Cyme (Aeolis)

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This article is about the ancient Ionian city. see also Kymi for the Greek form of Cyme

Cyme, (or Kymi, also: Phriconis), modern Namurt was an ancient Greek city in Aeolis (Asia Minor) close to the kingdom of Lydia. The Aeolians regarded Cyme as the largest and most important of their twelve cities, which were located on the coastline of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). As a result of their direct access to the sea, unlike most non-landlocked settlements of the ancient world, trade is believed to have prospered. In his Histories, Herodotus makes reference to Cyme (or Phriconis) as being one of the cities in which the rebel Lydian governor Pactyes attempted refuge, following the attempted rebellion against Cyrus the Great:

Pactyes, when he learnt that an army was already on his tracks and near, took fright and fled to Cyme, and Mazares the Mede marched to Sardis with a detachment of Cyrus' troops. Finding Pactyes and his supporters and his supporters gone, the first thing he did was to compel the Lydians to carry out Cyrus' orders - as a result of which they altered from that moment their whole way of life; he then sent a demand to Cyme that Pactyes should be surrendered, and the men of the town decided to consult the oracle at Branchidae as to whether they should obey...The messengers returned home to report, and the citizens of Cyme were prepared in consequence to give up the wanted man. (Herodotus: 1.157)

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[edit] Location

Both the author of the 'life of Homer' and Strabo the ancient geographer, locate Cyme north of the Hermus river on the Asia Minor coastline, modern day Namurt Limani

after crossing the Hyllus, the distance from Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to Myrina was 40 stadia. (Strabo: 622)

Archaeological finds such as coins give reference also to a river, believed to be that of the Hyllus.

[edit] Archaeological History & Discoveries

Archaeoligists first started taking an interest in the site around the middle of the 19th century as the wealthy landowner D. Baltazzi and later S. Reinach began excavation on the southern necropolis. In 1925, A. Salaç, working out of the Bohemian Mission uncovered many interesting finds, including: a small temple to Isis, a roman porticus and what is believed to be a 'potter's house'. Encouraged by their successes, Turkish archaeologist E. Akurgal began his own project in 1955 which uncovered an Orientalising ceramic on the southern hill. Between 1979-84, the Izimir Museum carried out similar style excavations at various locations around the site, uncovering further inscriptions and structures on the southern hill.

Geophysical studies into Kyme in more recent years, have led to Archaeologists having a much greater knowledge of the site without being as instrusive. Geo-magnetic surveys of the terrain reveal additional strucutres beneath the soil, as yet untouched by excavations.

The northwest side of the southern hill was utilized as a residential neighborhood during the entire existence of the city. Only a limited area of the hill has been investigated. It has been verified that there were at least five successive phases of building. 1. A long and straight wall going from north to southeast represented the most ancient building phase. In the wall there are visible traces of a threshold linking two rooms. There is uncertainty as to the chronology of the wall, but what is sure is that is was built before the end of the 5th century BC. 2. Two rooms (A and B), that were part of a building dating back to the end of the 5th century BC, belong to the second phase. The building appears to be complete on the northern side, but could have also had other rooms on the southern side, where the entrance to room A opened up. The western wall of room A, was constructed with squared limestone blocks, and also acted as a terracing wall connecting the strong natural difference on the side of the hill. At the foot of this wall there was a cistern excavated in the rock that gathered water coming from the roof of the house. The cistern was filled with debris and great amounts of black and plain pottery dating back to the late Hellenistic Age. 3. Some walls that belonged to the Imperial Roman Period were constructed by means of white mortar and bricks. During this phase a service room east of room A, with a floor that was made of leveled rock, was built. In the area of the cistern, by now filled, a new room decorated by wall paintings was also built. 4. A large house occupied the area during the Late Roman Period. The rooms were constructed usning reused materials, but without the use of mortar, and often enriched by polychrome mosaics. Access was gained by a ramp placed at the edge of the southwestern part of the excavation. Still, what needs to be clarified is the extent of the building, whose destruction is placed between the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 7th century AD. 5. The final phase is represented by some superficial structures found at the northern part of the excavation. There is a long wall going from the northwest to the southeast and a ramp built with reused blocks, with the same orientation as the wall. The wall and the ramp could be proof that this area was utilized during the Byzantine Age. (http://www.misart.it/hpmisart/monumento.cfm?idmissione=11&idmonumento=114)

[edit] Early history and culture

Little is known about the foundation of the city, other than the traditional tale of the founding of the colony. Settlers from mainland Greece (most likely Euboea) migrated across the Aegean Sea during the late bronze age as waves of Dorian speaking invaders brought an end to the once mighty Mycenaean civilisation some time around 1050 BC.

This is the story of the origin of Cyme. (Strab. p. 621.) The inhabitants of Phricium, a mountain above Thermopylae, landed on the spot where Cyme now is, says Strabo; they found the Pelasgi, who had suffered from the war of Troy, still in possession of Larissa. The new comers built Neon Teichos, 30 stadia from Larissa, and from this point annoyed the Pelasgi. Here Strabo's text begins to be corrupt, and it is useless to attempt to mend it; though one may guess what is meant. We learn, however, that Cyme was founded after Neon Teichos, and it was named Phriconis from the mountain in Locris. (http://www.mythography.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=216)

Culturally the citizens of Cyme considered themselves of Ionian descent. An Ionic dialect is believed to have been the local language and would have given rise to the famous Cumae alphabet that is believed to have originated in or near Cyme. Archaeologists believe Kyme was already inhabited by Pelasgians prior to the Euboean arrival.


Around 950 every tribe had settled down in its own territory. They co-existed beside each other, but never formed a nation... they even almost never felt as one nation. There would always be a strong contrast between the different groups, especially between the Ionians and the Dorians. The Ionians arrived in Hellas around 1600 and mixed with the original inhabitants while the Dorians arrived 500 years later and enslaved them, without learning anything from their culture. The Dorians valued their system of tribes and remained isolated as Sparta would show later on, while the Ionians valued art, science and individualism which were the cornerstones of Athens. (Ola Nilsson, University of Lund: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-63448/grekhist2.htm)

The early settlers of Asia minor regarded themselves as being the true people of Greece (the Cymians having once inhabited Thessaly), since the Dorians (from whom the Spartans are descended) are believed to have migrated from the region of modern day Albania and Yugoslavia. It was this racial distinction and process of forced migration that came to be known as the 'Ionic migration of nations'.

[edit] The Persian era

Cyme eventually came under the control of the Persian Empire following the collapse of the Lydian Kingdom. Herodotus is the principle source for the Persian era and naturally would have a few things to mention about the role of Cyme during the period of Cyrus' conquest of Asia Minor.

When Pactyes sought refuge in Cyme from the Persians the citizens were between a rock and a hard place. As Herodotus records, they consulted the Greek god Apollo (supporting the claim that they were of Ionic not eastern culture), who said after much confusion through an oracle that he should be handed over. However a native of Cyme questioned Apollo's word and went back to the oracle himself to confirm if indeed Apollo wanted the Cymians to surrender Pactyes. Not wanting to come to grief over the surrender of Pactyes, nor wanting the ill-effects of a Persian siege (confirms Cyme was a fortified city capable of self defence) they avoided dealing with the Persians by simply sending him off to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, not far from their city.

Later accounts of Cyme's involvement in the Ionian Revolt that triggered the Persian wars confirm their alligence to the Ionian greek cause. However later accounts reveal how Sandoces, under the orders of Xerxes, the supposed Ionian governor of Cyme helped draft a fleet of fifteen ships in a great expedition against mainland Greece. Cyme is also believed to have been the port in which the Persian survivors of Salamis wintered and lends considerable weight to the argument that Cyme was not only well served by defensive walls, but enjoyed the benefits of a large port capable of wintering and suppling a large wartime fleet. As a result, Cyme, like most Ionian cities at the time was a maritime power and a valuable asset to the Persian Empire.

When Aristagoras of Miletus stirred up the Ionians to revolt against Darius, Cyme joined the insurrection, and sent Aristagoras away without doing him any harm. But Cyme was soon recovered by the Persians (v. 38, 123). Sandoces, the governor of Cyme in the time of Xerxes, commanded fifteen ships in the great expedition against Greece (B.C. 480). He seems to have been a Greek. (Herod. vii. 194.) The remnant of the fleet of Xerxes which escaped from the Battle of Salamis wintered at Cyme. (Herod. viii. 130.) The history of Cyme is very barren, notwithstanding what Strabo says of its greatness. The place is hardly more than mentioned in the history of Thucydides (iii. 31, viii. 31, 100). (http://www.mythography.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=216)

[edit] Roman and Byzantine era

Polybius records that Cyme obtained freedom from taxation following the defeat of Antiochus III, later being incorporated into Roman Asia province (Polyb. xxii. 27; Liv. xxxviii. 39.) During the reign of Tiberius, the city is believed to have suffered from a great earthquake, common in the Aegean (Tacit. Ann. ii. 47.) . Other Roman sources such as Pliny (v. 30) mention Cyme as one of the cities of Aeolia which supports Herodotus' similar claim:

The above-mentioned, then, are the twelve towns of the Ionians. The Aeolic cities are the following:- Cyme, called also Phriconis, Larissa, Neonteichus, Temnus, Cilla, Notium, Aegiroessa, Pitane, Aegaeae, Myrina, and Gryneia. These are the eleven ancient cities of the Aeolians. Originally, indeed, they had twelve cities upon the mainland, like the Ionians, but the Ionians deprived them of Smyrna, one of the number. The soil of Aeolis is better than that of Ionia, but the climate is less agreeable. (1.149)

Later under the leadership of the Eastern Roman Empire, Cyme became a bishop's see.

[edit] Trivia

Cyme was the birthplace of the historian Ephorus; and Hesiod's father, according to the poet (Op. et D. 636), sailed from Cyme to settle at Ascra in Boeotia; which does not prove, as such compilers as Stephanus and Suidas suppose, that Hesiod was a native of Cyme.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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