CAICUS
CAICUS (
Κάϊκος), a river of Mysia (
Hdt. 6.28;
7.42), first mentioned by Hesiod (
Hes. Th. 343), who, as well as the other poets, fixes the quantity of the penultimate syllable:
Saxosumque sonans Hypanis, Mysusque Caicus. Virg.
Geory. 4.370.
Strabo (p. 616) says that the sources of the Caicus are in a plain, which plain is separated by the range of Temnus from the plain of Apia, and that the plain of Apia lies above the plain of Thebe in the interior.
He adds, there also flows from Tetanus a river Mysius, which joins the Caicus below its source. The Caicus enters the sea 30 stadia from Pitane, and south of the Caicus is Elaea, 12 stadia from the river: Elaea was the port of Pergamum, which was on the Caicus, 120 stadia from Elaea. (Strab. p. 615.)
At the source of the Caicus, according to Strabo, was a place called Gergitha.
The course of this river is not well known; nor is it easy to assign the proper names to the branches laid down in the ordinary maps.
The modern name of the Caicus is said to be
Ak-su or
Bakir. Leake (
Asia Minor, p. 269) infers from the direction of L. Scipio's march (
Liv. 37.37) from Troy to the Hyrcanian plain, “that the north-eastern branch of the river of
Beryma (Pergamum) which flows by
Menduria (Gergitha?) and
Balikesri (Caesareia) is that which was anciently called Caicus;” and he makes the Mysius join it on the right bank.
He adds “of the name of the southern branch (which is represented in our maps) I have not found any trace in extant history.” The Caicus as it seems is formed by two streams which meet between 30 and 40 miles above its mouth, and it drains an extensive and fertile country. Cramer (
Asia Minor, vol. i. p. 135) misinterprets Strabo when he says that the plains watered by the Caicus were at a very early period called Tenthrania.
It is singular that the valley of the Caicus has not been more completely examined.
[
G.L]
