MEGISTE
or Kistene (Kastellorizo) Greece.
An island in the E Mediterranean off the S coast of
Lycia, mentioned by Strabo (
14.666). From the middle
of the 4th c. B.C. on it was incorporated in the Rhodian
domain. Inscriptions speak of
ἐπιστάται ῥοδῖ here. In the
vicinity of the mediaeval castle of the Knights of Rhodes
there was probably also a fortification in Classical times.
On the nearby upland called Palaiokastro, traces of a
fortified settlement with an internal wall are recognizable
under the remains of mediaeval houses and monasteries
and the later church of the Panaghia. Remains include
remnants of a massive tower built of large rectangular
blocks placed head to foot, and another external wall
with at least three towers, a few courses of which
are left. The fortification is of Hellenistic date and probably is the Pyrgos of which Strabo speaks. Below the
castle is a chambered tomb cut into the rock; it is rectangular, with a platform around the interior perimeter
and a Doric facade. The tomb dates from the beginning
of the 4th c. B.C. Numerous inscriptions from the island
are in the museum of Mytilene.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
N. Kyparissis,
Deltion 1 (1915) 62ff;
Zschietzschmann & Ruge, “Megiste,”
RE XV, 1 (1931)
331-32; M. R. Savignac, “Monuments funéraires et religieux de Castellorizo,”
RBibl (1917) 520ff
PI; A. J.
Janssen & id.,
L'île de Castellorizo, il Cairo (1917); G.
Susini, “Iscrizioni greche di Megiste e della Licia al
Museo di Mitilene,”
ASAtene 30-32 (1952-54) 340ff;
R. Hope Simpson & F. Lazenby, “Notes from the Dodecanese II,”
BSA 65 (1970) 73ff
MPI M. G. PICOZZI
