Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ZILA Ancient city TURKEY" .
ZILA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Zela (ta Zela), a town in the interior of Pontus, on the left bank
of the Iris, towards the Galatian frontier, was believed to have been erected
on a mound constructed by Semiramis. (Strab.xii. p. 561, comp. pp. 512, 559.)
It seems to have originally been a place consecrated to the worship of the goddess
Anaitis, to whom a temple was built there by the Persians in commemoration of
a victory over the Sacae. The chief priest of this temple was regarded as the
sovereign of Zela and its territory (Zeletis). Notwithstanding this, however,
it remained a small place until Pompey, after his victory over Mithridates, raised
it to the rank of a city by increasing its population and extending its walls.
Zela is celebrated in history for a victory obtained in its vicinity by Mithridates
over the Romans under Triarius, and still more for the defeat of Pharnaces, about
which Caesar sent to Rome the famous report Veni, Vidi, Vici. (Plin. vi. 3; Appian,
Mithrid. 89; Plut. Caes. 50; Dion Cass. xlii. 47, where the place is erroneously
called Zeleia; Hirt. Bell. Alex. 73, where it is called Ziela; Ptol. v. 6. § 10;
Hierocl. p. 701; Steph. B. s. v.) Zela was situated at a distance of four days'
journey (according to the Peut. Table 80 miles) from Tavium, and south-east of
Amasia. The elevated ground on which the town was situated, and which Strabo calls
the mound of Semiramis, was, according to Hirtius, a natural hill, but so shaped
that it might seem to be the work of human hands. According to Hamilton (Researches,
i. p. 306), is a black-coloured isolated hill rising out of the plain, and is
now crowned with a Turkish fortress, which still bears the name of Zilleh.
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
(ta Zela) or Ziela. Now Zilleh; a city in the south of Pontus, not far south of Amasia. The surrounding district was called Zeletis or Zelitis. At Zela the Roman general Valerius Triarius was defeated by Mithridates; but the city is more celebrated for another great battle, that in which Iulius Caesar defeated Pharnaces, and of which he wrote his famous despatch to Rome--Veni, vidi, vici.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Some 57 km S of Amasya (Amaseia) on the old route to Sebasteia, where
this was crossed by one of the Roman roads from Tavion to Neocaesarea. Under the
Mithridatids Zela was a temple settlement with its own territory tilled by the
temple serfs and governed by the priest of Anaitis. The Hellenized Persian cult
of Anaitis, Omanos, and Anadatos was apparently established during the Persian
occupation. Zela was a less important sanctuary than Comana Pontica, 67 km to
the E, but it had special sanctity for making oaths. The precinct of Anaitis was
defended by a wall. In Pompey's settlement of Pontus (64 B.C.) Zela, unlike Comana,
received a civic constitution and a sizable territory. It was near here that Julius
Caesar defeated Pharnakes II of Pontus (47 B.C.) and reported "Veni, vidi,
vici." Under Antony, Zela lost the E part of its territory to Comana and
temporarily reverted to its previous status as a temple domain. A generation later
it was in the hands of Pythodoris of Pontus, and it remained in the Pontic kingdom
until its annexation by Rome in A.D. 64-65.
The site is a low hill rising from the fertile plain of Zile Ovasi,
ca. 18 km from the Yesil Irmak (Iris fl.). Byzantine and Turkish fortifications
have replaced the temple precinct of Anaitis on the summit. On the NE flank a
small theater was partly carved in the living rock, partly built up in masonry
or timber. Nearby is a single rock-cut tomb.
D. R. Wilson, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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