Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "HERAKLIA OF PONTOS Ancient city TURKEY".
A natural haven on the S coast of the Black Sea (Pontos Euxeinos),
the first of any importance E of the Bosporus. Herakleia was a Megarian colony
founded ca. 558 B.C. in Mariandynian territory on the E margin of Bithynia. It
founded colonies of its own in the late 6th c. at Kallatis and Chersonnesos on
the opposite shore of the Euxine, as well as emporia along the coast W towards
the Bosporus. In addition, it established a small land empire by reducing the
Mariandynoi to helotage and subjecting the small Greek cities of Sesamos, Tios,
and Kieros. In the early 3d c. B.C. this subject territory seceded, but was restored
to Herakleia ca. 278 B.C. by Nikomedes I of Bithynia. In the early 2d c. this
same territory was lost to Prousias I of Bithynia, though Herakleia itself was
still independent when Bithynia was annexed by Rome in 74 B.C. It proceeded to
slaughter a group of Roman publicani and submitted to Mithridates VI Eupator of
Pontus, but was captured by Cotta and devastated in 70 B.C. In Pompey's settlement
of the joint province of Bithynia-Pontus (64 B.C.), Herakleia was transferred
from the Bithynian to the Pontic portion and was henceforth known as Herakleia
in Pontus. A colony was established there by Julius Caesar, and the remainder
of the city presented by Antony to a Galatian prince, Adiatorix, who massacred
the coloni and was removed by Octavian. Under the Empire Herakleia became metropolis
of the coastal cities of Pontus.
Herakleia's mythical founder Herakles was said to have reached the
underworld through a cavern on Baba Burnu (Acherousia pr.), a headland 2 km NW
of Eregli. The harbor, praised by Strabo (12.542), lay close in under this headland,
which protected it from NE storms. There were two moles, and the lighthouse, known
from coins, presumably stood (like its modern counterpart) on the tip of Baba
Burnu. The Greek city lay on the flat ground beside the harbor, with a citadel
rising on the SE side. All but one short length of the walls has disappeared,
as has the Roman temple seen by Ainsworth. The area of the harbor and much of
the Greek city are made inaccessible by a Turkish naval base; and the citadel,
similarly, by a Turkish shore battery. The modern town, on the S and W slopes
of the citadel hill, contains many Roman and Byzantine inscribed and sculptured
stones, but its walls are mediaeval. It is not clear whether the Roman city lay
here or on the site of the original Greek colony. Farther SE another Roman temple
was visited by Ainsworth and von Diest, and an aqueduct was visible to Perrot.
The amphitheater (shown on coins) has not been located.
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.
Total results on 4/5/2001: 7
Pontica (Herakleia Pontou). A city on the coast of Bithynia, about twelve stadia from the river Lycus. It was founded by a colony of Megareans, strengthened by some Tanagreans from Boeotia; the numbers of the former, however, so predominated that the city was in general considered as Doric. This place was famed for its naval power and its consequence among the Asiatic States. Memnon composed a history of the tyrants who reigned at Heraclea during a space of eighty-four years; but we have only now the abridgment of Photius, which is confirmed by incidental notices contained in Aristotle.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Heracleia, surnamed Pontica, on the coast of Phrygia, in the country of the Mariandyni, was a colony of the Megarians, in conjunction with Tanagraeans from Boeotia. (Paus. v. 26. § 6; Justin. xvi. 3.) Strabo (xii. p. 542) erroneously calls the town a colony of Miletus. It was situated a few miles to the north of the river Lycus, and had two excellent harbours, the smaller of which was made artificially. (Xen. Anab. vi. 2. 1; Diod. xiv. 31; Arrian, Peripl. p. 15; Memnon, p. 52.) Owing to its excellent situation, the town soon rose to a high degree of prosperity, and not only reduced the Mariandyni to subjection, but acquired the supremacy of several other Greek towns in its neighbourhood; so that, at the time of its highest prosperity, it ruled over the whole territory extending from the Sangarius in the west to the Parthenius in the east. A protracted struggle between the aristocracy and the demos (Aristot. Polit. v. 5) at last obliged the inhabitants to submit to a tyrannis. In the reign of Dionysius, one of these tyrants, who was married to a relation of Darius Codomannus, Heracleia reached the zenith of its prosperity. But this state of things did not last long; for the rising power of the Bithynian princes, who tried to reduce that prosperous maritime city, and the arrival of the Galatians in Asia, who were instigated by the kings of Bithynia against Heracleia, deprived the town gradually of a considerable part of its territory. Still, however, it continued to maintain a very prominent place among the Greek colonies in those parts, until, in the war of the Romans against Mithridates, it received its death blow; for Aurelius Cotta plundered and partly destroyed the town (Memnon, c. 54). It was afterwards indeed restored, but remained a town of no importance (oppidum, Plin. vi. 1; comp. Strab. xii. p. 543; Scylax, p. 34; Ptol. v. 1. § 7; Marcian. pp. 70, 73; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 748, ad Nicand. Alex. 13; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 791). Heracleia, which was the birthplace of Heraclides Ponticus and his disciple Dionysius Metathemenus, still exists under the name of Herakie or Erekli. For the history of this important colony see Justin, xvi. 3-5; Polsberw, de Rebus Heracleae, Brandenburg, 1833, 8vo. (Niebuhr, Lect. on Anc. Hist. iii. pp. 113, fol.)
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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