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Hamaxitus ( grc, Ἁμαξιτός, Hamaxitos) was an ancient Greek city in the south-west of the Troad region of Anatolia which was considered to mark the boundary between the Troad and
Aeolis Aeolis (; grc, Αἰολίς, Aiolís), or Aeolia (; grc, Αἰολία, Aiolía, link=no), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islan ...
. Its surrounding territory was known in Greek as (''Hamaxitia''), and included the temple of
Apollo Smintheus Hamaxitus ( grc, Ἁμαξιτός, Hamaxitos) was an ancient Greek city in the south-west of the Troad region of Anatolia which was considered to mark the boundary between the Troad and Aeolis. Its surrounding territory was known in Greek as ( ...
, the salt pans at Tragasai, and the Satnioeis river (modern Tuzla Çay). It has been located on a rise called Beşiktepe near the village of Gülpınar (previously Külahlı) in the Ayvacık district of Çanakkale Province, Turkey.


Name

Hamaxitus first appears in the
Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
tribute lists in the 425/4 BC as ''h'' . However, this spelling reflects the influence of
Attic Greek Attic Greek is the Greek dialect of the ancient region of Attica, including the ''polis'' of Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige dialect of the Greek world for centuries and remains the standard form of the language that ...
and is not a reliable guide to how Hamaxitans would have spelt or pronounced the name of their city. Hamaxitus was located in an
Aeolic In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anatoli ...
-speaking area: Aeolic, like other so-called East Greek dialects, was psilotic and so, unlike Attic Greek, had lost the
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...
/h/. This retained /h/ is seen in the Attic spelling of Hamaxitus with an
eta Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
, which in Attic unlike other dialects represented rather than . Likewise, the use of the digraph -- (/khs/) for -- (/x/) reflects Attic, not Aeolic usage. The grapheme (''xi'') originally represented /ks/ (); it was a peculiarity of Attic (consistent with not being psilotic and therefore retaining audibly aspirated consonants) that /ks/ was pronounced /khs/ and so represented by the grapheme , as here in ''h''. All other literary and epigraphic sources refer to and legends on the city's own coinage from the 4th century BC read (''AMAXI'', i.e. , ''Hamaxi(tos)''). The city's name derives from (''hamaxa'') meaning 'wagon', hence the adjective (''hamaxitos''), 'traversed by wagons', 'carriage-road', 'high-road'. Remains of an ancient road have been identified leading away up the coast from the sheltered bay immediately below the rise on which the Classical city was located at Beşiktepe, indicating the name's origin.


Apollo Smintheus

All foundation myths about Hamaxitus in Classical Antiquity were related to the foundation of the nearby temple of Apollo Smintheus (Ἀπόλλων Σμινθεύς). The subject attracted much interest in Antiquity because in the opening of Homer's '' Iliad'' the
Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 1890 ...
priest of
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
,
Chryses In Greek mythology, Chryses (; Greek, Χρύσης ''Khrúsēs'', meaning "golden") was a Trojan priest of Apollo at Chryse, near the city of Troy. Family According to a tradition mentioned by Eustathius of Thessalonica, Chryses and Briseus ...
, addresses the god in the vocative as (''Smintheu'', 'O, Sminthian') when imploring him to send a plague against the Greeks because
Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the hus ...
had seized his daughter
Chryseis In Greek mythology, Chryseis (, grc, Χρυσηΐς, translit=Khrysēís, ) is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Chryses. Chryseis, her apparent name in the ''Iliad'', means simply "Chryses' daughter"; later writers give her real name as Astynom ...
and refused to ransom her. The epithet (''Sminthos'') caused some confusion to Greek speakers since they did not recognize it as being Greek in origin, and attributed it to the Pelasgian or Mysian languages. The consonantal string -''nth''- (also found in place names such as Corinth) is considered by
philologists Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
to be non-Greek, and possibly
Luwian The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
, in origin. The passage of Homer gives no indication as to its meaning, and so myths about Apollo Smintheus primarily arose from attempts to aetiologize the epithet. The earliest tradition comes from
Callinus Callinus ( grc, Καλλῖνος, ''Kallinos''; fl. mid-7th c. BC) was an ancient Greek elegiac poet who lived in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor in the mid-7th century BC. His poetry is representative of the genre of martial exhortation elegy ...
, an
elegiac The adjective ''elegiac'' has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in ...
poet from Ephesus who lived in the mid-7th century BC. He relates that Hamaxitus was founded by a band of Teucrian (i.e. Trojan)
Cretans Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
who were told by an oracle to found a city wherever the 'earth-born' () attacked them. When they reached the area of Hamaxitus, a great horde of field mice ate all the leather on their equipment, and so they settled on the spot, interpreting the 'earth-born' of the oracle to have been the mice. This myth thus glosses the term ''sminthos'' as 'mouse'. Callinus' aetiology takes into account both Apollo's role as a god of disease and the fact that it was in precisely this role that Chryses had invoked him as 'Sminthian' in the ''Iliad''. However, in discussing the cult, the Augustan Greek geographer Strabo of Amaseia noted that the epithets of gods worshipped at several other Greek sanctuaries were also explained by reference to a god bringing an end to a plague of small animals, and so it is not clear how Callinus arrived at this specific explanation of ''sminthos'' as 'mouse'. The term appears again as a poetic word for mice several centuries later in a fragment of the early 5th century BC
tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
, indicating that by this time Callinus' aetiology of 'Sminthian' had been generalized from an explanation of a particular epithet into an independent lexeme. Callinus' version predominated in Classical Antiquity and is reflected in the local traditions of Hamaxitus. Coins minted by the city in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC feature Apollo Smintheus, and after Hamaxitus was synoecized, coins depicting Apollo Smintheus continued to be produced by the
mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAE ...
of Alexandreia Troas until the reign of the Emperor Gallienus (AD 260–268). In the early 1st century AD, Strabo described the sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus as having a statue of Apollo with his foot on a mouse created by the sculptor Scopas of Paros (c. 395 – c. 350 BC), while the
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
scholar Aelian (c. AD 175 – c. 235) related that mice were kept at public expense in the sanctuary and nested beneath the altar. The extensive remains of the
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
temple can now be seen on the northern outskirts of the modern village of Gülpınar. The most recent Turkish excavations indicate that the Hellenistic temple was constructed c. 150–125 BC, and therefore at about the same time that the main festival of Alexandreia Troas changed from being the (''Pythia en Troadi'', 'the Pythia in the Troad') to the (''Sminthia'', 'the Sminthia'). The cult spread to the island of Rhodes, where a month was named (''Sminthios'') and a festival known as the Sminthia was held which the scholar Philomnestus discussed in ''On the Sminthia at Rhodes''.


Gallery

File:Apollo Smintheion 1.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion 2.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion 3.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion 4.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion 5.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion 6.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion7.jpg, File:Apollo Smintheion 8.jpg,


History


Archaic and Classical

Hamaxitus is believed to have first been settled by
Mytilenaeans Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...
in the 8th or 7th centuries BC; however, insufficient excavation has been done at the site to prove this definitively. It was one of the Actaean cities in the Troad which Athens took from
Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...
following the end of the
Mytilenean revolt The Mytilenean revolt was an incident in the Peloponnesian War in which the city of Mytilene attempted to unify the island of Lesbos under its control and revolt from the Athenian Empire. In 428 BC, the Mytilenean government planned a rebellion ...
in 427 BC and appears in tribute assessments for 425/4 and 422/1 BC. In 425/4 BC it had an assessment of 4 talents, a relatively high figure compared to other cities in the Troad; a large part of this wealth would have been derived from the salt pans at nearby Tragasai, which records from the Ottoman period indicate could be highly productive. A fragment of the so-called Standards Decree, which dates to the 420s BC and imposed the use of Athenian weights, measures, and coins on members of the Delian League, was found at the nearby village of Gülpınar. Following the defeat of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 403 BC, Hamaxitus enjoyed a brief period of freedom from outside interference. In 399 BC it was forcibly re-incorporated into the Persian Empire before being freed once more by the
Spartan Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...
Dercylidas Dercylidas (Greek: Δερκυλίδας) was a Spartan commander during the 5th and 4th century BC. For his cunning and inventiveness, he was nicknamed Sisyphus. In 411 BC he was appointed harmost at Abydos. In 399 BC, he was advised by Antisth ...
in 398 BC. In the 4th century BC Hamaxitus began minting its own coinage, which depicted a head of
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
on the
obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, '' ...
, and either a lyre (a symbol of Apollo) with the legend (see above) on the reverse. This imagery was a reference to the famous sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus in the territory of Hamaxitus, and examples of the coinage have been found widely distributed across the Troad. Apart from the salt pans at Tragasai, Hamaxitus was also enriched by its excellent harbour in this period. Finds of Chian and
Thasian Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate re ...
wine amphorae from this period at Beşiktepe indicate Hamaxitus' involvement in Aegean trade, while an inscription dating to the mid-4th century BC honours a merchant from
Cius Cius (; grc-gre, Kίος or Κῖος ''Kios''), later renamed Prusias on the Sea (; la, Prusias ad Mare) after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis (now known as the Sea of Marmara), in Bithynia and i ...
in
Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, ...
with the right to import and export goods from Hamaxitus tax-free by both land and sea.


Hellenistic and Roman

In c. 310 BC
Antigonus Monophthalmus Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( grc-gre, Ἀντίγονος Μονόφθαλμος , 'the One-Eyed'; 382 – 301 BC), son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian Greek nobleman, general, satrap, and king. During the first half of his life he serve ...
, one of
Alexander's Alexander's is a real estate investment trust that owns 7 properties in New York metropolitan area, including 731 Lexington Avenue, the headquarters of Bloomberg L.P. It is controlled by Vornado Realty Trust. It was founded by George Farkas an ...
Successors, created the new city of Antigoneia Troas by synoecizing several communities in the Troad. Scholars are divided as to whether Hamaxitus was synoecized immediately or at a later date, but the most recent research (based on a reappraisal of the
numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...
, epigraphic, and
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
evidence) suggests that Hamaxitus was not synoecized until c. 188 - c. 171 BC. In the early
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
period, Hamaxitus continued to promote its link with Apollo Smintheus, introducing a second and more elaborate series of coins advertising its link with the shrine. As the popularity of the cult of Apollo Smintheus grew in the Hellenistic period (see above), the convenient proximity of its port to the god's shrine meant Hamaxitus benefited from an increasing number of pilgrims passing through the city's harbour. The continuing profitability of the salt pans at Tragasai is clear from King Lysimachus' attempt to tax them c. 301-281 BC, while the importance of this income to Hamaxitus is indicated by their strident (and successful) lobbying of Lysimachus for tax exemption on the salt pans. In the last decade of the 4th century BC we hear of Hamaxitus honouring a friend of
Antigonus Monophthalmus Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( grc-gre, Ἀντίγονος Μονόφθαλμος , 'the One-Eyed'; 382 – 301 BC), son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian Greek nobleman, general, satrap, and king. During the first half of his life he serve ...
, Nicomedes of Kos, and c. 230-220 BC it appeared along the route of the Delphic ''thearodokoi''. The settlement at Hamaxitus appears to have survived at least until the early Roman period following its synoecism with Alexandreia Troas (the city had been renamed from Antigoneia Troas following the death of Antigonus at the
Battle of Ipsus The Battle of Ipsus ( grc, Ἱψός) was fought between some of the Diadochi (the successors of Alexander the Great) in 301 BC near the town of Ipsus in Phrygia. Antigonus I Monophthalmus, the Macedonian ruler of large parts of Asia, and his ...
in 301 BC). The fame of Apollo Smintheus only increased following the synoecism, which rebuilt the temple, created a new festival in the god's honour, and featured Apollo Smintheus on its coins until the mid-3rd century AD. The Smintheum continued to appear on Roman and
early mediaeval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
itineraries such as the '' Tabula Peutingeriana'' (4th or 5th century) and the '' Ravenna Cosmography'' (7th or 8th century). It is therefore likely that the port at Beşiktepe was still used by pilgrims, even if the settlement of Hamaxitus had long since declined.Bresson (2007) 156.


References


Bibliography

* W. W. Goodwin, ''Greek Grammar'' Rev. ed. (London, 1894). * V. R. Grace, 'Scopas in Chryse' '' JHS'' 52 (1932) 228–232. * L. Robert, 'Villes de Carie et d'Ionie dans la liste des théorodoques de Delphes' ''BCH'' 70 (1946) 506–23. * P. Chantraine, ''Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots'', 4 vols. (Paris, 1968–80) * J. M. Cook, ''The Troad: An Archaeological and Topographical Study'' (Oxford, 1973) 231–5. * L. Robert, 'Documents d'Asie Mineure' ''BCH'' 106 (1982) 309–78. * J. M. Cook, 'Cities in and around the Troad' ''ABSA'' 83 (1988) 7-19. * C. Dougherty, 'Archaic Greek foundation poetry: questions of genre and occasion' '' JHS'' 114 (1994) 35–46. * M. Ricl, ''The Inscriptions of Alexandreia Troas'' (Bonn, 1997) 196–201. * C. Özgünel, ''Smintheion, Troas’ta Kutsal bir Alan'' (Ankara, 2001). * O. Hekster, 'Of mice and emperors: a note on Aelian ''De natura animalium'' 6.40' '' CP'' 97.4 (2002) 365–70. * C. Carusi, ''Isole e Peree in Asia Minore'' (Pisa, 2003) 34–5. * S. Mitchell, 'Hamaxitus' in M. H. Hansen and T. H. Nielsen (eds), ''An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis'' (Oxford, 2004) no. 778. * M. Finkelberg, ''Greeks and Pre-Greeks: Aegean Prehistory and Greek Heroic Tradition'' (Cambridge, 2005). * A. Bresson, ‘Hamaxitos en Troade’ in J. Dalaison (ed), ''Espaces et pouvoirs dans l’Antqiuité de l’Anatolie à la Gaule. Hommages à Bernard Rémy'' (Grenoble, 2007) 139–58.


External links


Smintheum
at ''Livius.org'' {{Authority control Former populated places in Turkey Members of the Delian League Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Greek city-states Populated places in ancient Troad Aeolian colonies Ayvacık District History of Çanakkale Province