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Sigeum (Sigeion or he Sigeias akra), a promontory in Troas, forming
the north-western extremity of Asia Minor, at the entrance of the Hellespont,
and opposite the town of Elaeus, in the Thracian Chersonesus. Near it the naval
camp of the Greeks was said to have been formed during the Trojan War. (Herod.
v. 65, 94; Thucyd. viii. 101; Strab. xiii. pp. 595, 603; Pomp. Mela, i. 18; Plin.
v. 33; Ptol. v. 2. § 3; Serv. ad Aen. ii. 312.) This promontory is now called
Yenisheri.
Near the promontory was situated the town of Sigeum, which is said
to have been an Aeolian colony, founded under the guidance of Archaeanax. of Mytilene,
who used the stones of ancient Troy in building this new place. But some years
later the Athenians sent troops under Phrynon and expelled the Mytileneans; and
this act of violence led to a war between the two cities, which lasted for a long
time, and was conducted with varying success. Pittacus, the wise Mytilenean, is
said to have slain Phrynon in single combat. The poet Alcaeus also was engaged
in one of the actions. The dispute was at length referred to Periander, of Corinth,
who decided in favour of the Athenians. (Strab. xiii. p. 599; Herod. v. 95; Steph.
B. s. v.; Diog. Laert. i. 74.) Henceforth we find the Pisistratidae in possession
of Sigeum, and Hippias, after being expelled from Athens, is known to have retired
there with his family. (Herod. v. 65). The town of Sigeum was destroyed by the
inhabitants of Ilium soon after the overthrow of the Persian empire, so that in
Strabo's time it no longer existed. (Strab. xiii. p. 600; Plin. v. 33.) A hill
near Sigeum, forming a part of the promontory, was believed in antiquity to contain
the remains of Achilles, which was looked upon with such veneration that gradually
a small town seems to have risen around it, under the name of Achilleum. This
tomb, which was visited by Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Germanicus,
is still visible in the form of a mound or tumulus.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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