Eion on the strymon

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View from the Acropolis of Amphipolis. In the background you can see the delta of the Strymon, to the left of it was Eion (outside the picture).

Eion (by Thucydides and Herodotus Ἠιὼν ἡ ἐπὶ Στρυμόνι = Eion, the (Indianapolis) on the Strymon, Population: Ἠϊονεύς plural Ἠϊονείς = the Eioner) was an ancient port city on the left mouth side of the Strymon , near Amphipolis on Strymonic Golf the northern Aegean Sea, on the Thracian coast of Macedonia .

mythology

The city's founder is considered to be the Thracian king Eïoneus, the father of Rhesus . He is also called Strymon and is also said to be the father of Brangas and Olynthos.

history

Silver coin from Eion

Eion was already settled in the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. 513 BC BC Dareios I conquered Thrace and occupied the city. 497 BC During the Ionian Rebellion , Athens tried to conquer the city, but failed. Five years later, Eion was fortified and was a major Persian base. In preparation for his campaign in Greece, a provision store was set up in the city under Xerxes I. In addition, 480 BC. Bridges built above the city for the Persian campaign to Macedonia. After his failed campaign, Xerxes I passed here on his retreat. He is said to have traveled on either by ship or overland. Already from approx. 480 BC. The minting of silver coins ( drachmas , trihemiobols and oboles ) has been handed down to us that have one or more geese stamped on the obverse and an incusum on the reverse .

476 BC The Athenian general Kimon came with a fleet from Byzantion and besieged Eion as the last European base of the Persians. He offered safe conduct to the Meder Boges , who was governor of Eion, when he surrendered the city. But this refused. Kimon diverted the strymon so that the river should wash away the brick walls. When the food was finally used up, Boges had his wife, concubines, children and servants killed and burned. Then he threw all the gold and silver into the river and killed himself by jumping into the fire. Kimon took possession of Eion and led the people into slavery.

Eion served the Athenians as a starting point for colonizing Thrace. Leagros and Sophanes landed in 465/4 BC. With 10,000 settlers in the port and led them north. At Drabeskos or Datos there was a fight with the Edonians and all settlers died. 437 BC Hagnon landed here with new colonists. He drove out the Edoner and founded at Ennea Hodoi Amphipolis. This made Eion more important as it became its port city.

The city played an important role in the Peloponnesian War and is mentioned several times by Thucydides , who himself fought as a strategist in Eion. The Athenian general Aristeides took there in the winter of 425/4 BC. Captured the Persian Artaphernes , who was on his way to Sparta with an embassy for Xerxes II . As of 424 BC BC Brasidas Amphipolis besieged a messenger was sent to order Thucydides. Thucydides, who on Thasos was, went to the same 7 trireme to Eion. When he got there, Amphipolis had already fallen and the sunset had prevented him from conquering Eion. The next day, Thucydides prepared for the Spartan attack. They attacked simultaneously from the water with rafts and in the north from the land. However, the attacks were successfully repelled. Nonetheless, Thucydides was held responsible for the loss of Amphipolis and banished from Athens for 20 years by a court of shards .

422 BC BC used Kleon Eion as a base to conquer Stageira , which failed. Then he pulled against Galepsos , which he could take. While trying to conquer Amphipolis he fell and the remaining soldiers fled to Eion. Presumably it was 356 BC. The city was conquered by Philip II, along with Amphipolis . Eion was destroyed and deserted by the Athenians in the 4th century. The Byzantine city of Chrysoupolis was founded about 1.5 km southwest of the Acropolis in the 8th or 9th century .

exploration

Base of the equestrian statue of the token

During excavations on the Profitis Ilias hill, on which the Acropolis of Eion was located, few finds from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age were discovered. Coins from the 7th to 5th centuries BC were also found here. The lower town was located northwest of the hill. A cemetery from the 6th century BC was found to the south. In ancient times the Strymon ran north of the city and the coast was not far to the south. This has pushed itself further into the sea through sand deposits. The mouth of the river was also closer to the city further east. In a Hellenistic gate in the northern sector of Amphipolis a base was found for an equestrian statue from the period between 520 and 490 BC. It bears an inscription in the Parian alphabet and says that the pariers erected the statue in honor of the youthful Tokes who fell defending Eion. From this it is concluded that Eion was under Parian influence before the conquest by Dareios I.

literature

  • Dietram Müller : Eion. In: Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece. Lexicon of Historic Places. CH Beck, Munich 1989, p. 207.
  • Dimitrios Lazaridis: Amphipolis , Athens 2003, ISBN 960-214-126-3 , pp. 14-20

Web links

Commons : Eion am Strymon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 1.98.1
  2. ↑ a b Herodotus: Histories 7.25.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Pape , Dictionary of Greek Proper Names , Braunschweig 1842.
  4. ↑ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 4,102,3: Eion, trading post at the sea at the mouth of the Strymon, 25 stadia away from Amphipolis.
  5. ↑ Homer : Iliad , 10,435
  6. ↑ Konon : Diegeseis , 4; Photios : Myriobiblone , Konon 4
  7. ↑ Herodotus: Histories 8,118.
  8. ↑ Herodotus: Histories 8,120.
  9. ↑ Szaievert / Sear, Greek Coin, Volume 1, page 205 no. 1458-1460
  10. ↑ Diodor : Bibliothéke historiké , 11, 60, 2.
  11. ^ Pausanias : Travels in Greece , 8, 8, 9.
  12. ↑ Herodotus: Histories 7,107 a. 113.
  13. ↑ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 1, 98
  14. ^ Pausanias: Travels in Greece , 1, 29, 4
  15. ↑ Herodotus: Historien , 9.75
  16. ↑ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 1.98
  17. ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4, 102
  18. ^ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 1.98; 4,102.4; 4,106-108; 5,6,1; 5,10,3-10.
  19. ↑ a b Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 4,50,1
  20. ↑ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 4, 104-108
  21. ↑ Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War 5, 6
  22. ^ Theopompos in Felix Jacoby , The Fragments of the Greek Historians (FGrH) 2.51.

Coordinates: 40 ° 47 '  N , 23 ° 53'  E