Ἄβυδος(in Ancient Greek) | |
 Macedonian goldstater, Abydos mint. 323–317 or 297 BC. | |
  Abydos Shown within Marmara | |
| Location | Çanakkale,Çanakkale Province,Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Mysia |
| Coordinates | 40°11′43″N26°24′18″E / 40.19528°N 26.40500°E /40.19528; 26.40500 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 670 BC[1] |
| Abandoned | c. 1304-1310/1318[2] |
| Site notes | |
| Public access | Restricted |
Abydos (Ancient Greek:Ἄβυδος,Latin:Abydus) was an ancient city and bishopric inMysia.[nb 1] It was located at theNara Burnu promontory on the Asian coast of theHellespont (the straits of Dardanelles), opposite the ancient city ofSestos, and near the city ofÇanakkale inTurkey. Abydos was founded inc. 670 BC at the most narrow point in the straits,[1] and thus was one of the main crossing points between Europe and Asia, until its replacement by the crossing betweenLampsacus andKallipolis in the 13th century,[5] and the abandonment of Abydos in the early 14th century.[2]
InGreek mythology, Abydos is presented in the myth ofHero and Leander as the home of Leander.[6] The city is also mentioned inRodanthe and Dosikles, a novel written byTheodore Prodromos, a 12th-century writer, in which Dosikles kidnaps Rodanthe at Abydos.[7]
In 1675, the site of Abydos was first identified, and was subsequently visited by numerous classicists and travellers, such asRobert Wood,Richard Chandler, andLord Byron.[8] The city's acropolis is known in Turkish as Mal Tepe.[9]
Following the city's abandonment, the ruins of Abydos were scavenged for building materials from the 14th to the 19th century,[10] and remains of walls and buildings continued to be reported until at least the 19th century, however, little remains and the area was declared a restricted military zone in the early 20th century, thus little to no excavation has taken place.[8][11]
Abydos is mentioned in theIliad as aTrojan ally,[12] and, according toStrabo, was occupied byBebryces and laterThracians after theTrojan War.[13] It has been suggested that the city was originally aPhoenician colony as there was a temple ofAphrodite Porne (Aphrodite the Harlot) within Abydos.[14][15] Abydos was settled byMilesian colonists contemporaneously with the foundation of the cities ofPriapos andProkonnesos inc. 670 BC.[1] Strabo related thatGyges, King ofLydia, granted his consent to the Milesians to settle Abydos;[9] it is argued that this was carried out by Milesian mercenaries to act as a garrison to prevent Thracian raids into Asia Minor.[16] The city became a thriving centre for tuna exportation as a result of the high yield of tuna in the Hellespont.[17]
Abydos was ruled by Daphnis, a pro-Persiantyrant, in the 520s BC,[18] but was occupied by thePersian Empire in 514.[12]Darius I destroyed the city following hisScythian campaign in 512.[18] Abydos participated in theIonian Revolt in the early 5th century BC,[4] however, the city returned briefly to Persian control as, in 480, at the onset of theSecond Persian invasion of Greece,Xerxes I and the Persian army passed through Abydos on their march to Greece crossing the Hellespont onXerxes' Pontoon Bridges.[12] After the failed Persian invasion, Abydos became a member of theAthenian-ledDelian League,[12] and was part of theHellespontine district.[18] Ostensibly an ally, Abydos was hostile to Athens throughout this time,[9] and contributed aphoros of 4-6talents.[4]Xenophon documented that Abydos possessed gold mines at Astyra or Kremaste at the time of his writing.[9]
During theSecond Peloponnesian War, aSpartan expedition led byDercylidas arrived at Abydos in early May 411 BC and successfully convinced the city to defect from the Delian League and fight against Athens,[19] at which time he was madeharmost (commander/governor) of Abydos.[20] A Spartan fleet wasdefeated by Athens at Abydos in the autumn of 411 BC.[21] Abydos was attacked by the Athenians in the winter of 409/408 BC, but was repelled by a Persian force led byPharnabazus,satrap (governor) ofHellespontine Phrygia.[22] Dercylidas held the office of harmost of Abydos until at leastc. 407.[20] According toAristotle, Abydos had anoligarchic constitution at this time.[18] At the beginning of theCorinthian War in 394 BC,Agesilaus II, King of Sparta, passed through Abydos into Thrace.[23] Abydos remained an ally of Sparta throughout the war and Dercylidas served as harmost of the city from 394 until he was replaced byAnaxibius inc. 390; the latter was killed in an ambush near Abydos by the Athenian generalIphicrates inc. 389/388.[23] At the conclusion of the Corinthian War, under the terms of thePeace of Antalcidas in 387 BC, Abydos was annexed to the Persian Empire.[9] Within the Persian Empire, Abydos was administered as part of the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia,[24] and was ruled by the tyrantPhiliscus in 368.[25][26] Inc. 360 BC, the city came under the control of the tyrant Iphiades.[18]
Abydos remained under Persian control until it was seized by aMacedonian army led byParmenion, a general ofPhilip II, in the spring of 336 BC.[27] In 335, whilst Parmenion besieged the city ofPitane, Abydos was besieged by a Persian army led byMemnon of Rhodes, forcing Parmenion to abandon his siege of Pitane and march north to relieve Abydos.[28] Alexander ferried across from Sestos to Abydos in 334 and travelled south to the city of Troy, after which he returned to Abydos.[27] The following day, Alexander left Abydos and led his army north toPercote.[27] Alexander later established a royal mint at Abydos, as well as at other cities inAsia Minor.[29]
After the death ofAlexander the Great in 323 BC, Abydos, as part of the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, came under the control ofLeonnatus as a result of thePartition of Babylon.[30] At thePartition of Triparadisus in 321 BC,Arrhidaeus succeeded Leonnatus as satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia.[31]
In 302, during theFourth War of the Diadochi,Lysimachus, King of Thrace, crossed over into Asia Minor and invaded the kingdom ofAntigonus I.[32] Unlike the neighbouring cities ofParium and Lampsacus which surrendered, Abydos resisted Lysimachus and was besieged.[32] Lysimachus was forced to abandon the siege, however, after the arrival of a relief force sent byDemetrius, son of King Antigonus I.[32] According toPolybius, by the third century BC, the neighbouring city ofArisbe had become subordinate to Abydos.[33] The city ofDardanus also came under the control of Abydos at some point in the Hellenistic period.[34] Abydos became part of theSeleucid Empire after 281 BC.[4] The city was conquered byPtolemy III Euergetes, King of Egypt, in 245 BC,[35] and remained under Ptolemaic control until at least 241, as Abydos had become part of theKingdom of Pergamon by c. 200 BC.[36]
During theSecond Macedonian War, Abydos was besieged byPhilip V, King of Macedonia, in 200 BC,[37] during which many of its citizens chose to commit suicide rather than surrender.[38]Marcus Aemilius Lepidus met with Philip V during the siege to deliver an ultimatum on behalf of theRoman senate.[39] Ultimately, the city was forced to surrender to Philip V due to a lack of reinforcements.[37] The Macedonian occupation ended after the Peace of Flamininus at the end of the war in 196 BC.[37] At this time, Abydos was substantially depopulated and partially ruined as a result of the Macedonian occupation.[40]
In the spring of 196 BC, Abydos was seized byAntiochus III,Megas Basileus of the Seleucid Empire,[41] who refortified the city in 192/191 BC.[23] Antiochus III later withdrew from Abydos during theRoman-Seleucid War, thus allowing for the transportation of the Roman army into Asia Minor by October 190 BC.[42] Dardanus was subsequently liberated from Abydene control,[34] and theTreaty of Apamea of 188 BC returned Abydos to the Kingdom of Pergamon.[43] Agymnasium was active at Abydos in the 2nd century BC.[44]
Attalus III, King of Pergamon, bequeathed his kingdom to Rome upon his death in 133 BC, and thus Abydos became part of theprovince of Asia.[45] The gold mines of Abydos at Astyra or Kremaste were near exhaustion at the time was Strabo was writing.[9] The city was counted amongst thetelonia (custom houses) of the province of Asia in thelex portorii Asiae of 62 AD,[46] and formed part of theconventus iuridicusAdramytteum.[47] Abydos is mentioned in theTabula Peutingeriana andAntonine Itinerary.[48] The mint of Abydos ceased to function in the mid-3rd century AD.[47]
It is believed that Abydos, with Sestos and Lampsacus, is referred to as one of the "three large capital cities" of the Roman Empire inWeilüe, a 3rd-century AD Chinese text.[49] The city was the centre for customs collection at the southern entrance of theSea of Marmara,[50] and was administered by akomes ton Stenon (count of the Straits) or anarchon from the 3rd century to the 5th century AD.[51]
Pope Martin I rested at Abydos in the summer of 653 whilst en route to Constantinople.[52] As a result of the administrative reforms of the 7th century, Abydos came to be administered as part of thetheme ofOpsikion.[53] The office ofkommerkiarios of Abydos is first attested in the mid-7th century, and was later sometimes combined with the office ofparaphylax, the military governor of the fort, introduced in the 8th century, at which time the office ofkomes ton stenon is last mentioned.[54]
After the 7th century AD, Abydos became a major seaport.[55]Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik, during hiscampaign againstConstantinople, crossed over into Thrace at Abydos in July 717.[56] The office ofarchon at Abydos was restored in the late 8th century and endured until the early 9th century.[51] In 801, EmpressIrene reduced commercial tariffs collected at Abydos.[50] EmperorNikephoros I, Irene's successor, introduced a tax on slaves purchased beyond the city.[57] The city later also became part of thetheme of the Aegean Sea and was the seat of atourmarches.[54]
Abydos was sacked by anArab fleet led byLeo of Tripoli in 904 AD whilst en route to Constantinople.[58] Therevolt ofBardas Phokas was defeated by EmperorBasil II at Abydos in 989 AD.[59] In 992, theVenetians were granted reduced commercial tariffs at Abydos as a special privilege.[50] In the early 11th century, Abydos became the seat of a separate command and the office ofstrategos (governor) of Abydos is first mentioned in 1004 with authority over the northern shore of the Hellespont and the islands of the Sea of Marmara.[54]
In 1024, aRus'raid led by a certain Chrysocheir defeated the local commander at Abydos and proceeded to travel south through the Hellespont.[60] Following theBattle of Manzikert, Abydos was seized by theSeljuk Turks, but was recovered in 1086 AD,[61] in which year Leo Kephalas was appointedkatepano of Abydos.[62] Abydos' population likely increased at this time as a result of the arrival of refugees from northwestern Anatolia who had fled the advance of the Turks.[2] In 1092/1093, the city was attacked byTzachas, a Turkish pirate.[63] EmperorManuel I Komnenos repaired Abydos' fortifications in the late 12th century.[54]
By the 13th century AD, the crossing from Lampsacus toKallipolis had become more common and largely replaced the crossing from Abydos to Sestos.[5] During theFourth Crusade, in 1204, the Venetians seized Abydos,[50] and, following theSack of Constantinople and the formation of theLatin Empire later that year,Emperor Baldwin granted the land between Abydos and Adramyttium to his brotherHenry of Flanders.[64] Henry of Flanders passed through Abydos on 11 November 1204 and continued his march to Adramyttium.[65] Abydos was seized by theEmpire of Nicaea, a successor state of the Eastern Roman Empire, during its offensive in 1206–1207, but was reconquered by the Latin Empire in 1212–1213.[66] The city was later recovered by EmperorJohn III Vatatzes.[50] Abydos declined in the 13th century, and was eventually abandoned between 1304 and 1310/1318 due to the threat of Turkish tribes and disintegration of Roman control over the region.[2]
Thebishopric of Abydus appears in all theNotitiae Episcopatuum of thePatriarchate of Constantinople from the mid-7th century until the time ofAndronikos III Palaiologos (1341), first as asuffragan ofCyzicus and then from 1084 as ametropolitan see without suffragans. The earliest bishop mentioned in extant documents is Marcian, who signed the joint letter of the bishops of Hellespontus to EmperorLeo I in 458, protesting about the murder ofProterius of Alexandria. A letter ofPeter the Fuller (471–488) mentions a bishop of Abydus called Pamphilus. Ammonius signed the decretal letter of the Council of Constantinople in 518 againstSeverus of Antioch and others. Isidore was at theThird Council of Constantinople (680–681), John at theTrullan Council (692), Theodore at theSecond Council of Nicaea (787). An unnamed bishop of Abydus was a counsellor of EmperorNikephoros II in 969.[67][68]
Seals attest Theodosius as bishop of Abydos in the 11th century,[69] and John as metropolitan bishop of Abydos in the 11/12th century.[70] Abydos remained a metropolitan see until the city fell to the Turks in the 14th century.[54] The diocese is currently atitular see of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Gerasimos Papadopoulos was titular Bishop of Abydos from 1962 until his death in 1995.[71]Simeon Kruzhkov was bishop of Abydos from May to September 1998.[72]Kyrillos Katerelos was consecrated bishop of Abydos in 2008.[73]
In 1222, during theLatin occupation, thepapal legateGiovanni Colonna united the dioceses of Abydos andMadytos and placed the see under direct Papal authority.[2] No longer a residentialbishopric, Abydus is today listed by theCatholic Church as a titular see.
Notes
Citations
Media related toAbydos (Hellespont) at Wikimedia Commons
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