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Greek city of
Magnesia ad Maeandrum in
Ionia
Bronze 16mm (3.51 grams) Struck circa 300-200 B.C.
Reference: cf. SNG Copenhagen 817
Horseman galloping right, holding spear.
Bull butting left; ΜΑΓΝ above; magistrate’s
name in exergue; all within Maeander pattern circle.
Situated south-east of Ephesus, on a tributary of the Maeander,
Magnesia was originally founded from Thessaly but was re-established by
colonists from Miletos in the 7th century B.C.
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Magnesia or Magnesia on the Maeander (Ancient Greek:
Μαγνησία ἡ πρὸς Μαιάνδρῳ or
Μαγνησία ἡ ἐπὶ Μαιάνδρῳ;
Latin
: Magnesia ad Maeandrum)
was an
ancient Greek
city in
Ionia
,
considerable in size, at an important location commercially and strategically in
the triangle of Priene
, Ephesus
and
Tralles
. The city was named Magnesia, after the
Magnetes
from Thessaly
who settled the area along with some
Cretans
. It was
later called “on the Meander” to distinguish it from the nearby
Lydian
city
Magnesia ad Sipylum
.
The territory around Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent
wine,
figs
, and
cucumbers
.
It was built on the slope of
Mount Thorax
,
on the banks of the small river
Lethacus
, a
tributary
of the
Maeander
river upstream from
Ephesus
. It
was 15 miles from the city of
Miletus
.
The ruins of the city are located west of the modern village Tekin in the
Germencik
district of
Aydın Province
, Turkey
.
Magnesia lay within
Ionia
, but
because it had been settled by
Aeolians
from Greece, was not accepted into the Ionian League. Magnesia may have been
ruled for a time by the
Lydians
,
and was for some time under the control of the
Persians
, and subject to
Cimmerian
raids. In later years, Magnesia supported the
Romans
in the
Second Mithridatic War
.
General history
Magnesia soon attained great power and prosperity, so as to be able to cope
even with a challenge from
Ephesus
.
However, the city was taken and destroyed by the
Cimmerians
,
some time between 726 BC and 660 BC. The deserted site was soon reoccupied, and
rebuilt by the
Milesians
or, according to Athenaeus,
by the
Ephesians
. The Persian satraps of Lydia also occasionally resided in the
place.
In the fifth century BC, the exiled Athenian
Themistocles
came to
Persia
to offer his services to
Artaxerxes
, and was given control of Magnesia to support his family.
The name “magnet”
may come from lodestones
found in Magnesia.
In the time of the
Romans
,
Magnesia was added to the kingdom of
Pergamus
,
after
Antiochus
had been driven eastward beyond
Mount Taunts
.
After this time the town seems to have declined and is rarely mentioned, though
it is still noticed by
Pliny
and Tacitus
.
Hierocles
ranks it among the
bishoprics of Asia
, and later documents seem to imply that at one time it
bore the name of
Maeandropolis
.
The existence of the town in the time of the emperors
Aurelius
and
Gallienus
is attested to by coins.
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
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.
The new town which Strabo saw was remarkable for its temple of
Artemis
Leucophryeno, which in size and the number of its treasures was surpassed by the
temple of Ephesus
,
but in beauty and the harmony of its parts was superior to all the temples in
Asia Minor. The temple to Artemis is said by
Vitruvius
to have been built by the architect
Hermogenes
, in the
Ionic
style.
Little remains of either temple today. The site of Magnesia on the Maeander
was once identified with the modern
Guzel-kissar
; 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
Carl
Humann
, discoverer of the
Pergamon Altar
. These lasted 21 months and partially revealed the theatre,
the Artemis
temple, the agora
,
the Zeus
temple and
the prytaneion
. Excavations were resumed at the site, after an interval of
almost 100 years, in 1984, by Orhan Bingöl of the
University of Ankara
and
the
Turkish Ministry of Culture
.
Findings from the site are now displayed in
Istanbul
and Aydın
, as
well as in Berlin
and Paris
. Copies
of the portico (pronaos)
of the Zeus temple and of a bay of the Artemis temple can be visited in the
Pergamonmuseum
in Berlin. The most of the architectural remains of Magnesia
have been destroyed by local lime burners. The well preserved remains of the
Zeus temple have been destroyed by local residents even after Humann’s
excavation campaign.
Notable people
-
Bathycles
(6th century BC) Greek sculptor
-
Themistocles
of Athens spent his final years and was buried here
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
.
References
- General
- In Smith, W. (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography. Boston:
Little, Brown & Co
Page 252
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