Amos (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: Ἄμος, possibly from ἄμμος "sandy") was a settlement ('' dēmē'') of

ancient Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined t ...

, located near the modern town of

Turunç Turunç is a Turkish holiday resort situated in the Marmaris district of Muğla Province, Turkey. It is located south of Marmaris on the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by the Taurus Mountains. The area is a former fishing village, and has been po ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

History

Amos was located in the

Rhodian Peraia The Rhodian Peraea or Peraia ( grc, ἡ τῶν Ῥοδίων περαία, 3=''peraia'' of the Rhodians) was the name for the southern coast of the region of Caria in western Asia Minor during the 5th–1st centuries BC, when the area was controll ...

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionians, Ionian and Dorians, Dorian Greeks colonized the west of i ...

on the Mediterranean coast. It was probably connected with Lindos which is supported by epigraphic finds from that city.P. M. Fraser & G. E. Bean, ''The Rhodian Peraea and Islands'', London 1954. Its connection to the ''

poleis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'' of Rhodes is further attested by the use of the Doric dialect in the inscriptions found at the settlement.Richard Stillwell ''et al.'' eds. (1976)
''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites''.
/ref> Amos was in the 5th century incorporated in 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 ...

together with the other Rhodian areas, and is noted in the Athenian tributes lists as belonging to the community of the ''kherronēsioi'' ("the people of the peninsula"). The Loryma peninsula is the most probable candidate for this peninsula; the other members of this community are unknown. At some point during this period, Amos and the other two members of the ''kherronēsioi'' formed an economic union (συντέλεια, ''synteleia'') in order to pay their tributes. The members of this ''synteleia'' must have incorporated the majority of the Loryma peninsula. It is known from a set of three inscriptions ( SEGbr>14.68314.68414.685
that Amos in ca. 200 B.C.E. had a board of '' hieromnamones'', "sacred rememberers" that were responsible for keeping and remembering legal agreements and other juridical proceedings.Michael Gagarin (2008
''Writing Greek law''
p.117. The inhabitants of the Rhodian Peraia, and thus Amos as well, were full Rhodian citizens. It seems however as the amians, being of Lindian descent, held no citizenship at Lindos. The inscriptions mentioned above indicate that the city (''ha

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

'', that is,

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

) had the right to evict tenants and charge fines, showing that the ''polis'' had strong interests in the area.

Remains

The remnants of ancient Amos is centered on the elongated hill of Asarcık at Hisarburnu ("fortress point"), just above the gulf of

Marmaris Marmaris () is a port city and tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast, located in Muğla Province, southwest Turkey, along the shoreline of the Turkish Riviera. Although Marmaris is known for its honey, its main source of income is internationa ...

. The city wall is made of coursed polygonal masonry dated to the

Hellenistic period 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 ...

, and is fairly well preserved on the north slope where walls and towers still stand 3–4 metres high. The wall on the south reach has almost disappeared due to erosion. Five towers are preserved, all of which are solid except for one. There is one gate in the northern wall, which is probably the main city gate. On the basis of the type of masonry used, the construction of the original wall has been dated to the 4th century B.C.E.A. W. McNicoll, ''Hellenistic fortifications from the Aegean to the Euphrates'', Oxford 1997.T. Saner, "Observations on the different types of masonry used in the city walls of Amos", ''RÉA'' 96, 1994, 273-284. Of the ''intra muros'' remains, the theatre is the most apparent. Of the three known

Greek theatre Ancient Greek theatre was a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, was its centre, where the theatre was ...

s of the Rhodian Peraia, the Amos theatre is the only one with preserved remnants of the '' skēnē'' and the

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. The approximate number of possible spectators is estimated to around 1300. G. E. Bean found in 1948 a fragmentary altar to

Dionysos 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 ...

in the area of the orchestra. On the top of the hill, just west of the theatre, several fragments of an Hellenistic circular or semi-circular statue base is to be seen.A. Maiuri, 'Viaggio di esplorazione in Caria', ''Annuario della Scuola archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni italiane in Oriente'', 4-5 (1921-1922, 415-419). Further to the west, close to the ramparts, are the foundations of a small temple ''in antis'' with a

pronaos A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

, 6.8 m wide and 13.8 m long. Inscriptions with a temple inventory found in the vicinity show that the temple was probably dedicated to

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= ...

Samnaios ("Apollo-of-the-hill"), a deity only known from this location. The

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

is located just outside the city proper, north of the city walls. Several rock-cut tombs are visible in the terrain, together with some inscriptions and fragments of monumental architecture.

References

{{Ancient settlements in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Archaeological sites in the Aegean Region Ruins in Turkey Marmaris District History of Muğla Province Populated places in ancient Caria