Bybassus orBybassos orBubassus orBubassos (Ancient Greek:Βυβασσός) was a town inancient Caria.Ephorus, according toStephanus of Byzantium, wroteBybasstum orBybasston (Βύβασστον) andBybastium orBybastion (Βυβάστιον); andDiodorus means the same place, when he calls itBubastus of the Chersonesus.[1]Pliny the Elder has a "regio Bubassus;" and he adds, "there was a townAcanthus, otherwise called Dulopolis." He places the "regio Bubassus" next to Triopia, the district ofTriopium.[2] Finally,Pomponius Mela mentions aBubassius Sinus.[3] TheBubassia Chersonesus is mentioned byHerodotus.[4]
Herodotus tells a story of theCnidians attempting to cut a canal through a narrow neck of land for the purpose of insulating their peninsula, and protecting themselves against thePersians; they were at the work whileHarpagus was conqueringIonia. The isthmus where they made the attempt was fivestadia wide, and rocky. This place cannot be the isthmus which connects the mainland with the high peninsula, once called Cape Krio (nowCape Deveboynu, for it is sandy, andStrabo says that Cape Krio was once an island, but in his time was connected with the land by a causeway.[5] Besides this, the chief part of the city of Cnidus was on the mainland; though we cannot be sure that this was so in the time of Harpagus. The passage in Herodotus is somewhat obscure, but mainly because it is ill pointed. His description is in his usually diffuse, hardly grammatical, form.
Herodotus says, "Both other Hellenes inhabit this country (Caria) andLacedaemonian colonists, Cnidians, their territory being turned to the sea (the name is Triopium), and commencing from the Chersonesus Bubassiae, and all the Cnidia being surrounded by the sea, except a small part (for on the north it is bounded by theGulf Ceramicus, and on the south by the sea in the direction ofSyme andRhodus; now at this small part, being about five stadia, the Cnidians were working to dig a canal."[4] It is clear, then, that he means a narrow neck some distance east of the town of Cnidus.
Modern scholars identify the Bubassius Sinus withHisarönü Bay, and Bubassus in the district ofHisarönü.[6] At least on scholar places the site of the town in the neighborhood of Bozburun in the town of Hisarönü,[7] others treat the site of the town as unlocated.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Bubassis".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
36°48′46″N28°07′49″E / 36.81278°N 28.13028°E /36.81278; 28.13028
 | This article about a location inancient Caria is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |