Aphytis ( grc, Ἄφυτις), also Aphyte (Ἀφύτη) and Aphytus or Aphytos (Ἄφυτος), was an ancient Greek city in Pallene, the westernmost headland of

Chalcidice Chalkidiki (; el, Χαλκιδική , also spelled Halkidiki, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos region c ...

. Around the middle of the 8th century BC colonists from Euboea arrived. The city became well known for its Temple of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

, which appears to have been built in the second half of the 8th century BC. At Aphytis, Ammon was worshipped, at least from the time of the Spartan general Lysander, as zealously as in Ammonium, sanctuary in Libya. According to Pausanias, the patron of Aphytis, Ammon Zeus, appeared in a dream to Lysander and urged him to raise the siege, which he did. The Temple of Ammon Zeus, whose few remaining ruins date to the 4th century BC structure. During archaic and classical times Aphytis was a prosperous city, minting its own coins, which depicted the head of its patron, Ammon Zeus, the city's economy appears to have been mainly based on farming and vine-culture. Aristotle (Politics V,VI 1319 a14) mentions the "agricultural law" of the Aphytians, a special, singular and interesting chapter in the history of ancient Greek public finances. The city became a member of the

Chalkidian League The Chalcidian League ( el, Κοινόν τῶν Χαλκιδέων, ''Koinon tōn Chalkideōn'', "League of the Chalcidians"), also referred to as the Olynthians or the Chalcidians in Thrace (, ''Chalkideis epi Thrakēs'') to distinguish them fr ...

; it previously paid tribute under the Thracian phoros of the

Delian League The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...

. During Hellenistic and Roman times the city minted coins again; an event possibly related to the fame of the Temple of Ammon Zeus. Strabo mentions Aphytis among the five cities, which existed in Pallene in the first century B.C. ( Cassandreia, Aphytis, Mende, Scione and Sane). After the founding of the Roman colony of Cassandreia (43 BC), Aphytis was a vicus of this colony, dependent administratively on it.
D. C. Samsaris, The Roman Colony of Cassandreia in Macedonia ''(Colonia Iulia Augusta Cassandrensis)'', Dodona 16(1), 1987, p. 386

Afytos Afytos (Greek, Modern: Άφυτος) is a village in Chalkidiki, northern Greece. It is part of the municipality Kassandra. It is situated on the northeastern coast of the Kassandra peninsula, 6 km northeast of Kassandreia, 31 km south of ...

is a village in the modern Kassandra peninsula.

References

*Gerakina N. Mylona 'Aphytos tourist pamphlet' (1994).

External links

Ancient Coinage of Aphytis ΑΦΥΤΑΙΩΝ
Populated places in ancient Macedonia Geography of ancient Chalcidice Greek colonies in Chalcidice Euboean colonies Members of the Delian League Former populated places in Greece {{AncientMacedonia-geo-stub