Ῥοίτειον | |
  Rhoiteion Shown within Turkey | |
| Location | İntepe,Çanakkale Province, Turkey |
|---|---|
| Region | Troad |
| Coordinates | 40°0′33″N26°18′0″E / 40.00917°N 26.30000°E /40.00917; 26.30000 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | Late 8th century BC at the latest |
Rhoiteion (Ancient Greek:Ῥοίτειον,romanized: Rhoiteion,Latin:Rhoeteum) was anancient Greek city in the northernTroad region ofAnatolia, also known as Ῥοίτιον ἄκρον.[1]Its territory was bounded to the south and west by theSimoeis river and to the east byOphryneion. It was located on the Baba Kale spur of Çakal Tepe north of Halileli and west of İntepe (previously known as Erenköy) inÇanakkale Province, Turkey.[2]
According to the Greek geographerStrabo of theAugustan era, Rhoiteion was founded byAstypalaians at some point following the fall ofTroy.[3] A scholion on the text ofApollonius of Rhodes explained the origin of the name as referring to Rhoiteia, daughter ofProteus, but scholars consider thisetymology to be spurious.[4]Surface surveys conducted in 1959 and 1968 suggest that the site was occupied by Greeks from at least the late 8th century BC.[5]
The earliest source to mention Rhoiteion is the 5th century BC historianHerodotus who mentions it as one of the citiesXerxes marches past with thePersian army on his way to Greece in 480 BC.[6] At a similar period to whenHerodotus was writing, theMytilenaeanlogographerHellanicus referred to Rhoiteion's history in Book 1 of hisΤρωϊκά (Troika, a history ofTroy), stating that following the sack of Ilium, Rhoiteion and nearbySigeion had divided the fallen city's territory between them.[7] Rhoiteion was one of theActaean cities whichMytilene lost control of following the end of theMytilenean revolt in 427 BC.[8] In spring 424 BC, the exiles from Mytilene seized Rhoiteion, but returned control of it to Athens when they were paid a ransom of 2,000 Phokaianstaters.[9]
Rhoiteion's greatest asset was the suitability of its coast for harbouring ships and its location on theHellespont which connected theBlack Sea to theAegean Sea vis theSea of Marmara; when it appears in the sources, it is usually for this reason. Famously, its coast was where theAchaeans beached their ships.[10] ThePeloponnesian fleet put in here in the summer of 411 BC, and in 409 BC theAthenian fleet beached along these shores, sheltering from the winter storms.[11] The promontory of Aeantion in the west of Rhoiteion's territory was commonly used as a harbour in Roman times:[12] inPhilostratus'Life of Apollonius of Tyana, written in the late 2nd century AD, Apollonius finds many ships at anchor here and takes passage on one, and in AD 324 the fleet ofLicinius spent the night at anchor here before going into battle againstCrispus.[13] In modern times, locals have referred to most of the bays along this coast at one time or another as Karanlık Limanı (Turkish ‘concealed harbour’).[14]
Outside myth (see below on The Tomb of Ajax), Rhoeteion is rarely mentioned after theClassical period. In 335 BC, prior toAlexander the Great's victory at the nearbyGranicus river, one of his commanders, Calas, was beaten back by the Persians and forced to take temporary refuge at Rhoiteion.[15] In the 3rd century BC, aΜοιρίας Ἀντιφάνου Ῥοιτεύς ('Moirias the son of Antiphanes, citizen of Rhoiteion') is honoured as aproxenos in an inscription fromDelos.[16] In 190 BC, theRoman commanderLivius captured Rhoiteion from theMacedonian forces.[17] Soon after, in 188 BC following theTreaty of Apamea, Rhoiteion was part of the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pergamon, and under the sway ofIlium.[18] At the beginning of theHellenistic period Rhoiteion may have moved 1.8 km to the south-west from the Baba Kale spur to a site known as Tavolia (40°00′03″N26°16′53″E / 40.00083°N 26.28139°E /40.00083; 26.28139) and remained there throughout the Roman period.[19]
Rhoiteion was best known in Antiquity for the Tomb ofAjax, the Greek hero who had died during theTrojan Wars, which was located in the west of its territory near the war memorial at İn Tepe (not to be confused with the town of the same name to the north-east).[20] The association between Rhoiteion and the burial place of Telamonian Ajax (as opposed toLocrian Ajax) first appears in a fragment of theHellenistic poetEuphorion of Chalcis (early 3rd century BC), who writes, "Purple hyacinth, one story of poets is that, on the Rhoetean sands, after the fall of the descendant of Aeacus [i.e. Ajax], you sprang up from his blood with a lament in your inscription".[21] The story does not appear again until it is picked up by the Roman poetCatullus (c. 84 – c. 54 BC), an avid reader of Hellenistic poetry,[22] who in Poem 65 speaks of the unmarked grave of his drowned brother, "[where] under the shore of Rhoeteum the soil of Troy lies heavy".[23] In Book 6 ofVirgil'sAeneid, published in full after his death in 19 BC, he refers to the tomb at Rhoeteion being that ofDeiphobus, Ajax's great rival; it has been suggested thatVirgil does this to upset a Roman reader's expectations, thus indicating that Rhoeteum was already associated with Ajax's tomb.[24] By contrast, theAugustan poetOvid in Book 11 of theMetamorphoses speaks of a place "on Trojan soil ... close to the sea, to the right ofSigeion, to the left of Rhoeteum" which is not Ajax's tomb or the Aeantion promontory (as the description might suggest), but instead "an old altar ofJupiter the oracular, god of the thunder".[25]
The geographerStrabo, writing in the latter half ofAugustus' reign, relates that the EmperorAugustus returned to the Rhoiteians a statue of Ajax which had adorned the top of his burialtumulus untilMark Anthony had stolen it to give to his loverCleopatra. Strabo then explains, "ForAnthony took away the finest dedications from the most famous temples to gratify the Egyptian woman (i.e.Cleopatra), butAugustus gave them back to the gods".[26] Following the reign ofAugustus, this became the dominant version of the myth for the rest of Antiquity.[27] InPliny the Elder (mid-1st century AD) we hear of the promontory near İn Tepe referred to asAeantion meaning 'the place of Ajax' (fromAncient GreekΑἰάντειον).[28] Prior to this, the only mention of this promontory was in anAthenian inscription from 375 BC referring to a military action by the generalChabrias and honouring "the soldiers who were allies at Aianteion on the Hellespont".[29] In the 2nd century AD further details appear: the Greek travel writerPausanias claimed that a localMysian had informed him that the sea washed away the entrance to Ajax's tomb, and when locals looked inside, they discovered the bones of a giant man 11cubits (or 5 metres) tall.[30] This story recalls a common view in Graeco-Roman Antiquity that heroes of a previous age were much larger than present-day men; a famous example is the story of the discovery of the bones ofOrestes, the son ofAgamemnon, which the 5th century BC historianHerodotus relates.[31] It was also in this period (probably during the reign of thephilhellenic emperorHadrian) that thetumulus of Ajax was renovated and given its present vaulting, suggesting local investment in what had become Rhoiteion's great attraction.[32]
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