NEANDRIA
(Çgri Dağ) Troad, Turkey.
The
Greek name Korone, referring to the territory of the
city, is arbitrary. Though sources are scarce, some information appears in Strabo (
Geogr. 13.604), Pliny (
HN
5.30.122) and Xenophon (
Hell. 3.1.16). Its name appears from 454 to 431 m the tribute lists of the Attic
maritime league. From 399 Neandria fell under the
satrapy of Mania, and at her death, under Dercyllidas
(
Xen. Hell. 3.1.16). In 310 B.C. the population of the
city was transferred by Antigonos to Antigoneia (later
Alexandria Troas) (Strab.
Geogr. 13.593,597,604,607).
At the end of the 4th c. B.C., with the synoecism of the
work of Antigonos, one may consider the history of the
city closed.
The ruins of Neandria are at a height of 500 m on a
granite crest of Çgri Dağ near the sea, to the S of the
river Skamandros and of Troy. The walls have a continuous socle and average 3 m in thickness. They enclose an irregular polygon, with a perimeter of 3200 m. The enclosure has 11 towers and as many openings; 4 principal towers, at the extremities of the perimeter, are built
to double size, jutting out to protect recessed gates joined
to the wall by large angle-walls. The arrangement described has been assigned to the 5th c. B.C. on the basis of the masonry technique, which is of the irregular
trapezoidal type. However, to the principal tower on the
S side a section of wall was added in trapezoidal isodomic technique with squared facings, datable to the 4th
c. B.C.; while at the SE corner of the enclosure there is
a section constructed of overlaid rough stones, certainly
from the 6th c. B.C. A long section of wall on the W side
of the city may be assigned to the beginning of the same
century. A road crosses the city from N to S, lined with
groups of houses constructed of accurately squared
blocks, datable to the 5th c. B.C. Remains of archaic
houses are to the W of the road. To the N of houses
from the Classical period, between them and the city
wall, is a large space recognizable as the site of the
stadium. About 1 km outside the encircling wall to the
S there is a square area where inscriptions have been
found attesting to the existence of a sanctuary of Zeus.
Necropoleis have been found to the N, NE, E, S, and
SW of the walls. The burials are between slabs of terracotta, in pithoi, in caskets made of slabs, in monolithic
sarcophagi, or in sarcophagi constructed of slabs. Several
tombs on the S side are marked by miniature tumuli of
earth. An actual tumulus ringed with large stones has
been identified to the S of the principal tower on the S
side of the city wall. Within the walls, on an esplanade in
the center of the city, a Temple to Apollo has been found.
On the terrace of the substructure (12.87 x 25.71 m)
rises the true cella, a rectangle 8.04 x 19.82 m. The entrance is at the NW, the longitudinal axis of the temple
being oriented NW-SE. Along its length, aligned inside
the cella, is a row of seven columns that divide the temple into two aisles. The entire construction is in local
limestone. The columns rested on socles, without bases,
and had smooth and highly tapered shafts. Each column
was surmounted by a so-called Aiolian capital (sometimes called proto-Ionic) consisting of two elements. A
low, shallow abacus rises from a palmette that flowers
between two spiral volutes which constitute the echinus;
the true capital is separated from the shaft by two foliated rings (so-called water lilies), between two convex
moldings. The columns sustained the principal beam of
the roof, which must have been sloping, forming pediments on the short sides. The covering was of tiles with sima and antefix of terracotta, several decorated fragments of which have been found. The capitals, whose
elements vary from example to example, were reconstructed (by Koldewey). The graphic reconstruction and
restoration of the fragments have been accepted in general, but contrary opinions have been expressed. On the
basis of comparison with capitals recently discovered at
Thasos, some feel the foliated elements of the Aiolian
capitals at Neandria should be considered apart. Abutting the short SE side of the temple's podium an inscribed
base has been discovered that mentions a statue of
Apollo. A little farther S are the foundations (4.8 x 4.1
m) of the altar of the temple. The coins of Neandria,
almost entirely in silver with the head of Apollo on the
obverse, are datable between 430 and 310 B.C., but throw
little light on the final period of the city's life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Calvert,
ArchJ 12 (1865); C. T.
Newton,
Travels and Discoveries in the Levant I (1865);
R. Koldewey, “Neandria,” 51
Winckelmannspr. (1894);
W. Andrae,
Die ionische Säule (1933); R. L. Scranton,
Greek Walls (1941); W. B. Dinsmoor,
The Architecture
of Ancient Greece (1950); A. Ciasca,
Il capitello detto
eolico in Etruria (1962); A. v. Gerkan,
Neue Beitr. z.
Klass. Altert. (1954); R. Martin,
Etudes d'Arch. Class.,
I (1955-56); E. Akurgal,
Anatolia v (1960).
For the coins: W. Wroth,
British Mus. Coins, Troad,
Aeolis, and Lesbos (1894).
For the inscriptions: L. Robert,
Villes d'Asie Mineure (2d ed. 1962).
N. BONACASA
