Magnesia on the Maeander
Μαγνησία ἡ πρὸς Μαιάνδρῳ | |
Location | Tekin, Aydın Province, Turkey |
---|---|
Region | Ionia |
Coordinates | 37°51′10″N 27°31′38″E / 37.85278°N 27.52722°E |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Builder | Magnetian and Cretan settlers |
Cultures | Greek, Roman |
Associated with | Bathycles of Magnesia, Themistocles, Saint Lazarus of Magnesia |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1891–1893, 1984–present |
Archaeologists | Carl Humann, Orhan Bingöl |
Condition | Ruined |
Ownership | Public |
Public access | Yes |
Magnesia or Magnesia on the Maeander (
The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent
Magnesia lay within
General history
Magnesia soon attained great power and prosperity, so as to be able to cope even with a challenge from
In the fifth century BC, the exiled
The word "magnet" possibly derives from lodestones found around Magnesia ad Sipylum, a neighbouring city with a similar name.[13]
In the time of the
Leucophryna
A great quadrennial festival called the Leucophryna (Λευκόφρυνα) was held in the city and people from all over the Greek world gathered there.[19]
Landmarks
Magnesia contained a temple of Dindymene, the mother of the gods; the wife or daughter of Themistocles was said to have been a priestess of that divinity.
Strabo later noted [20] the temple no longer existed, the town having been transferred to another place. The change in the site of the town alluded to by Strabo, is not noticed by other contemporary authors, however some suggest that Magnesia was moved from the banks of the Meander to a place at the foot of Mount Thorax three miles from the river.[21]
The new town which Strabo saw was remarkable for its
- "The first city one comes to after Ephesos is Magnesia, which is an Aiolian city . . . In the present city is the temple of Artemis Leukophryene, which in the size of its shrine and in the number of its votive offerings is inferior to the temple at Ephesos, but in the harmony and skill shown in the structure of the sacred enclosure is far superior to it. And in size it surpasses all the sacred enclosures in Asia except two, that [of Artemis] at Ephesos and that [of Apollon] at Didymoi."[22]
The temple to Artemis is said by Vitruvius[23] to have been built by the architect Hermogenes, in the Ionic style. Following a theophany of the goddess Artemis in the 3rd century B.C., the temple and the city were recognised as a place of asylia by other Greek states.[24]
The temples of the city would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire and little remains of either temple today. The site of Magnesia on the Maeander was once identified with the modern Güzelhisar; since then the ruins of a temple to Artemis were found at Inck-bazar, and the latter is considered a more likely site.
Modern excavations
The first excavations at the archaeological site were performed during 1891 and 1893 by a German archaeological team conducted by
Findings from the site are now displayed in
In July 2018, six Greek statues were discovered. Four female, one male and one with unknown gender were unearthed in the ruins of a temple of Artemis.[25]
Notable people
- Bathycles (6th century BC) Greek sculptor
- Themistocles of Athens spent his final years and was buried here
- Protophanes (Πρωτοφάνης) ancient victor of both wrestling and Pankration[26]
- Alciphron (Ἀλκίφρων), Greek philosopher[27]
- Saint Charalampos of Magnesia
Sources
- Carl Humann: Magnesia am Maeander. Bericht über die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen der Jahre 1891–1893. Berlin: Reimer, 1904
- Volker Kästner: Der Tempel des Zeus Sosipolis von Magnesia am Mäander, in: Brigitte Knittlmayer and Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer: Die Antikensammlung, Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1998, p. 230-231
- Johannes Althoff: Ein Meister des Verwirklichens. Der Archäologe Theodor Wiegand, in: Peter Behrens, Theodor Wiegand und die Villa in Dahlem. Klaus Rheidt and Barbara A. Lutz (ed.), Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2004, p. 151
Literary references
- Magnesia on the Maeander is the location for the historical mystery novel The Ionia Sanction, by Gary Corby, set during the last days of Themistocles.
See also
References
- General
- In Smith, W. (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography. Boston: Little, Brown & Co Page 252
- Footnotes
- ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- ^ Athen. i. p. 29, ii. p. 59, iii. p. 78.
- ^ John Pinkerton (1811). A general collection of ... voyages and travels, digested by J. Pinkerton. pp. 663–.
- ^ Strabo xiv. pp. 636, 647; Plin. v. 31.
- ^ image showing the location of Magnesia Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine (in Asia Minor).
- ^ There are references to its capture by King Gyges, however this may refer to the original conquering of Magnesia ad Sipylum, long a Lydian city. See for instance [1].
- ISBN 978-1-59333-139-9.
- ^ Handbook for Travellers in Turkey in Asia: Including Constantinople, the Bosphorus, Plain of Troy, Isles of Cyprus, Rhodes, &c..., with General Hints for Travellers in Turkey, Vocabularies &c. J. Murray. 1878. pp. 290–.
- ^ Callinus, ap. Strabo xiv. p. 647.
- ^ xii. p. 525
- ^ Herod, i. 161, iii. 122.
- ^ Nepos, Themist. 10; Diod. xi. 57.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition (March 2000), entry 'magnes'
- ^ Liv. xxxvii. 45, xxxviii. 13.
- ^ v. 31
- ^ Ann. iv. 55
- ^ p. 659
- ^ Concil. Constantin. iii. p. 666.
- ^ Magnesia on the Meander
- ^ Strab. xiv. 1.40 (p. 647)
- ^ Ancient Turkey: A Traveller's History, by Seton Lloyd, p151.
- ^ Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 40
- ^ Vitr. vii. Praefat.12
- ^ Syll.³ 554 and Syll.³ 557- Greek inscriptions in English translation.
- ^ Six 2000-year-old Greek statues discovered in southwestern Turkey
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.21.10
- ^ Suda, alpha, 1288
External links
Media related to Magnesia on the Maeander at Wikimedia Commons