Ephorus of Cyme ( / ˈ ɛ f ər ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἔφορος ὁ Κυμαῖος , Ephoros ho Kymaios ; c. 400 BC – 330 BC) was an ancient Greek historian known for his universal history .
77-536: Information on his biography is limited. He was born in Cyme , Aeolia , and together with the historian Theopompus was a pupil of Isocrates in rhetoric . He does not seem to have made much progress as a speaker, and at the suggestion of Isocrates himself he took up literary composition and the study of history . According to Plutarch , Ephorus declined Alexander the Great 's offer to join him on his Persian campaign as
154-543: A candidate for the title of the Second Oldest coins - and the first used for retailing on a large-scale basis by the Ionian Greeks , which quickly spreading Market Economics through the rest of the world. For an excellent timeline graphic showing the progression from pre-coin, to lion, to horsehead imagery on the earliest coins, see Basic Electrum Types. Damodice may still have been instrumental in striking
231-752: A certain Agamemnon, king of Aeolian Cyme , married a Phrygian king called Midas. This link may have facilitated the Greeks "borrowing" their alphabet from the Phrygians because the Phrygian letter shapes are closest to the inscriptions from Aeolis. A passage in Pollux speaks about those who invented the process of coining money mentioning Pheidon and Demodike from Cyme , wife of the Phrygian king, Midas , and daughter of King Agamemnon of Cyme. Politically, Cyme
308-456: A demand to Cyme that Pactyes should be surrendered, and the men of the town decided to consult the oracle at Branchidae as to whether they should obey ... The messengers returned home to report, and the citizens of Cyme were prepared in consequence to give up the wanted man. After the Persian naval defeat at Salamis , Xerxes moored the surviving ships at Cyme. Before 480 BC, Cyme had been
385-526: A depth of between 25 and 45 m. "Whether or not this town can be identified with Helike is a question to be answered by extensive underwater research. In any case, the discovery of this town can be regarded as an extremely interesting find", according to the Greek scientific journal Archaeology . In 1988, the Greek archaeologist Dora Katsonopoulou, president of the Helike Society, and Steven Soter of
462-420: A large scale, the city would have been taken downward below the sea level. Also, if an earthquake caused the sections of coastline to fall into the sea, this would have created a tsunami, which in turn would have flooded the inland lagoon with the city in it. Over time, the river sediment coming down from the mountains would have filled in the lagoon hiding the city remains beneath the solid ground. Before Helike
539-454: A patriotic essay in which he praised the traditions of Cyme . He also wrote Peri heurematon (Περὶ εὑρημάτων), a book about inventions, and Peri lexeos (Περὶ λέξεως), "On Style". Music was invented to deceive and delude mankind. — Ephorus, in History , preface. Other works attributed to him were: Despite having written all these works, nothing but isolated fragments survived from
616-534: A regional metropolis and founded about thirty towns and settlements in Aeolis. The Cymeans were later ridiculed as a people who had for three hundred years lived on the coast and not once exacted harbor taxes on ships making port. Hesiod's father is said to have started his journey across the Aegean from Cyme. The cities of southern Aeolis in the region surrounding Cyme occupied a good belt of land with rough mountains in
693-602: A river, believed to be that of the Hyllus . Little is known about the foundation of the city to supplement the traditional founding legend. Kyme was the largest of the Aiolian cities. According to legend, it was founded by the Amazon Kyme. The Amazons were a mythical tribe of warlike women from Pontos (or variously from Kolchis , Thrace or Scythia ), who fought against Greek heroes. Ancient coins from Cyme often depict
770-473: A similar disaster, an earthquake followed by a tsunami , occurred on the same spot. The earthquake was preceded by a sudden explosion, like that produced by a battery of cannon. The aftershock was said to have lasted a minute and a half, during which the sea rose at the mouth of the Selinous River and extended to cover all the ground immediately below Aigio (the ancient Αἴγιον). After its retreat, not
847-442: A time span of more than seven hundred years. According to Polybius , Ephorus was the first historian to ever author a universal history. For each of the 29 separate books, Ephorus wrote a prooimion . The work was probably simply named Historiai , and followed a thematic, rather than a strictly chronological order in its narrative. These writings are generally believed to be the main or sole source for Diodorus Siculus ' account of
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#1732776104275924-499: A trace was left of some artillery depots which had stood on the shore, and the beach was carried away completely. In Aigio, 65 people died and two thirds of its buildings were entirely ruined, as were five villages in the plain. The submerged town was long a mystery for underwater archaeology . People were divided in their opinions about the exact location of Helike and produced numerous works and hypotheses: In 1826, François Pouqueville , French diplomat and archaeologist, who wrote
1001-484: Is assumed to have started as a settler democracy following in the tradition of other established colonies in the region although Aristotle concluded that by the 7th and 6th centuries BCE the once great democracies in the Greek world (including Cyme) evolved not from democracies to oligarchies as was the natural custom but from democracies to tyrannies. By the 5th century BC, Cyme was one of the 12 established Ionian colonies in Aeolis. Herodotus (4.138) mentions that one of
1078-541: Is hardly more than mentioned in the history of Thucydides . Polybius records that Cyme obtained freedom from taxation following the defeat of Antiochus III , later being incorporated into Roman Asia province. During the reign of Tiberius , the city suffered from a great earthquake , common in the Aegean. Other Roman sources such as Pliny the Elder mention Cyme as one of the cities of Aeolia which supports Herodotus ' similar claim: The above-mentioned, then, are
1155-402: Is not a person of any scrupulous honour; he is often duped, often he tries to dupe. For example, he asserts that the great comet which, by its rising, sank Helice and Buris , which was carefully watched by the eyes of the whole world since it drew issues of great moment in its train, split up into two stars; but nobody besides him has recorded it. Who, I wonder, could observe the moment at which
1232-404: Is noteworthy that the coins from Cyme, when first circulated around 600-550 BC, utilised the symbol of the horse - tying them to the house of Agamemnon and the glory of the Greek victory over Troy . Cyme, being geographically and politically close to Lydia , took their invention of 'nobleman's tax-tokens' to the citizens - thus making Cyme's rough incuse horse head silver fractions, Hemiobols ,
1309-593: The American Museum of Natural History launched the Helike Project to locate the site of the lost city. Ancient texts, telling the story of Helike, said that the city had sunk into a poros , which everyone interpreted as the Corinthian Gulf . However, Katsonopoulou and Soter raised the possibility that poros could have meant an inland lagoon . If an earthquake caused soil liquefaction on
1386-788: The Archaic period , a bronze snake head, and rare golden necklace were found. Later, following its fall to the Achaeans, Helike led the Achaean League , an association that joined twelve neighboring cities in an area including today's town of Aigio . Helike, also known as Dodekapolis (from the Greek words dodeka meaning twelve and polis meaning city), became a cultural and religious center with its own coinage. Finds from ancient Helike are limited to two fifth-century copper coins, now housed in Bode Museum , Berlin . The obverse shows
1463-460: The Battle of Leuctra , during a winter night. Several events were construed in retrospect as having warned of the disaster: some "immense columns of flame" appeared, and five days previously, all animals and vermin fled the city, going toward Keryneia . The city and a space of 12 stadia below it sank into the earth and were covered over by the sea. All the inhabitants perished without a trace, and
1540-531: The Mycenaean period (c. 1750-1050 BC) were also found, becoming the principal city of Achaea . The poet Homer states that the city of Helike participated in the Trojan War as a part of Agamemnon 's forces. In the space of a possible little Poseidon temple, beginning around 850 BC, religious artifacts like bronze and clay items such as figurines, clay chariot wheels, iron weapons, and pottery dating to
1617-566: The Research about Helike and in 1968 Helike-Thira-Thebes ; in 1962 George K. Georgalas, the Greek writer; and in 1967 Nikos Papahatzis , a Greek archaeologist who published Pausanias’ Description of Greece . Spyridon Marinatos said that only the declaration of a third world war would obscure the discovery of Helike. In 1967, Harold Eugene Edgerton worked with the American researcher Peter Throckmorton . They were convinced that Helike
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#17327761042751694-561: The Voyage en Grèce ; in 1851 Ernst Curtius the German archaeologist and historian who speculated about its location; in 1879 J. F. Julius Schmidt , the director of Athens Observatory, issuing a study comparing the Aegeion earthquake which occurred 26 December 1861 with an earthquake which might have destroyed Helike; in 1883 Spiros Panagiotopoulos , the mayor of Aegeion city, wrote about
1771-503: The ancient world . His entire work has been lost. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , his surviving writings all show a certain lack of passion, in spite of his keen interest in matters of style, and of political partisanship, except for his enthusiasm for Cyme. According to ancient writers, he was respected as an able and thorough, though somewhat dull historiographer. He
1848-531: The 8th century BC known as Mita. However, as with all fables, there is a problem with the dates. Coins were not invented until 610 BC by King Alyattes in Lydia whose kingdom started well after the Phrygian kingdom collapsed. His Lydian Lion was most likely the oldest coin type circulated. There were some pre-coin types, with no recognisable image, used in the Ionian city of Miletus and the island of Samos but it
1925-456: The Greek god Apollo (supporting the claim that they were of Ionic not eastern culture), who said after much confusion through an oracle that he should be handed over. However, a native of Cyme questioned Apollo 's word and went back to the oracle himself to confirm if indeed Apollo wanted the Cymians to surrender Pactyes. Not wanting to come to grief over the surrender of Pactyes, nor wanting
2002-624: The Late Bronze Age and early Greek Dark Ages, the dialect of Cyme and the surrounding region of Aeolis, like that of neighboring island Lesbos , closely resembled the local dialect of Thessalia and Boetia in continental Greece. The city was founded after the Trojan War by Greeks from Locris , central Greece, after they have first captured the Pelasgian citadel of Larisa near the river Hermus. Cyme prospered and developed into
2079-617: The Persian King Cyrus the Great : c.546 BC Pactyes, when he learnt that an army was already on his tracks and near, took fright and fled to Cyme, and Mazares the Mede marched to Sardis with a detachment of Cyrus' troops. Finding Pactyes and his supporters gone, the first thing he did was to compel the Lydians to carry out Cyrus' orders — as a result of which they altered from that moment their whole way of life; he then sent
2156-519: The ancient city; in 1912 the Greek writer P. K. Ksinopoulos wrote The City of Aegeion Through the Centuries and in 1939 Stanley Casson , an English art scholar and army officer who studied classical archaeology and served in Greece as liaison officer, addressed the problem. Other investigators include in 1948 the German archaeologist Georg Karo ; in 1950 Robert Demangel , who was from 1933 to 1948
2233-524: The argument that Cyme was not only well served by defensive walls, but enjoyed the benefits of a large port capable of wintering and supplying a large wartime fleet. As a result, Cyme, like most Ionian cities at the time was a maritime power and a valuable asset to the Persian Empire. Once Aristagoras of Miletus roused the Ionians to rebel against Darius , Cyme joined the insurrection. However,
2310-399: The background, yet Cyme like other colonies along the coast did not trade with the native Anatolians further inland, who had occupied Asia Minor for thousands of years. Cyme consequently played no significant role in the history of western Asia Minor, prompting the historian Ephorus , 400-330 BCE, himself a native of the city, to comment repeatedly in his narrative of Greek history that while
2387-431: The city was obscured from view except for a few building fragments projecting from the sea. Ten Spartan ships anchored in the harbour were dragged down with it. An attempt involving 2,000 men to recover bodies was unsuccessful. Aigion took possession of its territory. Strabo recounts how the city was submerged by a tsunami triggered by an earthquake, and argued that this was caused by "the anger of Poseidon", because
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2464-538: The city's statuary. Later the site silted over and the location was lost to memory. Adalberto Giovannini argued that the submergence of Helike might have inspired Plato to end his story about Atlantis with its submersion. Ancient scholars and writers who visited the ruins include the Greeks Strabo , Pausanias and Diodoros of Sicily , and the Romans Aelian and Ovid . On 23 August 1817,
2541-460: The coinage of Cyme as both Aristotle and Pollux attribute this to her but may have been confused with whether she married a later 7th or even 6th century Midas. The river god Hermos, horse with their forefoot raised and victorious athletes are typical symbols commonly found on period coinage minted at Cyme. Ancient coins from Cyme often depict the head of the Amazon Kyme wearing a taenia with
2618-469: The comet broke up and was resolved into two parts? And if there is any one who saw it split up into two, how is it that no one saw it first formed out of the two? And why did Ephorus not add the names of the two stars into which it was broken up, since they must have been some of the five planets? It is worth noting the ancient Greeks believed that comets were the source of celestial objects like stars. Cyme (Aeolis) Cyme ( Greek : Κύμη ) or Cumae
2695-772: The control of the Persian Empire following the collapse of the Lydian Kingdom at the hands of Cyrus the Great. Herodotus is the principal source for this period in Greek history and has paid a great deal of attention to events taking place in Ionia and Aeolis. When Pactyes, the Lydian general, sought refuge in Cyme from the Persians the citizens were between a rock and a hard place. As Herodotus records, they consulted
2772-638: The director of the French School of Archaeology in Athens; in 1950 Alfred Philippson , German geologist and geographer; in 1952 Spiros Dontas , Greek writer and member of the Academy of Athens; in 1954 Aristos Stauropoulos , a Greek writer who published the History of the city of Aegeion ; in 1956 the Greek Professor N. Κ. Moutsopoulos; in 1967 Spyros Marinatos, a Greek archaeologist who wrote
2849-723: The esteemed voters deciding whether or not to support Militiades the Athenian in his plan to liberate the Ionian Coast from Persian rule in (year BC) was Aristagoras of Cyme. Aristagorus campaigned on the side of Histiaeus the Milesian with the tyrants Strattis of Chios , Aeaces of Samos and Laodamas of Phocaea in opposing such an initiative arguing instead that each tyrant along the Ionian Coast owed their position to Darius King of Persia and that liberating their own cities would encourage democracy over tyranny. Cyme eventually came under
2926-403: The events he wrote about were taking place, his fellow Cymeans had for centuries sat idly by and kept the peace. He may, however, have been unaware of the significance of the city's links to Phrygia and Lydia through two Greek princesses, Hermodike I and Hermodike II and their role in popularising the written Greek alphabet and coined money, respectively. Tradition recounts that a daughter of
3003-577: The excavation. There is a long wall going from the northwest to the southeast and a ramp built with reused blocks, with the same orientation as the wall. The wall and the ramp could be proof that this area was utilized during the Byzantine Age. Although historians have dated the Trojan war to 1178 BC by calculating Homer's solar eclipse, it was not immortalised in the Iliad until about 750 BC. Around
3080-561: The exploits of the Pelopids and "particularly the taking of Troy." and the symbolism of the horse was stamped in the coins from this area, presumably in reference to the power of the Agamemnon lineage. Indeed, the daughter of Agamemnon of Cyme, Damodice , is credited with inventing coined money by Julius Pollux after she married King Midas - famed for turning everything he touched into gold. The most rational explanation of this fable seems to be, that he encouraged his subjects to convert
3157-422: The first to separate the historical from the simply geographical element. In his Geographica , Strabo quoted Ephorus at length. Polybius , while crediting him with a knowledge of the conditions of naval warfare, ridiculed his description of the 362 BCE Battle of Mantinea as showing ignorance of the nature of land operations. Besides the universal history, Ephorus wrote an Epichorios logos (Ἐπιχώριος λόγος),
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3234-733: The head of Poseidon , the city's patron, and the reverse his trident. There was a temple dedicated to the Helikonian Poseidon. Ancient Greeks would travel to Helike to be blessed by Poseidon and to trade. Helike founded colonies including Priene in Asia Minor and Sybaris in Southern Italy . Its panhellenic temple and sanctuary of Helikonian Poseidon were known throughout the classical world , and second only in religious importance to Delphi . The ancient account puts Helike's destruction in 373 BC, two years before
3311-536: The head of Kyme wearing a taenia with the reverse featuring a horse prancing - probably in allusion to the prosperous equine industry of the region. Alternatively, settlers from mainland Greece (most likely Euboea ) migrated across the Aegean Sea during the Late Bronze Age as waves of Dorian -speaking invaders brought an end to the once mighty Mycenaean civilization some time around 1050 BCE. During
3388-547: The history of Greece between 480 and 340 BC, which is one of only two continuous narratives of this period that survive. It is clear that Ephorus made critical use of the best authorities. His history was highly praised and read in antiquity, and later ancient historians freely drew upon his work. Large parts of the history of Diodorus Siculus may have originated in Ephorus's history. Strabo attached much importance to Ephorus's geographical investigations, and praised him for being
3465-484: The ill-effects of a Persian siege (confirms Cyme was a fortified city capable of self-defence) they avoided dealing with the Persians by simply sending him off to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos , not far from their city. In his Histories , Herodotus makes reference to Cyme (or Phriconis ) as being one of the cities in which the rebel Lydian governor Pactyes sought refuge, following his attempted rebellion against
3542-466: The inhabitants of Helike had refused to give their statue of Poseidon to the Ionian colonists in Asia, or even to supply them with a model. According to some authorities, the inhabitants of Helike and Bura had even murdered the Ionian deputies. An account by Seneca claims the sea destroyed the city after an appearance of a comet . About 150 years after the disaster, the philosopher Eratosthenes visited
3619-611: The late Hellenistic Age. 3. Some walls that belonged to the Imperial Roman Period were constructed by means of white mortar and bricks. During this phase a service room east of room A, with a floor that was made of leveled rock, was built. In the area of the cistern, by now filled, a new room decorated by wall paintings was also built. 4. A large house occupied the area during the Late Roman Period. The rooms were constructed using reused materials, but without
3696-624: The lowest (episcopa) rank: Archaeologists first started taking an interest in the site in the middle of the 19th century as the wealthy landowner D. Baltazzi and later S. Reinach began excavation on the southern necropolis. In 1925, A. Salaç, working out of the Bohemian Mission, uncovered many interesting finds, including a small temple to Isis , a Roman porticus and what is believed to be a 'potter's house'. Encouraged by their successes, Turkish archaeologist E. Akurgal began his own project in 1955 which uncovered an Orientalising ceramic on
3773-609: The number. The soil of Aeolis is better than that of Ionia , but the climate is less agreeable. It was assigned to the Roman province of Asia Prima . During the Eastern Roman Empire , Cyme became a bishopric , which was a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Ephesus. The diocese was nominally restored in 1894 as a Latin titular see . It is vacant, having had the following (non-consecutive) incumbents, all of
3850-548: The official historiographer . His son Demophilus followed in his footsteps as a historian. Ephorus' magnum opus was a set of 29 books recounting a universal history . The whole work, edited by his son Demophilus—who added a 30th book—contained a summary description of the Sacred Wars , along with other narratives from the days of the Heraclids up until the taking of Perinthus in 340 BC by Philip of Macedon , covering
3927-478: The only historical writers whose language was accurate and complete. Ephorus reported that a comet split apart as far back as the winter of 372–373 BC . The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger , whose Naturales quaestiones is the ancient source for Ephorus's comet report, is severe in his judgment (7.16): It requires no great effort to strip Ephorus of his authority; he is a mere chronicler. ... Ephorus
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#17327761042754004-658: The principle naval base for the Royal Fleet. Later accounts of Cyme's involvement in the Ionian Revolt which triggered the Persian Wars confirm their allegiance to the Ionian Greek cause. During this time, Herodotus states that due to the size of the Persian army, Darius the Great was able to launch a devastating three-pronged attack on the Ionian cities. The third army which he sent north to take Sardis
4081-411: The produce of their agriculture, and other branches of industry, into money, by commerce, whence considerable wealth flowed into his own treasury... though it is more likely, that what the Greeks called invention, was rather the introduction of the knowledge of them [coins] from countries more advanced in civilization. It is possible that the mythical figure of Midas was based on a real king of Phrygia in
4158-445: The reverse featuring a horse prancing - probably in allusion to the prosperous equine industry of the region. 38°51′36″N 27°03′34″E / 38.860028°N 27.059326°E / 38.860028; 27.059326 Helike Helike ( / ˈ h ɛ l ɪ k iː / ; Greek : Ἑλίκη , pronounced [heˈlikɛː] , modern Greek pronunciation: [eˈlici] ) was an ancient Greek polis (city-state) that
4235-419: The revolts at Cyme were quelled once the city was recovered by the Persians . Sandoces, the governor of Cyme at the time of Xerxes , commanded fifteen ships in the Persian military expedition against Greece (480 BC). Herodotus believes that Sandoces may have been a Greek. After the Battle of Salamis , the remnants of Xerxes's fleet wintered at Cyme. Thucydides does not provide any significant mention of place
4312-569: The same period, the Mykonos pithamphora - which shows the wooden horse the Greeks used to infiltrate Troy - was manufactured on the island of Tinos . Referenced in both literature and art, that cunning end to the war - the Trojan Horse - had become synonymous with the name of Agamemnon . The house of Agamemnon claimed continuity at Cyme in Aeolia, associating themselves with the legends of
4389-407: The sea two years before the battle at Leuctra. And Eratosthenes says that he himself saw the place, and that the ferrymen say that there was a bronze Poseidon in the strait, standing erect, holding a hippo-campus in his hand, which was perilous for those who fished with nets. And Heracleides says that the submersion took place by night in his time, and, although the city was twelve stadia distant from
4466-599: The sea was raised by an earthquake and it submerged Helice, and also the temple of the Heliconian Poseidon, whom the Ionians worship even to this day, offering there the Pan-Ionian sacrifices. And, as some suppose, Homer recalls this sacrifice when he says: "but he breathed out his spirit and bellowed, as when a dragged bull bellows round the altar of the Heliconian lord." ... Helice was submerged by
4543-400: The sea, this whole district together with the city was hidden from sight; and two thousand men who had been sent by the Achaeans were unable to recover the dead bodies; and they divided the territory of Helice among the neighbors; and the submersion was the result of the anger of Poseidon, for the lonians who had been driven out of Helice sent men to ask the inhabitants of Helice particularly for
4620-606: The sea, unlike most non-landlocked settlements of the ancient world, trade is believed to have prospered. Both the author of the Life of Homer and Strabo the ancient geographer, locate Cyme north of the Hermus river on the Asia Minor coastline: After crossing the Hyllus , the distance from Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to Myrina was 40 stadia. (Strabo: 622) Archaeological finds such as coins give reference also to
4697-488: The site and reported that a standing bronze statue of Poseidon was submerged in a "poros", "holding in one hand a hippocamp ", where it posed a hazard to those who fished with nets. The meaning of " poros " in ancient Greek is not fully clear, but could refer to a inland lagoon, lake or narrow strait. Most archaeologist thought it referred to the Gulf of Corinth, but there was disagreement from Professor Dora Katsonopoulou. For
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#17327761042754774-413: The soil, as yet untouched by excavations. The northwest side of the southern hill was utilized as a residential neighborhood during the entire existence of the city. Only a limited area of the hill has been investigated. It has been verified that there were at least five successive phases of building. 1. A long and straight wall going from north to southeast represented the most ancient building phase. In
4851-412: The southern hill. Between 1979 and 1984, the Izmir Museum carried out similar excavations at various locations around the site, uncovering further inscriptions and structures on the southern hill. Geophysical studies at Cyme in more recent years, have given archaeologists a much greater knowledge of the site without being as intrusive. Geomagnetic surveys of the terrain reveal additional structures beneath
4928-453: The southern side, where the entrance to room A opened up. The western wall of room A, was constructed with squared limestone blocks, and also acted as a terracing wall connecting the strong natural difference on the side of the hill. At the foot of this wall there was a cistern excavated in the rock that gathered water coming from the roof of the house. The cistern was filled with debris and great amounts of black and plain pottery dating back to
5005-412: The statue of Poseidon, or, if not that, for the model of the temple; and when the inhabitants refused to give either, the Ionians sent word to the general council of the Achaeans; but although the assembly voted favorably, yet even so the inhabitants of Helice refused to obey; and the submersion resulted the following winter; but the Achaeans later gave the model of the temple to the lonians. Around 174 AD,
5082-406: The traveler Pausanias visited a coastal site still called Helike, located seven kilometres southeast of Aigio , and reported that the walls of the ancient city were still visible under water, "but not so plainly now as they were once, because they are corroded by the salt water". For centuries after, its submerged ruins could still be seen. Roman tourists frequently sailed over the site, admiring
5159-400: The twelve towns of the Ionians. The Aeolic cities are the following: Cyme, called also Phriconis, Larissa , Neonteichus , Temnus , Cilla , Notium , Aegiroessa , Pitane , Aegaeae , Myrina , and Gryneia . These are the eleven ancient cities of the Aeolians . Originally, indeed, they had twelve cities upon the mainland, like the Ionians , but the Ionians deprived them of Smyrna , one of
5236-417: The use of mortar, and often enriched by polychrome mosaics. Access was gained by a ramp placed at the edge of the southwestern part of the excavation. Still, what needs to be clarified is the extent of the building, whose destruction is placed between the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 7th century AD. 5. The final phase is represented by some superficial structures found at the northern part of
5313-424: The wall there are visible traces of a threshold linking two rooms. There is uncertainty as to the chronology of the wall, but what is sure is that it was built before the end of the 5th century BC. 2. Two rooms (A and B), that were part of a building dating back to the end of the 5th century BC, belong to the second phase. The building appears to be complete on the northern side, but could have also had other rooms on
5390-429: Was an Aeolian city in Aeolis ( Asia Minor ) close to the kingdom of Lydia . It was called Phriconian, perhaps from the mountain Phricion in Aeolis, near which the Aeolians had been settled before their migration to Asia. The Aeolians regarded Cyme as the largest and most important of their twelve cities, which were located on the coastline of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey ). As a result of their direct access to
5467-500: Was commended for drawing (though not always) a sharp line of demarcation between the mythical and historical; he even recognized that a profusion of detail, though lending corroborative force to accounts of recent events, is ground for suspicion, in reports of far-distant history. His style was high-flown and artificial, as was natural considering his early training, and he frequently sacrificed truth to rhetoric effect. However, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus , he and Theopompus were
5544-566: Was rediscovered in 2001 buried in an ancient lagoon near the village of Rizomylos . In an effort to protect the site from destruction, the World Monuments Fund included Helike in its 2004 and 2006 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites . Helike was founded in the Early Bronze Age (c. 3000-2200 BC) as a proto-urban town with large rectilinear buildings and cobbled streets; walls and occupation layers rich in pottery of
5621-511: Was rediscovered, a few false starts came along the way. In 1994, in collaboration with the University of Patras , a magnetometer survey carried out in the midplain of the delta revealed the outlines of a buried building. This target (now known as the Klonis site) was excavated and a large Roman building with standing walls was found. Also a well-preserved settlement of the early Bronze Age
5698-406: Was submerged by a tsunami in the winter of 373 BC. It was located in the regional unit of Achaea , northern Peloponnesos , two kilometres (12 stadia ) from the Corinthian Gulf and near the city of Boura , which, like Helike, was a member of the Achaean League . Modern research attributes the catastrophe to an earthquake and accompanying tsunami which destroyed and submerged the city. It
5775-532: Was to be found on the seabed of the Gulf of Corinth. Edgerton perfected special sonar equipment for this research but permission to search was not granted by the Greek authorities. In 1967 and in 1976, Jacques Cousteau searched, with no result. In 1979 in the Corinthian Gulf, the Greek undersea explorer Alexis Papadopoulos discovered a sunken town and recorded his findings in a documentary film which shows walls, fallen roofs, roof tiles, streets, etc. at
5852-408: Was uncovered. In 2001, Helike was rediscovered buried in an ancient lagoon near the village of Rizomylos . To further confirm that the discovered site belongs to Helike, the earthquake destruction layer consisting of cobblestones , clay roof tiles, and pottery was uncovered in 2012. This destruction layer is in good agreement with ancient texts on the location of Helike and earthquake effects to
5929-439: Was under the command of his son-in-law Otanes who promptly captured Cyme and Clazomenae in the process. However, later accounts reveal how Sandoces, the supposed Ionian governor of Cyme helped draft a fleet of fifteen ships for Xerxes I great expedition against mainland Greece c. 480 BC. Cyme is also believed to have been the port in which the Persian survivors of the Battle of Salamis wintered and lends considerable weight to
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