Stratonikeia
Encyclopedia
Stratonikeia – also transliterated as Stratonicea, Stratoniceia , Stratoniki, and Stratonike and Stratonice; earlier Idrias and Chrysaoris; and for a time Hadrianopolis – was one of the most important towns in the interior of Caria
, Anatolia
, situated on the east-southeast of Mylasa, and on the south of the river Marsyas
; its site is now located at the present village of Eskihisar, Muğla Province
, Turkey
. It is situated at a distance of 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) from the intercity road that connects the district center of Yatağan with Bodrum
and Milas
, shortly before Yatağan Power Plant if one has taken departure from the latter towns.
, it was founded by the Seleucid
king Antiochus I Soter
(281–261 BC), who named it after his wife Stratonice
. Or at least this is what has been generally told; some historians have contested this date as too early, and proposed to consider the city's founder Stratonice's son, Antiochus II Theos
, or, later still, Antiochus III the Great
.
What seems certain is that the city was founded on the site of an old Carian town, Idrias, anciently called Chrysaoris, said to be the first town funded by the Lycia
ns. Later it passed under the control of the Achaemenid Empire. According to Athens' tribute "assessment" of 425 BC Idrias was supposed to be responsible for the payment of the considerable sum of six talent
s. Like many other non-Greek cities on the 425 BC assessment Idrias is never recorded actually paying any tribute to Athens and was never a member of the Delian League
. In early Seleucid times, Stratonikeia was a member of the Chrysaorian League
, a confederation of Carian towns. The Stratonikeians, though not of Carian origin, were admitted into the confederacy, because they possessed certain small towns or villages, which formed part of it. The league is attested by an inscription already in 267 BC, but was probably older still. Near the town was the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus
, at which the League's assembly met; at these meetings the several city-states had votes in proportion to the number of towns they possessed.
Under the succeeding Seleucid kings, Stratonikeia was adorned with splendid and costly buildings. At a later time in the 3rd century BC was ceded to the Rhodians
. Rhodes seems to have then temporarily lost it, possibly during Macedon
's king Philip V
Carian campaign (201–198 BC), but it retook control of the place in 197 BC, keeping it until 167 BC when with the whole of Caria it was declared free by the Roman Republic
. From this point starts the city's independent coinage, which was to last until the times of the emperor Gallienus
(253–268). In 130 BC the city had a central role in the revolt led against the Romans, since here the self-proclaimed king Aristonicus
made a last stand before falling in the hands of his enemies with the fall of the city.
(120–63 BC), after imposing a fine and a garrison on the city, resided for some time at Stratonikeia, and married Monime
, the daughter of Philopoemen, one of its principal citizens. Then came in 40 BC the siege sustained against Quintus Labienus
and his Parthia
n troops, and the brave resistance it offered to him entitled it to the gratitude of Augustus and the Senate
. The emperor Hadrian
is said to have taken this town under his special protection, and to have changed its name into Hadrianopolis, a name, however, which may (also) refer to another town also called Stratonikeia. Pliny
enumerates it among free cities in Anatolia
. Menippus
, according to Cicero
one of the most distinguished orators of his time, was a native of Stratonikeia.
Under the Roman Empire
, the town seems to have continued in its prosperity: it was in this age that were built Stratonikeia's most impressive remains, first of all the theatre, with the seats remaining, estimated to be able to contain no fewer than ten thousand people; and secondly, the Serapeum, or a temple dedicated to the cult of Serapis
, built about 200 CE, full of inscriptions and invocations to the gods. Other important ruins are on the acropolis
, surrounded by a wall and crowned by a small temple dedicated to the cult of the emperors, and a powerful fortress. Much worse is the state of conservation of the city walls and its agora
, while the location of the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus is still unknown.
mention the see
up to the thirteenth century among the suffragans of Stauropolis. Only three of its bishops are known, by their signatures at councils: Eupeithus, at the Council of Chalcedon
(451); Theopemptus, at the Council of Constantinople (692); and Gregory, at the Council of Nicaea
(787). Stratonikeia remains a titular see
of the Roman Catholic Church
, Latinized as Stratonicensis in Caria; the seat has been vacant since the death of the last bishop
in 1977.
village of Eskihisar, and part of the site's necropolis
(allegedly of modest scientific significance) has vanished with the opening of a pit to extract the lignite reserves that feed the nearby Yatağan power plant. The pit is proposed to be transformed into a lake in the coming years, once the reserves there are exhausted. The village has a local museum, which contains mostly Roman remains; but the most remarkable object is a Mycenaean
stirrup-cup of buff with horizontal red stripes which is dated to the 12th or 11th century BC. All the exhibits were found locally.
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Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, situated on the east-southeast of Mylasa, and on the south of the river Marsyas
Marsyas
In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double flute that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life...
; its site is now located at the present village of Eskihisar, Muğla Province
Mugla Province
Muğla Province is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, are on the coast in Muğla....
, 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...
. It is situated at a distance of 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) from the intercity road that connects the district center of Yatağan with Bodrum
Bodrum
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The site was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the...
and Milas
Milas
Milas is an ancient city and the seat of the district of the same name in Muğla Province in southwestern Turkey. The city commands a region with an active economy, and the region is very rich in history and its remains, the whole territory of Milas district containing a remarkable twenty-seven...
, shortly before Yatağan Power Plant if one has taken departure from the latter towns.
Foundation and Seleucid era
According to 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...
, it was founded by the Seleucid
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
king Antiochus I Soter
Antiochus I Soter
Antiochus I Soter , was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. He reigned from 281 BC - 261 BC....
(281–261 BC), who named it after his wife Stratonice
Stratonice of Syria
For other persons with the same name, see StratoniceStratonice of Syria was the daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila, the daughter of Antipater...
. Or at least this is what has been generally told; some historians have contested this date as too early, and proposed to consider the city's founder Stratonice's son, Antiochus II Theos
Antiochus II Theos
Antiochus II Theos was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom who reigned 261 BC – 246 BC). He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262–61 BC...
, or, later still, Antiochus III the Great
Antiochus III the Great
Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...
.
What seems certain is that the city was founded on the site of an old Carian town, Idrias, anciently called Chrysaoris, said to be the first town funded by the Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
ns. Later it passed under the control of the Achaemenid Empire. According to Athens' tribute "assessment" of 425 BC Idrias was supposed to be responsible for the payment of the considerable sum of six talent
Talent (weight)
The "talent" was one of several ancient units of mass, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal. It was approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora. A Greek, or Attic talent, was , a Roman talent was , an Egyptian talent was , and a...
s. Like many other non-Greek cities on the 425 BC assessment Idrias is never recorded actually paying any tribute to Athens and was never a member of 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 early Seleucid times, Stratonikeia was a member of the Chrysaorian League
Chrysaorian League
The Chrysaorian League was an informal loose federation of several cities in ancient region of Caria, Anatolia that was apparently formed in the early Seleucid period and lasted at least until 203 BC. The League had its primary focus on unified defense, and secondarily on trade, and may have been...
, a confederation of Carian towns. The Stratonikeians, though not of Carian origin, were admitted into the confederacy, because they possessed certain small towns or villages, which formed part of it. The league is attested by an inscription already in 267 BC, but was probably older still. Near the town was the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
, at which the League's assembly met; at these meetings the several city-states had votes in proportion to the number of towns they possessed.
Under the succeeding Seleucid kings, Stratonikeia was adorned with splendid and costly buildings. At a later time in the 3rd century BC was ceded to the Rhodians
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
. Rhodes seems to have then temporarily lost it, possibly during Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
's king Philip V
Philip V of Macedon
Philip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Rome. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man...
Carian campaign (201–198 BC), but it retook control of the place in 197 BC, keeping it until 167 BC when with the whole of Caria it was declared free by the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. From this point starts the city's independent coinage, which was to last until the times of the emperor Gallienus
Gallienus
Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...
(253–268). In 130 BC the city had a central role in the revolt led against the Romans, since here the self-proclaimed king Aristonicus
Eumenes III
Eumenes III was the pretender to the throne of Pergamon.When the Pergamene King Attalus III died in 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans...
made a last stand before falling in the hands of his enemies with the fall of the city.
Roman era
Some time after, in 88 BC, Mithridates VI of PontusMithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
(120–63 BC), after imposing a fine and a garrison on the city, resided for some time at Stratonikeia, and married Monime
Monime
Monime, sometimes known as Monima was a Greek Macedonian noblewoman from Anatolia and one of the wives of King Mithridates VI of Pontus....
, the daughter of Philopoemen, one of its principal citizens. Then came in 40 BC the siege sustained against Quintus Labienus
Quintus Labienus
Quintus Labienus , the son of Titus Labienus, was a Roman republican general, later in the service of Parthia.After Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, Labienus took the side of Brutus and Cassius, the latter whom he served in the capacity of an ambassador to the Parthians...
and his Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
n troops, and the brave resistance it offered to him entitled it to the gratitude of Augustus and the Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
. The emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
is said to have taken this town under his special protection, and to have changed its name into Hadrianopolis, a name, however, which may (also) refer to another town also called Stratonikeia. Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
enumerates it among free cities in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. Menippus
Menippus of Stratonikeia
Menippus of Stratonikeia , surnamed Catocas, was a Carian by birth; he was the most accomplished orator of his time in all Asia...
, according to Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
one of the most distinguished orators of his time, was a native of Stratonikeia.
Under the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the town seems to have continued in its prosperity: it was in this age that were built Stratonikeia's most impressive remains, first of all the theatre, with the seats remaining, estimated to be able to contain no fewer than ten thousand people; and secondly, the Serapeum, or a temple dedicated to the cult of Serapis
Apis (Egyptian mythology)
In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis , was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region.According to Manetho, his worship was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty. Hape is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom...
, built about 200 CE, full of inscriptions and invocations to the gods. Other important ruins are on the acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...
, surrounded by a wall and crowned by a small temple dedicated to the cult of the emperors, and a powerful fortress. Much worse is the state of conservation of the city walls and its agora
Agora
The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the Agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the Agora also served as a marketplace where...
, while the location of the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus is still unknown.
Titular see
It was Christianized early. The Notitiae EpiscopatuumNotitiae Episcopatuum
The Notitiae Episcopatuum are official documents that furnish Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church....
mention the 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...
up to the thirteenth century among the suffragans of Stauropolis. Only three of its bishops are known, by their signatures at councils: Eupeithus, at the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
(451); Theopemptus, at the Council of Constantinople (692); and Gregory, at the Council of Nicaea
Second Council of Nicaea
The Second Council of Nicaea is regarded as the Seventh Ecumenical Council by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic Churches and various other Western Christian groups...
(787). Stratonikeia remains a titular see
Titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, Latinized as Stratonicensis in Caria; the seat has been vacant since the death of the last bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in 1977.
Today
The city's site is today partly occupied by the TurkishTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
village of Eskihisar, and part of the site's 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"...
(allegedly of modest scientific significance) has vanished with the opening of a pit to extract the lignite reserves that feed the nearby Yatağan power plant. The pit is proposed to be transformed into a lake in the coming years, once the reserves there are exhausted. The village has a local museum, which contains mostly Roman remains; but the most remarkable object is a Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
stirrup-cup of buff with horizontal red stripes which is dated to the 12th or 11th century BC. All the exhibits were found locally.
External links
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