Madytus or Madytos ( grc, Μάδυτος) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

city and port of

ancient Thrace The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

, 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. The city was a colony of the

Aeolians The Aeolians (; el, Αἰολεῖς) were one of the four major tribes in which Greeks divided themselves in the ancient period (along with the Achaeans, Dorians and Ionians).. Name Their name mythologically derives from Aeolus, the mythical a ...

from

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...

who, according to the ancient authors, founded also Sestos and Alopekonessos and other cities of 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 and Clazomenae. Archaeological evidence also supports Aeolian or possibly Athenian origin of colonists. Madytus is tied to

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

as it claimed to have the tomb of

Hecuba Hecuba (; also Hecabe; grc, Ἑκάβη, Hekábē, ) was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War. Description Hecuba was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "da ...

in its territory. Madytus is referred to by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

in relation to the

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...

, and by

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

as a base for the Athenian navy in 411. It was a member of the Delian League as attested by

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 ...

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 The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

period and the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. It was occupied by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century. The city continued to have a mainly Greek population until the 1920s when, after the Treaty of Lausanne and the exchange of population between Greece and Turkey, 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 censu ...

. Its site is located near the modern Eceabat in

European Turkey East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( tr, Doğu Trakya or simply ''Trakya''; el, Ανατολική Θράκη, ''Anatoliki Thraki''; bg, Източна Тракия, ''Iztochna Trakiya''), also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the pa ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

mentions a town in the same district with the name of

Madis Madis is an Estonian masculine given name. As of 1 January 2020, 2,635 men in Estonia bear the name Madis. It is the 53rd most popular male name in Estonia.Greek colonies in Thrace Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

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