Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "DASKYLION Ancient city TURKEY" .
DASKYLION (Ancient city) TURKEY
Dascylium (Daskulion, Daskuleion, Dascylus: Eth. Daskulites). Stephanus
B. (s. v.) mentions several Asiatic cities called Dascylium. The only place of
any historical note is the town near the Propontis. Herodotus (iii. 120) mentions
Mitrobates, a Persian, as governor of the nome in Dascylium; and again (iii. 126),
he calls the same man the governor of Dascylium (ton ek Daskuleiou huparchon).
But in vi. 33, he speaks of the Cyziceni submitting to Oebares, son of Megabazus,
the governor in Dascylium. Agesilaus, in one of his campaigns, marched to Phrygia,
and came near Dascylium. (Xen. Hell. iii. 1. 13) Xenophon, who speaks of the Phrygia
of Pharnabazus, seems to place Dascylium in Phrygia (Hell. iv. 1. § 15); but his
narrative is confused, and nothing can be learned from it as to the position of
Daseylium. He says that Pharnabazus had his palace here, and there were many large
villages about it, which abounded with supplies; and there were hunting grounds,
both in enclosed parks and in the open country, very fine. A river flowed round
the place, and it was full of fish. There was also plenty of birds. The governor
spent his winter here; from which fact and the context we seem to learn that it
was in the low country. Alexander, after the battle of the Granicus, sent Parmeno
to take Dascylium (Arrian, Anab. i. 17. § 2); but there is nothing in Arrian which
shows its position. The town does not seem to have been a large place, but it
gave name to a Persian satrapy (ten Daskulitin satrapeian, Thucyd. i. 129), the
extent of which cannot be defined.
Strabo says that, above the lake Dascylitis, there are two large lakes,
the Apolloniatis and the Miletopolitis; and on the Dascylitis is the town of Dascylium.
We must therefore look for Dascylium and its lake between the shores of the Propontis
and the lakes Apolloniatis and Miletopolitis. Strabo also says that the Doliones
are a people about Cyzicus, from the river Aesepus to the Rhyndacus and the lake
Dascylitis; from which we might perhaps conclude that the Dascylitis is east of
the Rhyndacus; and another passage seems to lead to the same conclusion. In Strabo's
time the territory of the Cyziceni extended to the Miletopolitis and the Apolloniatis;
they had also one part of the Dascylitis, and the Byzantines had the other. From
this also we infer that it was east of the Rhyndacus. Mela (i. 19), in express
words, places Dascylos, as he calls it, east of the Rhyndacus. Pliny (v. 32) says
that it is on the coast. Hecataeus, quoted by Strabo, says that a river Odrysses
flows from the west out of the Dascylitis, through the plains of Mygdonia, into
the Rhyndacus. But this description applies to a lake west of the Rhyndacus. Strabo
further says that the lake Dascylitis was also called Aphnitis; and he again mentions
the Aphnitis, but without identifying it with the Dascylitis. Stephanus (s. v.
Aphneion) says that the lake near Cyzicus is Aphnitis, and that it was formerly
called Artynia. There is no lake nearer to Cyzicus than the lake of Maniyas, west
of the Rhyndacus, which is the ancient Miletopolitis. The Rhyndacus flows through
the Apolloniatis.
Leake, in his map of Asia Minor, marks a lake Dascylitis north of
the Apolloniatis, and consequently between it and the shore of the Propontis,
and east of the course of the Rhyndacus after it has flowed from the Apolloniatis.
Some authorities speak of a lake in this part called Diaskilli, or some name like
it; but this seems to require further confirmation. This town Dascylium must have
existed to a late time, for a bishop of Dascylia is mentioned. (Plin. v. 32, ed.
Harduin.)
What we can learn about Dascylium is very unsatisfactory. There is
a river marked in the newest maps, which rises near Broussa, and flows westward
towards the Rhyndacus, but its junction with the Rhyndacus is not marked. It is
called the Lufer Su, or Nifer. Cramer (Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 172) conjectures
that this may be the Odrysses of Hecataeus, though it does not run in the direction
described in Strabo's text; and that it is also the river described by Xenophon.
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
Total results on 25/4/2001: 16 for Daskyleion, 1 for Daskylion.
Stephanos Byzantios records five cities called Daskyleion in W Asia
Minor, one of which, according to Xenophon (Hell. 4.1.15; Hell. Oxyrhynchia 17.3),
was the residence of Pharanabazus, Persian satrap of the Hellespont and Phrygia.
This has been identified with the city mound called Hisartepe on the SW shore
of Lake Manyas, near Ergili, where excavations have yielded many Achaemenid bullae
in Graeco-Persian style bearing Aramaic inscriptions. Consequently the lake is
to be identified with Daskulitis Limne: according to Strabo (12.575) Daskyleion
lay on this lake.
Three Graeco-Persian funerary stelai found in Daskyleion are now in
the Istanbul museum.
E. Akurgal, 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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