlcaeusAlcaeus
Alcaeus may refer to:*Alcaeus , a writer of ten plays of the Old Comedy.*Alcaeus , one of several figures of this name in Greek mythology*12607 Alcaeus - a main belt asteroid...
at the turn of 7th century BC Antandrus was founded by the Leleges
Leleges
The Leleges were one of the aboriginal peoples of southwest Anatolia , who were already there when the Indo-European Hellenes emerged. The distinction between the Leleges and the Carians is unclear. According to Homer the Leleges were a distinct Anatolian tribe Homer...
, a people whom the Greeks believed to be aboriginal to Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. The 5th century BC historian Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
likewise posited non-Greek origins for Antandrus, stating that it was a Pelasgian
Pelasgians
The name Pelasgians was used by some ancient Greek writers to refer to populations that were either the ancestors of the Greeks or who preceded the Greeks in Greece, "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world." In general, "Pelasgian" has come...
foundation. Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
, writing a few decades after Herodotus in the late 5th century BC, is our first source to give Greek origins to Antandrus by saying it was an Aeolian
Aeolians
The Aeolians were one of the four major ancient Greek tribes comprising Ancient Greeks. Their name derives from Aeolus, the mythical ancestor of the Aeolic branch and son of Hellen, the mythical patriarch of the Greek nation...
foundation, a claim we also find in the Byzantine lexicographer Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus , was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
, who posited a leader of the Aeolians
Aeolians
The Aeolians were one of the four major ancient Greek tribes comprising Ancient Greeks. Their name derives from Aeolus, the mythical ancestor of the Aeolic branch and son of Hellen, the mythical patriarch of the Greek nation...
called Antandrus as the city's founder. However, a tradition of non-Greek origins persisted, a century later Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
explained its epithets (Edonis) and (Kimmeris) as referring, respectively, to the city's foundation by a Thracian
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
tribe, the Edonians, and to a period of a century when the nomadic Cimmerians
Cimmerians
The Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
from southern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
had controlled the city. Demetrius of Scepsis
Demetrius of Scepsis
Demetrius of Scepsis was a Greek grammarian of the time of Aristarchus and Crates . He was a man of good family and an acute philologer . He was the author of a very extensive work which is very often referred to, and bore the title Τρωικὸς διάκοσμος. It consisted of at least twenty-six books...
(c. 205
205
Year 205 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta...
- c. 130
130
Year 130 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Catullinus and Aper...
BC) gives a different version again in which Antandrus was originally inhabited by Cilicians from the plain of Thebe facing the Gulf of Adramyttium (not to be confused with Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
in south-east Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
).
Finally, in the reign of Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
the Greek mythographer Conon
Conon (mythographer)
For others uses, see CononConon was a Greek grammarian of the age of Augustus, the author of a work entitled , addressed to Archelaus Philopator, king of Cappadocia...
provided two alternative explanations for the origins of Antandrus. Both etymologize (Antandros) as (ant' Androu), exploiting the meaning 'in the stead of' of the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
preposition (anti). In the first, Ascanius
Ascanius
Ascanius is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and a legendary king of Alba Longa. He is a character of Roman mythology, and has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is son of Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being...
the son of Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
used to rule the city of Antandrus until he was captured by the Pelasgians
Pelasgians
The name Pelasgians was used by some ancient Greek writers to refer to populations that were either the ancestors of the Greeks or who preceded the Greeks in Greece, "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world." In general, "Pelasgian" has come...
; the ransom for his release was to give over the city, thus meaning '(a city) in the stead of/in exchange for a man (so from , the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
genitive singular of , 'man', i.e. Ascanius)'. This interpretation combines the reference to the city's Pelasgian origins in Herodotus and its brief role in Virgil's
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
as the place from which Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
and the Trojans
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
flee to the west. In the second explanation, the founders of Antandrus were exiles from the Cycladic
Cyclades
The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...
island of Andros
Andros
Andros, or Andro is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, approximately south east of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . Its surface is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and well-watered valleys. The area is...
, who on being expelled set up a new home called Antandrus, hence meaning 'in place of Andros'.
Excavation
Until recently, the site of Antandrus had only been subjected to a basic surface surveyArchaeological field survey
Archaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area...
, and so there was no archaeological evidence available to determine whether early Greek traditions about a pre-Greek settlement at this site had any historical validity. Recent Turkish excavations at the site may change this picture: finds of Greek pottery from the necropolis
Necropolis
A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...
have been announced on the excavation's website which date to the late 8th and early 7th century BC, pre-dating previous surface finds by almost two centuries. Early indications suggest that the material culture
Material culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations. Studying a culture's relationship to materiality is a lens through which social and cultural attitudes can be discussed...
of Antandrus in this period was overwhelmingly Greek, suggesting that it was already a Greek settlement at this period, rather than an Anatolian community which traded extensively with neighbouring Greek communities. However, firm conclusions regarding this and many other aspects of the site's archaeology must await the final publication of the site report.
History
The Lesbian city of MytileneMytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
controlled extensive parts of the Troad in the Archaic period, and so Alcaeus'
Alcaeus
Alcaeus may refer to:*Alcaeus , a writer of ten plays of the Old Comedy.*Alcaeus , one of several figures of this name in Greek mythology*12607 Alcaeus - a main belt asteroid...
reference to Antandrus may suggest interest in or control over the city by Mytilene at the turn of the 7th century. Alternatively, the persistent early tradition of the city's Anatolian origins (e.g. in Alcaeus
Alcaeus
Alcaeus may refer to:*Alcaeus , a writer of ten plays of the Old Comedy.*Alcaeus , one of several figures of this name in Greek mythology*12607 Alcaeus - a main belt asteroid...
, Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, Demetrius of Scepsis
Demetrius of Scepsis
Demetrius of Scepsis was a Greek grammarian of the time of Aristarchus and Crates . He was a man of good family and an acute philologer . He was the author of a very extensive work which is very often referred to, and bore the title Τρωικὸς διάκοσμος. It consisted of at least twenty-six books...
) may indicate that its Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n population remained independent of Mytilene until later in the 6th century BC; the little archaeology which has been done on the site suggests Greek occupation at no earlier a date than this.
The first event of which we hear in Antandrus' history is when in 512
512
Year 512 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus and Moschianus...
BC Otanes, the Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
satrap
Satrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
of Hellespontine Phrygia
Hellespontine Phrygia
Hellespontine Phrygia was an Achaemenid satrapy in ancient Anatolia, comprising lands of Troad, Mysia and Bithynia and whose seat was at Daskyleion, south of Cyzicus, Mysia. Pharnabazus was satrap of Darius III there, until Alexander the Great appointed Calas which was replaced by Arrhidaeus in the...
, captured the city while subduing north-west Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
. Antandrus had access to large amounts of timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
from Mount Ida as well as pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
, making it an ideal location for the construction of large fleets, giving the city strategic importance. In 424
424
Year 424 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Castinus and Victor...
BC during the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
when the city had been captured by exiles from Mytilene
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
, the historian Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...
explains that:
This importance is likewise attested by Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
later in the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
in 409
409
Year 409 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius...
and 405
405
Year 405 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Anthemius...
BC, and is perhaps reflected in Virgil's
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
choice of the city as the place where Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
builds his fleet before setting off to Italy. As late as the 14th century AD we hear of Antandrus being used by an Ottoman admiral to construct a large fleet of several hundred ships. Having joined the Delian League
Delian League
The Delian League, founded in circa 477 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Greco–Persian Wars...
in 425
425
Year 425 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Valentinianus...
BC, when Antandrus first appears in the Athenian tribute lists in 421/0 BC, it has an assessment of 8 talents, again indicating the city's relative prosperity.
In 411/10 BC Antandrus expelled its Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
garrison with the help of Peloponnesian troops who were stationed at Abydos
Abydos
Abydos may mean:*Abydos, Egypt, an Ancient Egyptian city*Abydos , an ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Minor*Abydos , name of a fictional planet in the Stargate science fiction universeAbidos may mean:...
on the Hellespont. Having briefly won its freedom, it quickly returned to Persian control, and in 409
409
Year 409 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius...
BC the Pharnabazus constructed a fleet for the Peloponnesians here using the abundant timber of Mount Ida. We do not know how the Persians regained Antandrus, but in 409 BC the Syracusans gained the Antandrians' friendship by helping to rebuild their fortifications, suggesting that a siege had taken place in the previous year. In the summer of 399
399
Year 399 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Eutropius and Theodorus...
BC Xenophon's
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
Ten Thousand
Anabasis (Xenophon)
Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...
passed through on their way home from Persia, and he later wrote in his Hellenica of the city's continuing strategic importance during the Corinthian War
Corinthian War
The Corinthian War was an ancient Greek conflict lasting from 395 BC until 387 BC, pitting Sparta against a coalition of four allied states; Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos; which were initially backed by Persia. The immediate cause of the war was a local conflict in northwest Greece in which...
(395
395
Year 395 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus...
-387
387
Year 387 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Eutropius...
BC),
After the Classical
Classical Greece
Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...
period, references to Antandrus become scarce in surviving sources. The next reference to events at Antandrus comes several centuries later c. 200 BC, when Antandrus was on the route of Delphi
Delphi
Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...
c thearodokoi, and in the 2nd century BC an inscription from Antandrus tells us that the city sent judges to Peltai in Phrygia to arbitrate a dispute. From c. 440 - c. 284 BC, Antandrus had minted its own coinage; this began again in the reign of the Emperor Titus
Titus
Titus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....
(AD 79-81) and continued until the reign of Elagabalus
Elagabalus
Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
(AD 218-222). In the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
period Antandrus was an episcopal see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
in the metropolis
Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)
A metropolis is a see or city whose bishop is the metropolitan of a province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces....
of Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
.