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LYSIMACHIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Lysimachia (Lusimachia or Lusimacheia). An important town on the north-western
extremity of the Thracian Chersonesus, not far from the Sinus Melas. It was built
by Lysimachus in B.C. 309, when he was preparing for the last struggle with his
rivals; for the new city, being situated on the isthmus, commanded the road from
Sestos to the north and the mainland of Thrace. In order to obtain inhabitants
for his new city, Lysimachus destroyed the neighbouring town of Cardia, the birthplace
of the historian Hieronymus. (Strab. ii. p. 134, vii. p. 331; Paus. i. 9. § 10;
Diod xx. 29; Polyb. v. 34; Plin. H. N. iv. 18.) Lysimachus no doubt made Lysimachia
the capital of his kingdom, and it must have rapidly risen to great splendour
and prosperity. After his death the city fell under the dominion of Syria, and
during the wars between Seleucus Callinicus and Ptolemy Euergetes it passed from
the hands of the Syrians into those of the Egyptians. Whether these latter set
the town free, or whether it emancipated itself, is uncertain, at any rate it
entered into the relation of sympolity with the Aetolians. But as the Aetolians
were not able to afford it the necessary protection, it was destroyed by the Thracians
during the war of the Romans against Philip of Macedonia. Antiochus the Great
restored the place, collected the scattered and enslaved inhabitants, and attracted
colonists from all parts by liberal promises. (Liv. xxxiii. 38, 40; Diod. Exc.
de Virt. et Vit. p. 574.) This restoration, however, appears to have been unsuccessful,
and under the dominion of Rome it decayed more and more. The last time the place
is mentioned under its ancient name, is in a passage of Ammianus Marcellinus (xxii.
8). The emperor Justinian restored it and surrounded it with strong fortifications
Procop. de Aed. iv. 10), and after that time it is spoken of only under the name
of Hexamilium (Hexamilion; Symeon, Logoth. p. 408). The place now occupying the
place of Lysimachia, Ecsemil, derives its name from the Justinianean fortress,
though the ruins of the ancient place are more numerous in the neighbouring village
of Baular.
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
(Lusimachia or Lusimacheia). An important town of Thrace, on the Gulf of Melas, and on the isthmus connecting the Thracian Chersonesus with the mainland, founded B.C. 309 by Lysimachus, who removed to his new city the inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Cardia.
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