MYNDUS
MYNDUS (
Μύνδος: Eth.
Μύνδισο), a Dorian colony of Troezen, on the coast of Caria, situated on the northernmost of the three Dorian peninsulas, a few miles to the northwest of Halicarnassus.
It was protected by strong walls, and had a good harbour. (
Paus. 2.30.8;
Strab. xiv. p.658; Arrian,
Arr. Anab. 1.20,
2.5.)
But otherwise the place is not of much importance in ancient history. Both Pliny (
5.29) and Stephanus Byz. (s. v.) mention Palaemyndus as a place close by Myndus; and this Palaemyndus seems to have been the ancient place of the Carians which became deserted after the establishment of the Dorian Myndus. (Comp.
Strab. xiii. p.611). Mela (1.16) and Pliny (
l.c.) also speak of a place called Neapolis in the same peninsula; and as no other authors mention such a place in that part of the country, it has been supposed that Myndus (the Dorian colony) and Neapolis were the same place.
But it ought to be remembered that Pliny mentions both Myndus and Neapolis as two different towns. Myndian ships are mentioned in the expedition of Anaxagoras against Naxos. (
Hdt. 5.33.)
At a later time, when Alexander besieged Halicarnassus, he was anxious first to make himself master of Myndus; but when he attempted to take it by surprise, the Myndians, with the aid of reinforcements from Halicarnassus repulsed him with some loss. (Arrian,
l.c.; comp. Hecat.
Fragm. 229;
Plb. 16.15,
21;
Scylax, p. 38;
Ptol. 5.2.9;
Liv. 37.15; Hierocl. p. 687.) Athenaeus (
1.32) states that the wine grown in the district of Myndus was good for digestion.
It is generally believed that
Mentesha or
Muntesha marks the site of Myndus; but Col. Leake (
Asia Minor, p. 228) identifies Myndus with the small sheltered port of
Gumishlu, where Captain Beaufort remarked the remains of an ancient pier at the entrance of the port, and some ruins at the head of the bay. (Comp. Rasche,
Lex. Num. 3.1. p. 1002, &c.; Eckhel,
Doctr. Num. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 585.)
Ptolemy (
5.2.30) mentions a small island called Myndus in the Icarian Sea.
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| COIN OF MYNDUS. |
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