STRATONICEIA
STRATONICEIA (
Στρατονίκεια or
Στρατονίκη,
Ptol. 5.2.20: Eth.
Στρατονικεύς), one of the most important towns in the interior of Caria, was situated on the south-east of Mylasa, and on the south of the river Marsyas.
It appears to have been founded by Antiochus Soter, who named it after his wife Stratonice. (
Strab. xiv. p.660;
Steph. B. sub voce The subsequent Syro-Macedonian kings adorned the town with splendid and costly buildings.
At a later time it was ceded to the Rhodians. (
Liv. 33.18,
30.) Mithridates of Pontus resided for some time at Stratoniceia, and married the daughter of one of its principal citizens. (Appian,
App. Mith. 20.) Some time after this it was besieged by Labienus, and the brave resistance it offered to him entitled it to the gratitude of Augustus and the Senate (
Tac. Ann. 3.62;
D. C. 48.26).
The emperor Hadrian is said to have taken this town under his special protection, and to have changed its name into Hadrianopolis (
Steph. B. sub voce l.c.), a name, however, which does not appear to have ever come into use. Pliny (
5.29) enumerates it among free cities in Asia. Near the town was the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus, at which the confederate towns of Caria held their meetings; at these meetings the several states had votes in proportion to the number of towns they possessed. The Stratoniceans, though not of Carian origin, were admitted into the confederacy, because they possessed certain small towns or villages, which formed part of it. Menippus, surnamed Catochas, according to Cicero (
Cic. Brut. 91) one of the most distinguished orators of his time, was a native of Stratoniceia. Stephanus B. (s. v.
Ἰδριάς) mentions a town of Idrias in Caria, which had previously been called Chrysaoris; and as Herodotus (
5.118) makes the river Marsyas, on whose banks stood the white pillars at which the Carians held their national meetings, flow from a district called Idrias, it is very probable that Antiochus Soter built the new city of Stratoniceia upon the site of Idrias. (Leake,
Asia Minor, p. 235.)
Eskihissar, which now occupies the place of Stratoniceia, is only a small village, the whole neighbourhood of which is strewed with marble fragments, while some shafts of columns are standing single.
In the side of a hill is a theatre, with the seats remaining, and ruins of the proscenium, among which are pedestals of statues, some of which contain inscriptions. Outside the village there are broken arches, with pieces of massive wall and marble coffins. (Chandler,
Travels in Asia Minor, p. 240; Leake,
Asia Minor, p. 229; Fellows,
Asia Minor, [p. 2.1038]p. 254, foll.,
Lycia, p. 80, foll.; Sestini,
Num. Vet. p. 90.)
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