Ἁμαξιτός | |
 | |
  Hamaxitus Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | Gülpınar,Çanakkale Province,Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Troad |
| Coordinates | 39°32′18″N26°5′35″E / 39.53833°N 26.09306°E /39.53833; 26.09306 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Builder | Colonists fromMytilene |
| Founded | Possibly during the 8th or 7th centuries BC |
| Abandoned | Possibly after the 7th or 8th century AD |
Hamaxitus (Ancient Greek:Ἁμαξιτός,romanized: Hamaxitos) was anancient Greek city in the south-west of theTroad region ofAnatolia which was considered to mark the boundary between theTroad andAeolis.[1] Its surrounding territory was known inGreek asἉμαξιτία (Hamaxitia),[2] and included the temple ofApollo Smintheus, thesalt pans atTragasai, and the Satnioeis river (modern Tuzla Çay).[3] It was probably anAeolian colony.[4]It has been located on a rise called Beşiktepe near the village ofGülpınar (previously Külahlı) in theAyvacık district ofÇanakkale Province,Turkey.[5]
Hamaxitus first appears in theAthenian tribute lists in the 425/4 BC ashαμαχσιτός[hamakʰsiˈtos].[6] However, this spelling reflects the influence ofAttic Greek and is not a reliable guide to how Hamaxitans would have spelt or pronounced the name of their city.[7] Hamaxitus was located in anAeolic-speaking area: Aeolic, like other so-called East Greek dialects, waspsilotic and so, unlike Attic Greek, had lost thephoneme /h/. This retained /h/ is seen in the Attic spelling of Hamaxitus with aneta, which in Attic unlike other dialects represented[h] rather than[ɛː]. Likewise, the use of thedigraph -χσ- (/khs/) for -ξ- (/x/) reflects Attic, not Aeolic usage. The graphemeξ (xi) originally represented /ks/ (κσ); it was a peculiarity of Attic (consistent with not being psilotic and therefore retaining audiblyaspirated consonants) that /ks/ was pronounced /khs/ and so represented by the graphemeχσ, as here inhαμαχσιτός.[8] All other literary andepigraphic sources refer toἉμαξιτός andlegends on the city's own coinage from the 4th century BC readΑΜΑΞΙ (AMAXI, i.e.Ἁμαξι(τός),Hamaxi(tos)).[9] The city's name derives fromἅμαξα (hamaxa) meaning 'wagon', hence the adjectiveἁμαξιτός (hamaxitos), 'traversed by wagons', 'carriage-road', 'high-road'.[10] Remains of an ancient road have been identified leading away up the coast from the sheltered bay immediately below the rise on which theClassical city was located at Beşiktepe, indicating the name's origin.[11]
All foundation myths about Hamaxitus inClassical Antiquity were related to the foundation of the nearby temple of Apollo Smintheus (Ἀπόλλων Σμινθεύς). The subject attracted much interest in Antiquity because in the opening ofHomer'sIliad theTrojan priest ofApollo,Chryses, addresses the god in thevocative asΣμινθεῦ (Smintheu, 'O, Sminthian') when imploring him to send a plague against the Greeks becauseAgamemnon had seized his daughterChryseis and refused to ransom her.[12] TheepithetΣμίνθος (Sminthos) caused some confusion toGreek speakers since they did not recognize it as being Greek in origin, and attributed it to thePelasgian orMysian languages.[13] The consonantal string -nth- (also found in place names such asCorinth) is considered byphilologists to be non-Greek, and possiblyLuwian, in origin.[14] The passage ofHomer gives no indication as to its meaning, and so myths about Apollo Smintheus primarily arose from attempts toaetiologize the epithet.
The earliest tradition comes fromCallinus, anelegiac poet fromEphesus who lived in the mid-7th century BC. He relates that Hamaxitus was founded by a band of Teucrian (i.e. Trojan)Cretans who were told by anoracle to found a city wherever the 'earth-born' (γηγενεῖς) attacked them. When they reached the area of Hamaxitus, a great horde of field mice ate all the leather on their equipment, and so they settled on the spot, interpreting the 'earth-born' of the oracle to have been the mice. This myth thus glosses the termsminthos as 'mouse'.[15] Callinus' aetiology takes into account both Apollo's role as a god of disease and the fact that it was in precisely this role that Chryses had invoked him as 'Sminthian' in theIliad. However, in discussing the cult, theAugustan Greek geographerStrabo of Amaseia noted that the epithets of gods worshipped at several other Greek sanctuaries were also explained by reference to a god bringing an end to a plague of small animals, and so it is not clear how Callinus arrived at this specific explanation ofsminthos as 'mouse'.[16] The term appears again as a poetic word for mice several centuries later in a fragment of the early 5th century BCtragedianAeschylus, indicating that by this time Callinus' aetiology of 'Sminthian' had been generalized from an explanation of a particular epithet into an independentlexeme.[17]
Callinus' version predominated in Classical Antiquity and is reflected in the local traditions of Hamaxitus.[18] Coins minted by the city in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC feature Apollo Smintheus, and after Hamaxitus wassynoecized, coins depicting Apollo Smintheus continued to be produced by themint ofAlexandreia Troas until the reign of the EmperorGallienus (AD 260–268).[19] In the early 1st century AD, Strabo described the sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus as having a statue of Apollo with his foot on a mouse created by the sculptorScopas of Paros (c. 395 – c. 350 BC), while theRoman scholarAelian (c. AD 175 – c. 235) related that mice were kept at public expense in the sanctuary and nested beneath the altar.[20] The extensive remains of theHellenistic temple can now be seen on the northern outskirts of the modern village of Gülpınar.[21] The most recent Turkish excavations indicate that the Hellenistic temple was constructed c. 150–125 BC, and therefore at about the same time that the main festival of Alexandreia Troas changed from being theΠύθια ἐν Τρωάδι (Pythia en Troadi, 'the Pythia in the Troad') to theΣμίνθια (Sminthia, 'the Sminthia').[22] The cult spread to the island ofRhodes, where a month was namedΣμίνθιος (Sminthios) and a festival known as the Sminthia was held which the scholar Philomnestus discussed inOn the Sminthia at Rhodes.[23]
Hamaxitus is believed to have first been settled byMytilenaeans in the 8th or 7th centuries BC; however, insufficient excavation has been done at the site to prove this definitively.[24] It was one of theActaean cities in theTroad whichAthens took fromMytilene following the end of theMytilenean revolt in 427 BC and appears in tribute assessments for 425/4 and 422/1 BC.[25] In 425/4 BC it had an assessment of 4talents, a relatively high figure compared to other cities in theTroad; a large part of this wealth would have been derived from thesalt pans at nearbyTragasai, which records from theOttoman period indicate could be highly productive.[26] A fragment of the so-called Standards Decree, which dates to the 420s BC and imposed the use of Athenian weights, measures, and coins on members of theDelian League, was found at the nearby village of Gülpınar.[27]
Following the defeat of Athens at the end of thePeloponnesian War in 403 BC, Hamaxitus enjoyed a brief period of freedom from outside interference. In 399 BC it was forcibly re-incorporated into thePersian Empire before being freed once more by theSpartanDercylidas in 398 BC.[28] In the 4th century BC Hamaxitus began minting its own coinage, which depicted a head ofApollo on theobverse, and either alyre (a symbol of Apollo) with thelegendΑΜΑΞΙ (seeabove) on thereverse.[29] This imagery was a reference to the famous sanctuary of Apollo Smintheus in the territory of Hamaxitus, and examples of the coinage have been found widely distributed across theTroad.[30] Apart from the salt pans at Tragasai, Hamaxitus was also enriched by its excellent harbour in this period. Finds ofChian andThasian wineamphorae from this period at Beşiktepe indicate Hamaxitus' involvement inAegean trade, while an inscription dating to the mid-4th century BC honours a merchant fromCius inBithynia with the right to import and export goods from Hamaxitus tax-free by both land and sea.[31]
In c. 310 BCAntigonus Monophthalmus, one ofAlexander'sSuccessors, created the new city ofAntigoneia Troas bysynoecizing several communities in the Troad.[32] Scholars are divided as to whether Hamaxitus was synoecized immediately or at a later date, but the most recent research (based on a reappraisal of thenumismatic,epigraphic, andarchaeological evidence) suggests that Hamaxitus was not synoecized until c. 188 - c. 171 BC.[33] In the earlyHellenistic period, Hamaxitus continued to promote its link with Apollo Smintheus, introducing a second and more elaborate series of coins advertising its link with the shrine.[34] As the popularity of the cult of Apollo Smintheus grew in the Hellenistic period (seeabove), the convenient proximity of its port to the god's shrine meant Hamaxitus benefited from an increasing number of pilgrims passing through the city's harbour.[35] The continuing profitability of the salt pans at Tragasai is clear from KingLysimachus' attempt to tax them c. 301-281 BC, while the importance of this income to Hamaxitus is indicated by their strident (and successful) lobbying of Lysimachus for tax exemption on the salt pans.[36] In the last decade of the 4th century BC we hear of Hamaxitus honouring a friend ofAntigonus Monophthalmus, Nicomedes ofKos, and c. 230-220 BC it appeared along the route of theDelphicthearodokoi.[37]
The settlement at Hamaxitus appears to have survived at least until the early Roman period following its synoecism with Alexandreia Troas (the city had been renamed from Antigoneia Troas following the death of Antigonus at theBattle of Ipsus in 301 BC). The fame of Apollo Smintheus only increased following the synoecism, which rebuilt the temple, created a new festival in the god's honour, and featured Apollo Smintheus on its coins until the mid-3rd century AD.[38] The Smintheum continued to appear on Roman andearly mediaeval itineraries such as theTabula Peutingeriana (4th or 5th century) and theRavenna Cosmography (7th or 8th century).[39] It is therefore likely that the port at Beşiktepe was still used by pilgrims, even if the settlement of Hamaxitus had long since declined.[40]
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