SATALA
(Sadak, Kelkit, Gümüşane) Armenia Minor,
Turkey.
The site came into prominence when the
Legio XV Apollinaris was placed there, probably by
Trajan, to control the N sector of the E limes between
the Euphrates and Trabzon (Trapezos). The legion was
still there in the 4th c. A.D. (
Not. Dig. or. 38.13). The
city growing out of the civil settlement connected with the
legionary camp is thought to have been founded in the
2d or 3d c. A.D. but the first evidence of it is provided by
Basil in A.D. 372 (
Ep. 102). From Theodosius (
Nov.
v.3, A.D. 441) it can be inferred that the territory was
very extensive, reaching to the Euphrates and the border
with Greater Armenia. In A.D. 530 the Persians were defeated before the walls of Satala (Procop.
Bell. Pers. 1.15) and it was subsequently refortified by Justinian.
“It lies in a low lying plain and is dominated by many
hills which tower around it” (Procop.,
De aed. 3.4). The
massive roughly rectangular walls partly survive and surround the village of Sadak on the sloping floor of the
Sadak çay valley, tributary of the Kelkit (Lycus) river.
Within the walls only insignificant ruins stand out. The
interior level stands high above the plain, squared stones
abound and occasional inscriptions can be seen. To the S
stand the meager remains of an aqueduct. On the hill to
the W are traces of perhaps an earlier auxiliary fort.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. & E. Cumont, Studia Pontica II
(1906).
R. P. HARPER
