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KELENES (Ancient city) TURKEY
Celaenae, a city of Phrygia. Strabo says
that the Maeander rises in a hill Celaenae, on which there was a city of the same
name as the hill, the inhabitants of which were removed to Apameia. Hamilton,
who visited the source (Researches, &c. vol. i. p. 499), says that at the base
of a rocky cliff a considerable stream of water gushes out with great rapidity.
This source of the Marsyas, and the cliff above it, may have been within the city
of Celaenae; but it did not appear to Hamilton that this cliff could be the acropolis
of Celaenae which Alexander considered to be impregnable (Arrian. Anab. i. 29;
Curt. iii. 1), and came to terms with the inhabitants. He supposes that the acropolis
may have been further to the NE., a lofty hill about a mile from the ravine of
the Marsyas (vol. ii. p. 366).
Herodotus speaks of Celaenae in describing the march of Xerxes to
Sardis (B.C. 481). He says (vii. 26) that the sources of the Maeander are here,
and those of a stream not less than the Maeander: it is named Catarrhactes, and,
rising in the Agora of Celaenae, flows into the Maeander. Xenophon, in describing
the march of Cyrus (Anab. i. 2. § 7), says that Cyrus had a palace at Celaenae,
and a large park, full of wild animals; the Maeander flowed through the park,
and also through the city, its source being in the palace. There was also a palace
of the Persian king at Celaenae, a strong place at the source of the Marsyas,
under the acropolis; and the Marsyas also flows through the city, and joins the
Maeander. The sources of the Marsyas were in a cave, and the width of the river
was 25 feet; within Celaenae perhaps he means. The Catarrhactes of Herodotus is
clearly the Marsyas of Xenophon, and the stream which Hamilton describes, who
adds, it appeared as if it had formerly risen in the centre of a great cavern,
and that the surrounding rocks had fallen in from the cliffs above. The descriptions
of Herodotus and Xenophon, though not the same, are perhaps not inconsistent.
The town, palaces, acropolis, and parks of Celaenae must have occupied a large
surface. In Livy's description (xxxviii. 13), the Maeander rises in the acropolis
of Celaenae, and runs through the middle of the city; and the Marsyas, which rises
not far from the sources of the Maeander, joins the Maeander. When the people
of Celaenae were removed to the neighboring site of Apameia Cibotus, they probably
took the materials of the old town with them. Strabo's description of the position
of Apameia is not free from difficulty. Leake thinks that it clearly appears from
Strabo that both the rivers (Marsyas and Maeander) ran through Celaenae, and that
they united in the suburb, which afterwards became the new city Apameia. It is
certain that Celaenae was near Apameia, the site of which is well fixed.
It was an unlucky guess of Strabo, and a bad piece of etymology, to
suggest that Celaenae night take its name from the dark colour of the rocks, in
consequence of their being burnt. But Hamilton observed that all the rocks are,
without exception, of a greyish white or cream-coloured limestone. The rock which
overhangs the sources of the Marsyas contains many nummulites, and broken fragments
of other bivalve shells.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Founded at the junction of the roads that still join Ionia to the East, and Phrygia to Pamphylia, as in antiquity. In 333 B.C. Alexander the Great marched to Kelainai on his expedition through Asia Minor and left there as satrap of Phrygia one of his best generals, Antigonos. This was the opening move in the maneuver for succession that culminated in 301 in the events that led to the battle of Ipsos (Paus. 1.8.1; Diod. 20.107.2-4), in which Seleukos I was victorious. His son Antiochos Soter (324-261 B.C.) moved Kelainai to the plain, rebuilt it, and named it after his mother. The meeting place of the conventus iuridicus in the Roman period, the city later became a bishopric. There are no remains in situ except the old and new city walls. Fragments of columns and architraves, as well as some inscriptions can, however, be seen in some gardens of the town.
C. Bayburtluoglu, 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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