Kyme Cyme in Asia Minor 350BC Ancient Greek Coin Eagle Vase i46116

Item: i46116

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek City of Kyme in Asia Minor
Bronze 11mm (0.86 grams) Struck circa 350 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4186; B.M.C. 17.106,20
Eagle standing right, wings closed.
K – Y on either side of one-handled vase.

By far the most important of the Aiolian coastal cities, Kyme was situated
southwest of Myrina. For much of its history it was dominated by great powers –
Persia, Athens, the Hellenistic Kingdoms and, finally, Rome.

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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 sought refuge, following his attempted rebellion

against the Persian King

Cyrus the Great

:^[1]

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.

//

 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

.^[2]

 Early

history

Little is known about the foundation of the city to supplement the

traditional founding legend. 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. During the Late Bronze Age

and early Greek Dark Ages the dialect of Cyme and the surrounding region of

Aeolis, like that of neighboring island Lesbos closely resembled the local

dialect of Thessalia and Boetia.

Culturally however 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:^[3]

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
.

The colony was founded during the Greek Dark Ages by settlers from Locris in

central Greece who began by reducing the Pelasgian citadel of Larisa near the

river Hermus

[4]

Cyme developed into a regional metropolis to some thirty other towns and

settlements in Aeolis. The Cymeans were later ridiculed as a people who had for

three hundred years lived on the coast and not once exacted harbor taxes on

ships making port. Hesiod’s father is said to have started his journey across

the Aegean from Cyme. The cities of southern Aeolis in the region surrounding

Cyme occupied a good belt of land with rough mountains in the background yet

Cyme like other colonies along the coast did not trade with the native

Anatolians further inland who had occupied Asia Minor for thousands of years.

Cyme consequently played no significant role in the history of western Asia

Minor prompting the historian Ephorus, himself a native of the city, to comment

repeatedly in his narrative of Greek history that while the events he wrote

about were taking place his fellow Cymeans had for centuries sat idly by and

kept the peace.

Politically, Cyme is assumed to have started as a settler democracy following

in the tradition of other established colonies in the region although Aristotle

concluded that by the 7th and 6th centuries BC the once great democracies in the

Greek world (including Cyme) evolved not from democracies to oligarchies as was

the natural custom but from democracies to tyrannies.^[5]

Cyme was an important settlement long before the prominent events of the

Greco-Persian wars. Evidence has pointed to Cyme establishing itself not as a

democracy but rather a monarchy under King Agamemnon of Cyme who supposedly

married his daughter to King Midas of Lydia

[6]

 5th

Century BC

By the 5th century BC, Cyme was one of the 12 established Ionian colonies in

Aeolis.^[4]

Herodotus (4.138) mentions that one of the esteemed voters deciding whether or

not to support Militiades the Athenian in his plan to liberate the Ionian Coast

from Persian rule in (year BC) was Aristagoras of Cyme. Aristagorus campaigned

on the side of Histiaeus the Milesian with the tyrants Strattis of Chios, Aeaces

of Samos and Laodamas of Phocaea in opposing such an initiative arguing instead

that each tyrant along the Ionian Coast owed their position to Darius King of

Persia and that liberating their own cities would encourage democracy over

tyranny. Cyme eventually came under the control of the

Persian Empire

following the collapse of the

Lydian Kingdom

at the hands of Cyrus the Great.

Herodotus

is the principal source for this period in Greek history and has paid a great

deal of attention to events taking place in Ionia and Aeolis.

When Pactyes, the Lydian general 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.

After the Persian naval defeat at Salamis, Xerxes moored the surviving ships

at Cyme. Before 480 BC, Cyme had been the principle naval base for the Royal

Fleet.^[7]

Later accounts of Cyme’s involvement in the

Ionian Revolt

which triggered the Persian Wars confirm their allegiance to

the Ionian Greek cause. During this time, Herodotus states that due to the size

of the Persian army,

Darius the Great

was able to launch a devastating three-pronged attack on

the Ionian cities. The third army which he sent north to take

Sardis
was

under the command of his son-in-law

Otanes
who

promptly captured Cyme and

Clazomenae

in the process. However later accounts reveal how Sandoces, the

supposed Ionian governor of Cyme helped draft a fleet of fifteen ships for

Xerxes I

great expedition against mainland Greece c. 480 BC. Cyme is also

believed to have been the port in which the Persian survivors of the

Battle 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 supplying 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.

Once Aristagoras

of

Miletus

roused the Ionians to rebel against

Darius
, Cyme

joined the insurrection. However, the revolts at Cyme were quelled once the city

was recovered by the

Persians

.^[8]

Sandoces, the governor of Cyme at the time of

Xerxes

, commanded fifteen ships in the Persian military expedition against

Greece (480 BC). Herodotus believes that Sandoces may have been a Greek.^[9]

After the

Battle of Salamis

, the remnants of Xerxes’s fleet wintered at Cyme.^[10]

Thucydides does not provide any significant mention of place is hardly more than

mentioned in the history of

Thucydides
.^[11]

 Roman

and Byzantine eras

Polybius

records that Cyme obtained freedom from taxation following the defeat of

Antiochus III

, later being incorporated into

Roman

Asia province.^[12]

During the reign of

Tiberius
,

the city is believed to have suffered from a great earthquake, common in the

Aegean.^[13]

Other Roman sources such as

Pliny the Elder

mention Cyme as one of the cities of

Aeolia
^[14]

which supports

Herodotus
‘

similar claim:^[15]

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.

Archaeological coinage exists from the Roman Imperial era from

Nero to

Gallienus
.

The river god Hermos, horse with their forefoot raised and victorious athletes

are typical symbols commonly found on period coinage minted at Cyme.^[16]

Later under the leadership of the

Eastern Roman Empire

, Cyme became a

bishop
‘s see.

 Archaeology

Archaeologists first started taking an interest in the site in 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^[17]

began his own project in 1955 which uncovered an Orientalising ceramic on the

southern hill. Between 1979-1984, the Izmir Museum carried out similar

excavations at various locations around the site, uncovering further

inscriptions and structures on the southern hill.

Geophysical studies at Cyme in more recent years, have given archaeologists a

much greater knowledge of the site without being as intrusive. Geomagnetic

surveys of the terrain reveal additional structures 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 using 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.^[17]

 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.