2. Strabo, Geography, 13.4.12, 14.1.38, 14.1.42 Tagged with subjects: •asia, creation of the province Found in books: Hallmannsecker (2022), Roman Ionia: Constructions of Cultural Identity in Western Asia Minor, 39, 41 | 13.4.12. The parts situated next to this region towards the south as far as the Taurus are so inwoven with one another that the Phrygian and the Carian and the Lydian parts, as also those of the Mysians, since they merge into one another, are hard to distinguish. To this confusion no little has been contributed by the fact that the Romans did not divide them according to tribes, but in another way organized their jurisdictions, within which they hold their popular assemblies and their courts. Mt. Tmolus is a quite contracted mass of mountain and has only a moderate circumference, its limits lying within the territory of the Lydians themselves; but the Mesogis extends in the opposite direction as far as Mycale, beginning at Celaenae, according to Theopompus. And therefore some parts of it are occupied by the Phrygians, I mean the parts near Celaenae and Apameia, and other parts by Mysians and Lydians, and other parts by Carians and Ionians. So, also, the rivers, particularly the Maeander, form the boundary between some of the tribes, but in cases where they flow through the middle of countries they make accurate distinction difficult. And the same is to be said of the plains that are situated on either side of the mountainous territory and of the river-land. Neither should I, perhaps, attend to such matters as closely as a surveyor must, but sketch them only so far as they have been transmitted by my predecessors. 14.1.38. After Smyrna one comes to Leucae, a small town, which after the death of Attalus Philometor was caused to revolt by Aristonicus, who was reputed to belong to the royal family and intended to usurp the kingdom. Now he was banished from Smyrna, after being defeated in a naval battle near the Cymaean territory by the Ephesians, but he went up into the interior and quickly assembled a large number of resourceless people, and also of slaves, invited with a promise of freedom, whom he called Heliopolitae. Now he first fell upon Thyateira unexpectedly, and then got possession of Apollonis, and then set his efforts against other fortresses. But he did not last long; the cities immediately sent a large number of troops against him, and they were assisted by Nicomedes the Bithynian and by the kings of the Cappadocians. Then came five Roman ambassadors, and after that an army under Publius Crassus the consul, and after that Marcus Perpernas, who brought the war to an end, having captured Aristonicus alive and sent him to Rome. Now Aristonicus ended his life in prison; Perpernas died of disease; and Crassus, attacked by certain people in the neighborhood of Leucae, fell in battle. And Manius Aquillius came over as consul with ten lieutets and organized the province into the form of government that still now endures. After Leucae one comes to Phocaea, on a gulf, concerning which I have already spoken in my account of Massalia. Then to the boundaries of the Ionians and the Aeolians; but I have already spoken of these. In the interior above the Ionian Sea board there remain to be described the places in the neighborhood of the road that leads from Ephesus to Antiocheia and the Maeander River. These places are occupied by Lydians and Carians mixed with Greeks. 14.1.42. After Magnesia comes the road to Tralleis, with Mt. Mesogis on the left, and, at the road itself and on the right, the plain of the Maeander River, which is occupied by Lydians and Carians, and by Ionians, both Milesians and Myesians, and also by the Aeolians of Magnesia. And the same kind of topographical account applies as far as Nysa and Antiocheia. The city of the Tralleians is situated upon a trapezium-shaped site, with a height fortified by nature; and the places all round are well defended. And it is as well peopled as any other city in Asia by people of means; and always some of its men hold the chief places in the province, being called Asiarchs. Among these was Pythodorus, originally a native of Nysa, but he changed his abode to Tralleis because of its celebrity; and with only a few others he stood out conspicuously as a friend of Pompey. And he came into possession of the wealth of a king, worth more than two thousand talents, which, though sold by the deified Caesar, was redeemed by him through his friendship with Pompey and was left by him unimpaired to his children. He was the father of Pythodoris, the present queen in Pontus, of whom I have already spoken. Pythodorus, then, flourished in my time, as also Menodorus, a man of learning, and otherwise august and grave, who held the priesthood of Zeus Larisaeus. But he was overthrown by a counter-party friendly to Dometius Ahenobarbus; and Dometius, relying on his informers, slew him, as guilty of causing the fleet to revolt. Here were born famous orators: Dionysocles and afterwards Damasus Scombrus. Tralleis is said to have been founded by Argives and by certain Tralleian Thracians, and hence the name. And the city was ruled for a short time by tyrants, the sons of Cratippus, at the time of the Mithridatic war. |
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