 City gates at Sillyon | |
  Sillyon Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | Antalya Province,Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Pamphylia |
| Coordinates | 36°59′33″N30°59′23″E / 36.99250°N 30.98972°E /36.99250; 30.98972 |
| Type | Settlement |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
Sillyon (Greek:Σύλλιον),Stephanus of Byzantium called it Σύλειον, Σύλαιον, Σύλλον and Σίλονον[1] inByzantine timesSyllaeum orSyllaion (Συλλαῖον), was an important fortress and city nearAttaleia inPamphylia, on the southern coast of modernTurkey. The nativeGreco-Pamphylian form wasSelywiys, possibly deriving from the originalHittiteSallawassi. Its modern Turkish names are Yanköy Hisarı or Asar Köy.[2]
Throughout Antiquity, the city was relatively unimportant. According to one legend, the city was founded as a colony fromArgos, while another holds that it was founded, along withSide andAspendos, by the seersMopsos,Calchas andAmphilochus after theTrojan War.[3] The city is first mentioned in c. 500 BC byPseudo-Scylax (polis Sylleion). From 469 BC, the city (as Sillyon) became part of theAthenian-ledDelian League. It is mentioned in the Athenian tribute lists in c. 450 BC and again in 425 BC, and then disappears again from the historical record until 333 BC, whenAlexander the Great is said to have unsuccessfully besieged it. According toArrian (Anabasis Alexandri I. 26), the site (recorded as Syllion) was well-fortified and had a strong garrison of mercenaries and "native barbarians", so that Alexander, pressed for time, had to abandon the siege after the first attempt at storming it failed.[3]
The city was extensively rebuilt under theSeleucids, especially its theatre. In later times, when most of westernAsia Minor fell to theAttalid kingdom, Sillyon remained afree city by a decision of theRoman Senate.[3]
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| O: radiate bust ofGallienus confronting bust ofSalonina | R:Tyche holdingrudder andcornucopia CIΛΛVEΩN |
| Bronzecoin struck byGallienus in Sillyon 254-268 AD. | |
The city has an attested continuous tradition of minting its own coins from the early 3rd century BC up to the reign of theRoman emperorAurelian in the 270s.[2] Silvertetradrachms of the Alexandrian andLysimachian types were minted between 281 and 190 BC, but other than that, the city's coinage is in bronze. 3rd-century BC coins feature a bearded head or a standing figure, possibly identifiable withApollo, or lightning and the inscription ΣΕΛΥИΙΥΣ (the native Pamphylian name, whereИ=/w/). Coinage under Roman suzerainty featured the same motifs, but with the inscriptionhellenized to ϹΙΛΛΥΕΩΝ ("of the Sillyeans").[2]Epiphania was a city inCilicia Secunda (Cilicia Trachea), inAnatolia.
Under theByzantine Empire, the city rose to relative prominence. It is mentioned as the site of the destruction of an Arab fleet by storm in late 677 or 678, following theunsuccessful Arab Siege of Constantinople.[4] As one of the major fortified sites of the area, it became the seat of an imperial representative (ek prosōpou), complementing thestratēgos of thenaval theme of theKibyrrhaiotai.[4] Syllaeum was also located at the start of the greatpublic road that linked the southern coast, viaAmorium andNicaea, withBithynia and the capitalConstantinople. In this position, it began to eclipse the traditional local metropolis ofPerge, and sometime between 787 and 815, the local bishop's seat was transferred to Syllaeum.[4] Together with the wider area of Pamphylia, the city fell to theSeljuks in 1207.
The ruins of Sillyon/Syllaion date from theHellenistic,Roman,Byzantine and partlySeljuk eras. Among these are remains of city gates, astadium, anamphitheatre and anodeon (some of which have tumbled because of a landslide), atemple, acistern and agymnasium. Much of it is threatened by landslide, since the city is located atop a rocky plateau.[3]
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