ASTYPALAIA
(Chora) Dodecanese, Greece.
Island lying between Anaphe and Kos, which was named
after the ancient town and capital. The modern capital
now occupies the site of the ancient city, as is testified by
many ruins, inscriptions, and coins found there. The
mole, which protects the port from the N, was built evidently during the Roman Imperial period.
The island was inhabited first by the Carians, later by
Minoans (Ov.
Met. 7.456-62), and then, during the historical period, by Megarians and Dorians from the Argolis. It became a member (454-424 B.C.) of the Delian-Athenian Confederacy. As has been attested, especially
from Hellenistic inscriptions, the city must have played
an important role in the Aegean, owing to the seafaring
ability of its inhabitants and the fertility of the soil. The
town was governed by the boule, the demos, and gerousia.
There were a prytaneion, an agora, a theater, and the
Sanctuaries of Athena and Asklepios, Apollo, and Artemis. Small Hellenistic coins represent Perseus, Gorgo,
and later Dionysos, Athena, and Asklepios.
During the Roman period, Astypalaia became civitas
foederata, while in the Imperial period it was autonomous.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Oberhummer,
RE II 1873ff;
IG XII.3,
nos. 167-246, & p. 229-30; B. V. Head,
HN (2d ed. 1911)
630ff;
IG I (2d ed.) nos. 192ff; B. D. Meritt,
The Athenian Tribute Lists (1939) I 240ff; (1950) III 21, 53, 210,
270; A. Philippson & E. Kirsten,
GL (1959) IV 159ff;
Kl. Pauly, I, 669; W. Peek,
Inschriften von den dorischen
Inseln, AbhLeipzig 62 Heft. 1 (1969) 34-51
I.
G. S. KORRES
