SIGE´UM
SIGE´UM (
Σίγειον or
ἡ Σιγειὰς ἄκρα), a promontory in Troas, forming the north-western extremity of Asia Minor, at the entrance of the Hellespont, and opposite the town of Elaeus, in the Thracian Chersonesus. Near it the naval camp of the Greeks was said to have been formed during the Trojan War. (
Hdt. 5.65,
94;
Thuc. 8.101; Strab. xiii. pp. 595, 603; Pomp. Mela, 1.18;
Plin. Nat. 5.33;
Ptol. 5.2.3;
Serv. ad Aen. 2.312.)
This promontory is now called
Yenisheri.
Near the promontory was situated the town of Sigeum, which is said to have been an Aeolian colony, founded under the guidance of Archaeanax. of Mytilene, who used the stones of ancient Troy in building this new place.
But some years later the Athenians sent troops under Phrynon and expelled the Mytileneans; and this act of violence led to a war between the two cities, which lasted for a long time, and was conducted with varying success. Pittacus, the wise Mytilenean, is said to have slain Phrynon in single combat.
The poet Alcaeus also was engaged in one of the actions.
The dispute was at length referred to Periander, of Corinth, who decided in favour of the Athenians. (
Strab. xiii. p.599;
Hdt. 5.95;
Steph. B. sub voce D. L. 1.74.) Henceforth we find the Pisistratidae in possession of Sigeum, and Hippias, after being expelled from Athens, is known to have retired there with his family. (
Hdt. 5.65).
The town of Sigeum was destroyed by the inhabitants of Ilium soon after the overthrow of the Persian empire, so that in Strabo's time it no longer existed. (
Strab. xiii. p.600;
Plin. Nat. 5.33.)
A hill near Sigeum, forming a part of the promontory, was believed in antiquity to contain the remains of Achilles, which was looked upon with such veneration that gradually a small town seems to have risen around it, under the name of Achilleum [
ACHILLEUM].
This tomb, which was visited by Alexander the Great, Julius
[p. 2.998]Caesar, and Germanicus, is still visible in the form of a mound or tumulus.
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