Dascylium,Dascyleium, orDaskyleion (Ancient Greek:Δασκύλιον, Δασκυλεῖον), also known asDascylus,[1] was a town inAnatolia some 30 kilometres (19 mi) inland from the coast of thePropontis, at modernErgili,Turkey. Its site was rediscovered in 1952 and has since been excavated.[2]
Excavations have shown that the site was inhabited in theBronze Age.
Phrygians settled there before 750 BC. It came under the control ofLydia. It was then said to be named afterDascylus, the father ofGyges.[2]
After theConquests of Cyrus the Great in 547 BC, Dascylium was chosen as the seat of the Persiansatrapy ofHellespontine Phrygia,[3] comprising lands of theTroad,Mysia andBithynia.[4]
Pharnabazus was satrap ofDarius III there, untilAlexander the Great appointedCalas, who was replaced byArrhidaeus in theTreaty of Triparadisus. According toStrabo, Hellespontine Phrygia andPhrygia Epictetus comprisedLesser Phrygia (Mysia). Others geographers arranged it differently.[5]
It was a member of theDelian League.[6]
WhenAlexander of Macedon invaded Asia in 334 BC, the first of the major battles by which he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire was fought at theGranicus river on his way to Dascylium fromAbydos on the coast.
Dascylium appears as aChristianbishopric in the mid-7th-centuryNotitia Episcopatuum ofPseudo-Epiphanius. It was asuffragan of themetropolitan see ofNicomedia, capital of theRoman province of Bithynia.
The first bishop of Dascylium whose name appears in an extant document is Ioannes, who took part in theThird Council of Constantinople in 680 and in theTrullan Council of 692. The priest Basilius acted as representative of an unnamed bishop of the see at theSecond Council of Nicaea in 787. Georgius was at theCouncil of Constantinople (869) and Germanus at thePhotianCouncil of Constantinople (879).[7][8]
In 2020, archaeologists found a 4th century BCterracotta mask, representing the godDionysus, in the city’s acropolis.[9] From 1988 to 2010 the excavations were directed byTomris Bakır.[10] In August 2021, archaeologists led by Kaan Iren have announced the discovery of Ancient relief described Greek-Persian wars at Dascylium. Explorer Kaan Iren said: "there are Greek soldiers fighting and Persians on horseback fighting them. Greek soldiers are depicted under the hoofs of Persian horses. There is a propaganda scene here under the pretext of war".[11][12][13]
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40°07′44″N28°04′18″E / 40.12889°N 28.07167°E /40.12889; 28.07167
