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Greek city of
Alexandria Troas
in
Troas
Pseudo-Autonomous Civic Issue
Bronze 20mm (4.01 grams) Struck circa 253-268 Century A.D.
Reference: Bellinger A490; SNG München 61 var.; SNG von Aulock 755
CO. TROA. Turreted bust of City-goddess, Tyche right; behind, vexillum inscribed AV. /
AL.
COL. AVG. TRO.
Eagle
flying right, holding forepart of bull in talons.
A coastal city situated
south-west of Ilion, it was founded circa 310 B.C. by Antigonos and originally
bore the name Antigoneia. A decade later Lysimachos renamed the place
Alexandreia.
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Tyche (Greek for luck; the Roman equivalent was
Fortuna
)
was the presiding
tutelary deity
that governed the fortune and
prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their
own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a
mural crown
(a crown like the
walls of the city).
The
Greek historian Polybius
believed that when no cause can be
discovered to events such as floods, droughts, frosts or even in politics, then
the cause of these events may be fairly attributed to Tyche.
Stylianos Spyridakis concisely expressed Tyche’s appeal in a
Hellenistic world of arbitrary violence and unmeaning reverses: “In the
turbulent years of the
Epigoni of Alexander
, an awareness of the
instability of human affairs led people to believe that Tyche, the blind
mistress of Fortune, governed mankind with an inconstancy which explained the
vicissitudes of the time.”
In literature, she might be given various genealogies, as a daughter of
Hermes
and
Aphrodite
, or considered as one of the
Oceanids
, daughters of
Oceanus
and
Tethys
, or of
Zeus. She was connected with
Nemesis
and
Agathos Daimon
(“good spirit”).
She was uniquely venerated at
Itanos
in Crete, as Tyche Protogeneia,
linked with the Athenian
Protogeneia
(“firstborn”), daughter of
Erechtheus
, whose self-sacrifice saved the
city.
She had temples at
Caesarea Maritima
,
Antioch
,
Alexandria
and
Constantinople
. In
Alexandria
the Tychaeon, the temple of
Tyche, was described by
Libanius
as one of the most magnificent of the
entire Hellenistic world.
Tyche appears on many
coins
of the Hellenistic period in the three
centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean.
Unpredictable turns of fortune drive the complicated plotlines of
Hellenistic romances
, such as
Leucippe and Clitophon
or
Daphnis and Chloe
. She experienced a
resurgence in another era of uneasy change, the final days of publicly
sanctioned
Paganism
, between the late-fourth-century
emperors
Julian
and
Theodosius I
who definitively closed the
temples. The effectiveness of her capricious power even achieved respectability
in philosophical circles during that generation, though among poets it was a
commonplace to revile her for a fickle harlot.
In medieval art
, she was depicted as carrying a
cornucopia
, an
emblematic
ship’s rudder, and the
wheel of fortune
, or she may stand on the
wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate.
The constellation of
Virgo
is sometimes identified as the heavenly
figure of Tyche, as well as other goddesses such as
Demeter
and
Astraea
.
Alexandria Troas (“Alexandria of the
Troad
“, modern
Turkish
: Eski
Stambul) is an ancient
Greek
city situated on the
Aegean Sea
near the northern tip of
Turkey
‘s western coast, a little south of
Tenedos
(modern
Bozcaada
). It is located in the modern Turkish
province of
Çanakkale
. The site sprawls over an estimated
400 hectares (1,000 acres); among the few structures still extant today are a
ruined bath and gymnasium complex and a recently uncovered stadium.
Aleaxandria Troas Therme
History
Hellenistic
According to Strabo
, this site was first called Sigeia;
around 306 BC
Antigonus
refounded the city as the
much-expanded Antigonia Troas by settling the people of five other towns
in Sigeia, including the once influential city of
Neandria
. Its name was changed by
Lysimachus
to Alexandria Troas, in memory of
Alexander III
of Macedon
(Pliny
merely states that the name changed from Antigonia to Alexandria). As the chief
port of north-west Asia Minor, the place prospered greatly in Roman times,
becoming a “free and autonomous city” as early as 188 BC,[3]
and the existing remains sufficiently attest its former importance. In its
heyday, the city may have had a population of about 100,000.
Strabo
mentions that a
Roman
colony
was created at the location in the reign
of Augustus
, named Colonia Alexandria Augusta
Troas (called simply Troas during this period). Augustus,
Hadrian
and the rich grammarian
Herodes Atticus
contributed greatly to its
embellishment; the aqueduct still preserved is due to the latter.
Constantine
considered making Troas the capital
of the Roman Empire
.
Roman
In Roman times, it was a significant port for travelling between
Anatolia
and Europe.
Paul
of Tarsus
sailed for Europe for the first time
from Alexandria Troas and returned there from Europe (it was there that the
episode of the raising of
Eutychus
later occurred).
Ignatius of Antioch
also paused at this city
before continuing to his martyrdom at Rome.
Byzantine
Several of its later
bishops
are known: Marinus in 325; Niconius in
344; Sylvanus at the beginning of the 5th century; Pionius in 451; Leo in 787;
Peter, friend of the
Patriarch Ignatius
, and adversary to Michael,
in the ninth century. In the 10th century Troas is given as a suffragan of
Cyzicus
and distinct from the famous
Troy (Heinrich
Gelzer, Ungedruckte … Texte der Notitiae episcopatuum, 552;
Georgii Cyprii descriptio orbis romani
,
64); it is not known when the city was destroyed and the diocese disappeared.
The city remains a
titular see
of the
Roman Catholic Church
, Troadensis; the
seat is vacant following the resignation of the last bishop in 1971.
Troas is also a titular see of the
Orthodox Church
under the
Ecumenical Patriarchate
. The most recent
hierarch, His Grace Bishop Savas (Zembillas) of Troas, served 2002-2011. He is
now
Metropolitan Savas (Zembillas) of Pittsburgh
in
the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
.
Ottoman
Karasid
Turkomans
settled in the area of the Troad in
the 14th century. Their
beylik
was conquered by the Ottomans in
1336. The ruins of Alexandria Troas came to be known among the Turks as Eski
Stambul, the “Old City”. The site’s stones were much plundered for building
material (for example
Mehmed IV
took columns to adorn his
Yeni Valide Mosque
in
Istanbul
). As of the mid-18th century the site
served as “a lurking place for bandetti”.
Modern
By 1911 the site had been overgrown with
vallonea oaks
and much plundered, but the
circuit of the old walls could still be traced, and in several places they were
fairly well preserved. They had a circumference of about ten kilometres, and
were fortified with towers at regular intervals. Remains of an ancient bath and
gymnasium complex can be found within this area; this building is locally known
as Bal Saray (Honey Palace) and was originally endowed by Herodes Atticus
in the year 135. Trajan
built an aqueduct which can still be
traced. The harbour had two large basins, now almost choked with sand. It is the
subject of a recent study by German archaeologists who are digging and surveying
at the site. Their excavation has uncovered the remains of a large stadium
dating to about 100 BC.
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