Greek:Κεβρήνη | |
  Cebrene Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Çanakkale Province |
| Coordinates | 39°44′39″N26°33′59″E / 39.74417°N 26.56639°E /39.74417; 26.56639 |
Cebrene (Ancient Greek:Κεβρήνη), also spelledCebren (Ancient Greek:Κεβρήν), was anancient Greek city in the middleSkamander valley in theTroad region ofAnatolia. According to some scholars, the city's name was changed toAntiocheia in the Troad (Ancient Greek:Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Τρωάδος) for a period during the 3rd century BC (see below). Its archaeological remains have been located on Çal Dağ in the forested foothills ofMount Ida (modern Kaz Dağı), approximately 7 km to the south of the course of the Skamander.[1] The site was first identified by the English amateur archaeologistFrank Calvert in 1860.[2]
The city was supodsedly named after the river-godCebren.[3]
The earliest Greek archaeological remains found at Cebren date to the mid-7th and early 6th century BC and were found together with indigenous pottery, suggesting that to begin with the city was a mixed Greco-Anatolian community.[4] Writing in the early 4th century BC,Xenophon implies that the population of Cebren ca. 400 BC still consisted of both Greek and Anatolian elements, indicating that the two ethnic groups co-existed long after the period ofGreek colonization.[5] Sources dating to the mid-4th century BC considered the city anAeolian Greek foundation, and the historianEphorus ofCyme claimed that its founders were in fact from his own city, although this statement needs to be treated with some caution, since Ephorus was notorious in antiquity for exaggerating his hometown's importance.[6] While we cannot ascertain the truth of Ephorus' statement, we can be sure that the early settlers were Aeolians, since a grave inscription for a citizen of Kebren written in theAeolic dialect has been found at nearbyGergis.[7]
In the 5th century BC Cebren was a member of theDelian League and is listed in the Hellespontine district paying a tribute to Athens of 3Talents from 454/3 down to 425/4, except in 450/49 when it only paid 8,700drachmas.[8] Following the defeat of Athens at the end of thePeloponnesian War in 404 BC, Cebren came under the control of Zenis, the tyrant ofDardanus, and his wife Mania who together controlled the Troad on behalf of the PersiansatrapPharnabazos. Cebren was captured by theSpartan commanderDercylidas in 399 BC, but soon after returned to Persian control.[9] In 360/59, the Greek mercenary commanderCharidemus briefly captured the city before being repelled by the Persian satrapArtabazos.[10] At some point in the 4th century BC Cebren produced coinage depicting a satrap's head as the obverse type, indicating the city's close relationship with its Persian overlords.[11] Cebren ceased to exist as an independent city ca. 310 whenAntigonus I Monophthalmus foundedAntigonia Troas (after 301 BC renamed Alexandria Troas) and included Cebren in thesynoecism.[12]
A rare series of bronze coins display the obverse and reverse types of Cebren (ram's head/head of Apollo), but bear the legendἈντιοχέων (Antiocheōn, '(coin of the) Antiocheis'). On the basis of these coins it has been argued, most notably by the French epigrapherLouis Robert, that Cebren was refounded byAntiochus I Soter as Antiocheia in the Troad following Antiochus' victory overLysimachus at theBattle of Corupedium in 281 BC, after which most of westernAsia Minor came under his control. Moreover, Robert noted that some of these coins bore the letters B and K and included a club beside the ram's head: since the club is the typical symbol of the coinage ofBirytis, an unlocated city in the Troad, Robert argued that these letters referred to Birytis and Kebren and were evidence of asynoecism orsympoliteia between the two communities which had produced the new foundation of Antiocheia in the Troad.[13] Robert's arguments have been repeatedly criticized by the archaeologistJohn Manuel Cook, who could discern no archaeological ornumismatic evidence for occupation in the Hellenistic period at the site of Çal Dağ.[14] Cook based these claims on only two days ofsurface survey at Çal Dağ, and as such definitive answers regarding the settlement history of the site in the 3rd century BC will have to await a full excavation.[15]
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