PEDASA
or Pedason (Gökçeler) Turkey.
In
the hills of Caria above Halikarnassos. One of the eight
Lelegian towns mentioned by Strabo (
611; ef. Plin., HN
5.107). The Pedasans offered strong resistance to the
Persian Harpagos ca. 544 B.C. (
Hdt. 1.175), and shortly
after 499 another Persian army was ambushed and destroyed by the Carians near Pedasa (
Hdt. 5.121). In the Delian Confederacy Pedasa paid two talents at first, reduced to one talent in the second period, but nothing
thereafter. (It is, however, disputed whether another
Pedasa may be meant; see next entry). The town was
incorporated by Mausolos into his enlarged Halikarnassos (Strab.
l.c.), but continued to be occupied as a garrison post in Hellenistic times. It was perhaps occupied for a time by Philip V during his Carian campaign (Polyb.
18.44).
The site is assured by Herodotos' description of it as
above Halikarnassos, and by the survival of the name at
the neighboring village of Bitez. It comprises a walled
citadel with a keep at its E end and an outer enclosure
below on the S. The citadel wall is of irregular masonry,
something over 1.5 m thick, and has a gate on the W.
The keep is approached on the W by a ramp which is
flanked by a tower in coursed masonry; in a corner of
the tower is a staircase.
In a hollow below the site on the SW are remains
which seem to be those of the Temple of Athena, as
implied by an inscription found close by (
CIG 2660).
On the slopes to the SE are numerous chamber tumuli,
comprising a vaulted chamber and dromos enclosed by a
circuit wall and surmounted by a pile of loose stones;
these have produced pottery of early Archaic date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. R. Paton & J. Myres,
JHS 8 (1888)
81f; 16 (1896) 202ff, 215 no. 4; A. Maiuri,
Annuario
4-5 (1921-22) 425ff; G. E. Bean & J. M. Cook,
BSA 50
(1955) 123-25, 149-51.
G. E. BEAN
