Πύγελα or Φύγελα | |
 Coins issued by Pygela ca. 350-300 BC | |
 Admiralty Chart No 1546 Samos Strait to Mandelyah Gulf, Published 1898. The ruins of Pygela are noted near the top of the chart. | |
| Region | Ionia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°51′44″N27°15′49″E / 37.862209°N 27.263729°E /37.862209; 27.263729 |
| Type | Different at different periods |
| Part of | Municipal unit ofMelia Municipal unit ofSamos Stand-alonepolis Polis withsympoliteia (double citizenship) withMiletos Municipal unit ofEphesos |
Pygela (Ancient Greek:Πύγελα) orPhygela (Φύγελα)[1] was a small town ofancient Ionia, on the coast of theCaystrian Bay, a little to the south ofEphesus. It is located nearKuşadası,Asiatic Turkey.[2][3] The ruins are right down on Pygela Plaji, "Pygela Beach." They are obviously partly drowned.
According toGreek mythology, it was said to have been founded byAgamemnon, and to have been peopled with the remnants of his army; it contained a temple ofArtemis Munychia.[4][5][6][7][8][9]Dioscorides commends the wine of this town.[10] It was apolis (city-state) and a member of theDelian League.[11] Silver and bronze coins dated to the 4th century BCE bearing the legends «ΦΥΓΑΛΕΩΝ» or «ΦΥΓ» are attributed to the town.[11]
The ancient authors provided it with a folk-etymology based on its obvious resemblance to Greek backside. It is said to have taken its name because some of the men of Agamemnon remained there after they had had a disease of the buttocks (πυγαί).[12]Harpocration wrote that according to Theopompos it took its name when some of the men with Agamemnon stayed there on account of a disease to do with their buttocks (pygai, πυγαί).[13]Suda wrote the same about the name of the place.[14]
The folk etymology is, of course, ridiculous, as it was always meant to be, in the tradition of naming subject places and peoples with derogatoryexonyms. The settlement was never a part of theIonian League, even though it was in Ionia. As it was part of the spoils of theMeliac War, chances are it wasCarian. It does have a bronze-age history (see below) under theHittite name of Piggaya, which, if too early for the Carian language, at least was Anatolian, probably Luwian, as the place then would have been inArzawa.
Strabo wrote that Demetrius was speaking of the existence ofAmazons near Pygela.[15]
In the "Indictment ofMadduwatta", it is mentioned, under the Hittite namePiggaya, as being allied to theAhhiyawa kingAttarissiya. The "Indictment" is dated to the early-fourteenth century BC in the Reign ofArnuwanda I, and Attarissiya is popularly identified withAtreus, which would mean that the city predates a founding by Agamemnon and the traditional date of the Trojan war.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Pygela".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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