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Κολοφών(in Ancient Greek) | |
 Colophon is just right of center | |
  Colophon Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | Değirmendere,İzmir Province,Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Ionia |
| Coordinates | 38°06′32″N27°08′30″E / 38.10889°N 27.14167°E /38.10889; 27.14167 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Cultures | Greek,Roman |
| Associated with | Xenophanes,Antimachus,Mimnermus,Hermesianax |
Colophon (/ˈkɒləˌfɒn,-fən/;[1]Ancient Greek:Κολοφών,romanized: Kolophṓn) was an ancient city inIonia. Founded around the end of the2nd millennium BC, it was likely one of the oldest of the twelve cities of theIonian League. It was located betweenLebedos (120stadia to the west) andEphesus (70 stadia to its south). Its ruins are south of the town Değirmendere in theMenderes district ofİzmir Province,Turkey.
The city's name comes from the word κολοφών, "summit", (which is also the origin of the bibliographic term "colophon", in the metaphorical sense of a 'crowning touch',) as it was sited along a ridgeline. The termcolophony forrosin comes from the termcolophonia resina (Ancient Greek:Κολοφωνία ῥητίνηKolophōnia rhētinē),[2][3] resin from the pine trees of Colophon, which was highly valued for increasing friction of the bow hairs of stringed musical instruments.[4]
According toApollodorus andProclus, the mythical seerCalchas died at Colophon after the end of theTrojan War.Strabo namesClarus as the place of his death, which would later be a cult center in the territory of Colophon. An oracle had it that he would die when he would meet a better seer than himself. As Calchas and the other heroes on their way home from Troy came upon the seerMopsus in Colophon, the two competed in their mantic qualities. Calchas couldn't equal Mopsus' skills as a seer, being a son ofApollo andManto, so he died.
In Greek antiquityDamasichthon andPromethus, two sons ofCodrus,King of Athens, established a colony there. (Promethus later killed Damasichthon; he then escaped toNaxos, and died there, but his corpse was brought back to Colophon by Damasichthon's sons, and subsequently lay near Colophon). It was the birthplace of the philosopherXenophanes and the poetsAntimachus andMimnermus.
Colophon was the strongest of the Ionian cities and renowned both for its cavalry and for the inhabitants' luxurious lifestyle, untilGyges of Lydia conquered it in the 7th century BC. Colophon then went into decline and was eclipsed by neighbouringEphesus and by the rising naval power of Ionia,Miletus.
After the death ofAlexander the Great,Perdiccas expelled the Athenian settlers onSamos to Colophon, including the family ofEpicurus, who joined them there after completing his military service.
In the 3rd century BC, it was destroyed byLysimachus—aMacedonian officer, one of the successors (Diadochi) of Alexander the Great, later a king (306 BC) inThrace andAsia Minor, during the same era when he nearly destroyed (and did depopulate by forced expulsion) the neighboring Ionian League city ofLebedos.
Notium served as the port, and in the neighbourhood was the village ofClarus, with its famous temple and oracle ofApollo Clarius, whereCalchas vied withMopsus in divinatory science.
InRoman times, afterLysimachus' conquest, Colophon failed to recover (unlikeLebedos) and lost its importance; actually, the name was transferred to the site of the port village ofNotium, and the latter name disappeared between thePeloponnesian War and the time ofCicero (late 5th century BC to 1st century BC).
Additionally, the city, as a major location on the Ionic mainland, was cited as a possible home or birthplace forHomer. In hisTrue History,Lucian lists it as a possible birthplace along with the island ofKhios and the city ofSmyrna, though Lucian's Homer claims to be fromBabylon.
While tradition gave as the firstbishops of thebishopric of ColophonSosthenes (Acts 18:17 and1 Corinthians 1:1) andTychicus (Titus 3:12), the only ones historically documented are Eulalius or Euthalius, who was at theFirst Council of Ephesus in 431, and Alexander who was represented at theCouncil of Chalcedon in 451, without attending it personally.[5][6][7]
Colophon continued to be listed inNotitiae Episcopatuum as late as the 12th or 13th century, as a suffragan of Ephesus, capital of theRoman province ofAsia.[8]
No longer a residential bishopric, Colophon is today listed by theCatholic Church as atitular see.[9]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Pétridès, Sophron (1913). "Colophon". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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