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Greek city of
Elaia in
Aeolis
Bronze 14mm (3.06 grams) Struck 2nd-1st centuries B.C.
Reference: Sear 4206; B.M.C. 17.127,20
Head of Demeter right, wreathed with corn.
Torch; EΛ – AI / T – ΩΝ; all within corn wreath.
A coastal town situated south-west of Pergamon, Elaia served
as a port for its more important
neighbor during the time of the Pergamene
Kingdom.
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In
Greek mythology
,
Demeter was the goddess
of the harvest, who presided over
grains
, the
fertility
of the earth, the
seasons
(personified by the
Hours
), and the
harvest
. One of her surnames is Sito (σίτος:
wheat) as the giver of food or corn. Though Demeter is often described simply as
the goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sanctity of
marriage
, the
sacred law
, and the cycle of
life and death
. She and her daughter
Persephone
were the central figures of the
Eleusinian Mysteries
that also predated the
Olympian pantheon.
Her
Roman
cognate is
Ceres
.
Elaea or Elaia (Greek:
Έλαία) was an ancient city of
Aeolis
,
Asia
, the port of
Pergamum
; the site is not precisely determined but is near
Zeytindağ
,
İzmir Province
, Turkey
.
According to the present text of
Stephanus of Byzantium
, it was also called Cidaenis (Greek: Κιδαινίς),
and was founded by
Menestheus
;
but it seems likely that there is some error in the reading Cidaenis.
Strabo
places
Elaea south of the river
Caicus
, 12 stadia from the river, and 120 stadia from Pergamum. The Caicus
enters a bay, which was called
Elaiticus Sinus
, or the bay of Elaea. Strabo calls the bay of Elaea part of
the bay of
Adramyttium
, but incorrectly. He has the story, which Stephanus has taken
from him, that Elaea was a settlement made by Menestheus and the
Athenians
with
him, who joined the war against Troy; but Strabo does not explain how it could
be an Aeolian
city, if this story was true. Elaea minted coins, which bear the head and name
of Menestheus. Some argue that these are some evidence of its Athenian origin;
but others, including
William Smith
discount the connection.
Herodotus
(i. 149) does not name Elaea among the Aeolian cities. Strabo makes the bay of
Elaea terminate on one side in a point called Hydra, and on the other in a
promontory Harmatus; and he estimates the width between these points at 80
stadia. Thucydides
(viii. 101) places Harmatus opposite to Methymna, from which, and
the rest of the narrative, it is clear that he fixes Harmatus in a different
place from Strabo. The exact site of Elaea seems to be uncertain.
William Martin Leake
, in his map, fixes it at a place marked Kliseli, on the
road from the south to Pergamum.
Scylax
(p. 35),
Pomponius Mela
(i. 18),
Pliny
(v. 32), and
Ptolemy
(v.
2), all of whom mention Elaea, do not help us to the precise place; all we learn
from them is, that the Caicus flowed between
Pitane
and
Elaea.
Elaea was located near the modern town of Zeytindağ, according to the
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World
.
The name of Elaea occurs in the history of the kings of Pergamum. According
to Strabo, from Livy
(xxxv. 13), travellers who would reach Pergamum from the sea, would land at
Elaea.
One of the passages of Livy shows that there was a small hill (tumulus) near
Elaea, and that the town was in a plain and walled. Elaea was damaged by an
earthquake in the reign of
Trajan
, at the
same time that Pitane suffered.
Aeolis or Aeolia or Aiolis was an area that comprised the west
and northwestern region of
Asia Minorr
, mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands
(particularly Lesbos
), where the
Aeolian
Greek
city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of
Mysia
which
bounded it to the north,
Ionia
to the
south, and Lydia
to the east.
Geography
Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of
Asia Minor
. It extended along the
Aegean Sea
from the entrance of the
Hellespont
(now the
Dardanelles
) south to the
Hermus River
(now the Gediz River). It was named for the Aeolians, some of
whom migrated there from
Greece
before
1000 BC. Aeolis was, however, an ethnological and linguistic enclave rather than
a geographical unit. The district often was considered part of the larger
northwest region of Mysia.
Greek settlements in western Asia Minor, Aeolian area in dark red..
According to Homer’s
description,
Odysseus
,
after his stay with the
Cyclopes
,
reached the island of
Aeolia
, who provided him with the west wind
Zephyr
.
In early times, by the 8th century BC, the Aeolians’ twelve most important
cities were independent, and formed a league (Dodecapolis):
Cyme
,
Larissa
(also called
Phriconis
),
Neonteichos
,
Temnus
, Cilla
,
Notion
,
Aegiroessa
,
Pitane
,
Aegae
,
Myrina
, Gryneion
, and Smyrna
.
The most celebrated of the cities was
Smyrna
(modern
Izmir, Turkey
), but in 699 BC, Smyrna became part of an Ionian confederacy.
The remaining cities were conquered by
Croesus
, king
of Lydia
(reigned
560-546 BC). Later they were held successively by the
Persians
,
Macedonians
,
Seleucids
Attalus III
, the last king of
Pergamum
, bequeathed Aeolis to
Rome in 133 BC. Shortly afterward, it was
made part of the Roman
province of Asia
. At the partition of the
Roman
Empire
(395 AD), Aeolis was assigned to the East Roman (Byzantine) empire
and remained under Byzantine rule until the early 15th century, when the
Ottoman Turks
occupied the area.
Natives of Aeolis
-
Autolycus of Pitane
- Andriscus
-
Elias Venezis
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