NOTION
Turkey.
Town on the coast of Ionia
S of Kolophon, 55 km S of Smyrna. Called by Thucydides (
3.34) Notion of the Kolophonians, the city was
assessed in the Delian Confederation at one-third of a
talent, separately from Kolophon. The two cities were
always closely connected, and by Aristotle's time were
politically fused into one; Notion was called in Hellenistic times Kolophon on Sea or New Kolophon. The city was never very prosperous in its own right and seems never to have struck coins.
The site is on a hill directly above the sea, at the
mouth of a small stream, the Halesos or Ales. It occupies two summits enclosed by a circuit wall of Hellenistic
or earlier date some 3 km long, with at least four gates;
much of this wall is still in fair condition. On the W
summit are the foundations of a small temple, identified
by an inscription as that of Athena; the altar is on the
E front. Lower down to the E is the site of the agora,
adjoined on the E by a rectangular building with seats
on three sides, perhaps a council chamber. The theater
lies at the W foot of the E hill; it is small, with 27 rows
of seats, of Greek form but reconstructed in Roman
times. Part of the retaining wall and a vaulted passage
survive. The stage building is buried. Above the theater
is a second agora. The necropolis was on the next hill
to the N; the tombs are mostly rock-cut or sunk in the
ground, only a few being constructed of masonry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Demangel & A. Laumonier in
BCH
47 (1923) 353f; G. E. Bean,
Aegean Turkey (1966)
185-90.
G.E. BEAN
