ABYDOS
(Nağara Point) Turkey.
City in
Mysia 6 km N of Çanakkale, first mentioned in the Trojan Catalogue (
Il. 2.836). According to Strabo (
590-91）
it was occupied after the Trojan War by Thracians, until
it was settled by Milesians with the consent of Gyges
king of Lydia ca. 700 B.C. Burnt by Darios in 512, it
formed one end of Xerxes' bridge across the Hellespont.
In the Delian Confederacy it paid a tribute of four talents, but was always hostile to Athens (Dem.,
Aristocr.
158), and in 411 revolted from the confederacy and became a Spartan base. By the peace of Antalkidas it passed
to Persia until the arrival of Alexander in 334. In 200
Abydos was attacked by Philip V and taken after a desperate resistance (Polyb. 16.29-34). After the defeat of
Philip the city was given freedom by Rome (
Livy 33.30),
and under the Empire became an important toll station.
The abundant coinage extends from the early 5th c. B.C.
to the mid 3d c. A.D. Abydos possessed gold mines at a
spot called variously Astyra or Kremaste (Xen. 4.8.37),
but these were near exhaustion in Strabo's time.
The site, first recognized in 1675, is on the bay S of
Nagara Point; the acropolis hill is called Mal Tepe. This
bay is out of the main current and by far the best natural
harbor in the straits. The accounts of travelers down to
1830 speak of considerable remains of walls and buildings; later, however, little or nothing could be seen. In
this century the area has been a prohibited zone, and
for the present state of the site no information is available.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Choiseul-Gouffier,
Voyage Pittoresque
(1822) 449
M; W. Leaf,
Strabo on the Troad (1923) 116-19; J. M. Cook,
The Troad (1973) 56-57.
G. E. BEAN
