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Greek city of
Phokaia in
Ionia
Bronze 12mm (1.69 grams) Struck circa 350-300 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4537; B.M.C.14.216,92
Head of nymph Prokaia left, hair in sphendone.
Head of griffin left.
A coastal city of considerable importance, situated forty
miles north-west of Smyrna, Phokaia was one of the first mints, producing
electrum coinage from early in the 6th century until the time of Alexander, a
series that was produced in conjunction with the Lesbian mint of Mytilene.
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In this 1896 painting by
John William Waterhouse
,
Hylas
is abducted by the
Naiads
, i.e. fresh water nymphs
Echo,
an Oread
(mountain nymph) watches
Narcissus
in this 1903 painting by
John William Waterhouse
.
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A
nymph (Greek:
νύμφη, nymphē) in
Greek mythology
and in
Latin mythology
is a minor female nature deity
typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from
goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature,
and are usually depicted as beautiful, young
nubile
maidens who love to dance and sing;
their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and
daughters of the Greek
polis
. They are believed to dwell in
mountains and
groves
, by springs and rivers, and also in
trees and in valleys and cool
grottoes
. Although they would never die of old
age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a
god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to
death in various forms.
Charybdis
and
Scylla
were once nymphs.
Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the
retinue
of a god, such as
Dionysus
,
Hermes
, or
Pan
, or a goddess, generally the huntress
Artemis
. Nymphs were the frequent target of
satyrs
.
Etymology
Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of
nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs: as
Walter Burkert
(Burkert 1985:III.3.3) remarks,
“The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs is deeply rooted not
only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited
only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality.”
The
Greek
word
νύμφη has “bride” and “veiled” among its meanings: hence a marriageable
young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also
Latin
nubere and
German
Knospe) to a root expressing the
idea of “swelling” (according to
Hesychius
, one of the meanings of
νύμφη is “rose-bud”).
Adaptations
The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the
Latin genius loci
, and the difficulty of
transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought
Arethusa
to Sicily. In the works of the
Greek-educated
Latin poets
, the nymphs gradually absorbed into
their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna,
Egeria
,
Carmentis
,
Fontus
), while the
Lymphae
(originally Lumpae), Italian
water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of their names, could be
identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets
were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated
by country people in the springs and clefts of
Latium
. Among the
Roman
literate class, their sphere of influence
was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery
element. Nymphs are also portrayed as selfish and as attention seekers who walk
around naked in the middle of forests.
The
griffin is a
legendary creature
with the body, tail, and
back legs of a lion
; the head and wings of an
eagle
; and an eagle’s talons as its front feet.
As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle
was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful
and majestic creature. The griffin was also thought of as king of the creatures.
Griffins are known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions.
Adrienne Mayor
, a classical folklorist,
proposes that the griffin was an ancient misconception derived from the
fossilized remains of the
Protoceratops
found in gold mines in the
Altai mountains
of
Scythia
, in present day southeastern
Kazakhstan
, or in
Mongolia
.In antiquity it was a
symbol
of
divine power
and a guardian of the divine. Some
have suggested that the word griffin is cognate with
Cherub
.
Phocaea, or Phokaia, (Greek:
Φώκαια) (modern-day
Foça in Turkey
) was an ancient
Ionian
Greek
city on the western coast of
Anatolia
.
Greek colonists
from Phocaea founded the colony
of Massalia (modern day
Marseille
, in
France
) in 600 BC,
Emporion
(modern day
Empúries
, in
Catalonia
,
Spain
) in 575 BC and Elea (modern day
Velia
, in
Campania
,
Italy
) in 540 BC.
Geography
Phocaea was the northernmost of the Ionian cities, on the
boundary with Aeolis
. It was located near the mouth of the
river Hermus (now
Gediz
), and situated on the coast of the
peninsula separating the Gulf of
Cyme
to the north, named for the largest of the
Aeolian
cities, and the Gulf of
Smyrna
(now
İzmir
) to the south.
Phocaea had two natural harbours within close range of the
settlement, both containing a number of small islands. Phocaea’s harbours
allowed it to develop a thriving seafaring economy, and to become a great naval
power, which greatly influenced its culture.
Recent archaeological surveys have shown that the city of
Phocaea was large for the archaic period. Herodotus gives an idea of the size of
Phocaea by the describing the walls of Phocaea as having a diameter of 5 km,
large even by modern standards. Phocaea was one of the largest cities in the
ancient world.
Map of Aegean showing the location of Phocaea.
History
The ancient Greek geographer
Pausanias
says that Phocaea was founded by
Phocians
under
Athenian
leadership, on land given to them by
the Aeolian
Cymaeans
, and that they were admitted into the
Ionian League
after accepting as kings the line
of Codrus
. Pottery remains indicate Aeolian
presence as late as the
9th century BC
, and Ionian presence as early as
the end of the 9th century BC. From this an approximate date of settlement for
Phocaea can be inferred.
According to
Herodotus
the Phocaeans were the first Greeks
to make long sea-voyages, having discovered the coasts of the
Adriatic
,
Tyrrhenia
and Spain. Herodotus relates that
they so impressed
Arganthonios
, king of
Tartessus
in
Spain
, that he invited them to settle there,
and, when they declined, gave them a great sum of money to build a wall around
their city.
Their sea travel was extensive. To the south they probably
conducted trade with the Greek colony of
Naucratis
in
Egypt
, which was the colony of their fellow
Ionian city Miletus
. To the north, they probably helped
settle
Amisos
(Samsun) on the
Black Sea
, and
Lampsacus
at the north end of the
Hellespont
(now the
Dardanelles
). However Phocaea’s major colonies
were to the west. These included
Alalia
in
Corsica
,
Emporiae
and
Rhoda
in Spain, and especially Massalia (Marseille)
in France.
Phocaea remained independent until the reign of the
Lydian
king
Croesus
(circa 560–545 BC), when they, along
with the rest of mainland Ionia, first, fell under Lydian control and then,
along with Lydia (who had allied itself with
Sparta
) were conquered by
Cyrus the Great
of
Persia
in 546 BC, in one of the opening
skirmishes of the great
Greco-Persian conflict
.
Rather than submit to Persian rule, the Phocaeans abandoned
their city. Some may have fled to
Chios
, others to their colonies on
Corsica
and elsewhere in the
Mediterranean
, with some eventually returning
to Phocaea. Many however became the founders of
Elea
, around 540 BC.
In 500 BC, Phocaea joined the
Ionian Revolt
against Persia. Indicative of its
naval prowess,
Dionysius
, a Phocaean was chosen to command the
Ionian fleet at the decisive
Battle of Lade
, in 494 BC. However, indicative
of its declining fortunes, Phocaea was only able to contribute three ships, out
of a total of “three hundred and fifty three”. The Ionian fleet was defeated and
the revolt ended shortly thereafter.
After the defeat of
Xerxes I
by the Greeks in 480 BC and the
subsequent rise of Athenian power, Phocaea joined the
Delian League
, paying tribute to Athens of two
talents
. In 412 BC, during the
Peloponnesian War
, with the help of
Sparta
, Phocaea rebelled along with the rest of
Ionia. The
Peace of Antalcidas
, which ended the
Corinthian War
, returned nominal control to
Persia in 386 BC.
In 343 BC, the Phocaeans unsuccessfully laid siege to
Kydonia
on the island of
Crete
.
During the
Hellenistic period
it fell under
Seleucid
, then
Attalid
rule.
It was later briefly under the control of
Benedetto Zaccaria
, the
Genoan
ambassador to
Byzantium
; Zaccaria amassed a considerable
fortune from his properties there. It remained a Genoese colony until it was
taken by the Turks in 1455. It is a
titular see
of the
Roman Catholic Church
.
Coinage
Probably following the Lydians, the Phocaeans were among the
earliest in the world to make and use coins as money. Its earliest coins were
made of electrum
, a naturally occurring alloy of silver
and gold. The
British Museum
has a Phocaean coin containing
the image of a seal dating from 600–550 BC.
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