Madytus or Madytos ( grc, Μάδυτος) was a Greek city and port of ancient Thrace, located in the region of the

Thracian Chersonesos The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

, nearly opposite to

Abydos Abydos may refer to: *Abydos, a progressive metal side project of German singer Andy Kuntz * Abydos (Hellespont), an ancient city in Mysia, Asia Minor * Abydos (''Stargate''), name of a fictional planet in the '' Stargate'' science fiction universe ...

. The city was a colony of the Aeolians from Lesbos who, according to the ancient authors, founded also

Sestos Sestos ( el, Σηστός, la, Sestus) was an ancient city in Thrace. It was located at the Thracian Chersonese peninsula on the European coast of the Hellespont, opposite the ancient city of Abydos, and near the town of Eceabat in Turkey. In ...

and Alopekonessos and other cities of the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

. This was part of the Greek colonization movement of the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Later more colonists came from the Greek Ionian cities of

Miletus Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...

and

Clazomenae Klazomenai ( grc, Κλαζομεναί) or Clazomenae was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia and a member of the Ionian League. It was one of the first cities to issue silver coinage. Its ruins are now located in the modern town Urla n ...

. Archaeological evidence also supports Aeolian or possibly Athenian origin of colonists. Madytus is tied to Greek mythology as it claimed to have the tomb of Hecuba in its territory. Madytus is referred to by Herodotus in relation to the Persian Wars, and by Xenophon as a base for the Athenian navy in 411. It was a member 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 ...

as attested by Athenian tribute registries between 445/4 and 421/0 BC. Bronze coins dated to the fourth century BC inscribed ΜΑΔΥ have been preserved. Madytus was an active commercial port during the Byzantine period and the Middle Ages. It was occupied by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in the 15th century. The city continued to have a mainly Greek population until the 1920s when, after the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...

and the

exchange of population between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...

, most of the Greeks moved to Greece, where they founded the town of

Nea Madytos Nea Madytos ( el, Νέα Μάδυτος) is a village and a community of the Volvi municipality. Before the 2011 local government reform it was part of the municipality of Madytos, of which it was a municipal district and the seat. The 2011 census ...

. Its site is located near the modern

Eceabat Eceabat, formerly Maydos (Madytos, el, Μάδυτος), is a small town and district of Çanakkale province in the Marmara region of Turkey, located on the eastern shore of the Gelibolu Peninsula, on the Dardanelles Strait. According to the 2010 ...

in European Turkey. Ptolemy mentions a town in the same district with the name of Madis, which some identify with Madytus, but which seems to have been situated more inland.

References

Sources

* {{coords, 40.1854, N, 26.3564, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/32360 Greek colonies in the Thracian Chersonese Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Populated places in ancient Thrace Former populated places in Turkey Members of the Delian League Aeolian colonies Locations in Greek mythology History of Çanakkale Province

See also

References

Sources