Ameria (Pontus)
Ameria (Greek Ἀμερία) was an ancient place in Pontos with a sanctuary of Men Pharnakes and Selene near Kabeira, today's Niksar in Turkey.
The place with its sanctuary is only mentioned by Strabo as a "village town" (Komopolis) :
"Ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν Μηνὸς Φαρνάκου καλούμενον, τὴν Ἀμερίαν κωμόπολιν πολλοὺς ἱερραρδούλους ἱοερεροδούλους ὁουεραχώαναν ουεραρανοε ῦουεραρανοε ῦουεραρανοε ῦουεραρανοε ῦουεραρανοε ῦκερεραρανοε ουὶεραραναν ῦοερεραχώαναν ἐτίμησαν δ᾽ οἱ βασιλεῖς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο οὕτως εἰς ὑπερβολὴν ὥστε τὸν βασιλικὸν καλλλμε ''. ἔστι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς σελήνης τὸ ἱερόν, καθάπερ τὸ ἐν Ἀλβανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐν Φρυγίᾳ, τό τε τοῦ Μηνὸς ἐν τῷ ὁμωνύμῳ τόπῳ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀσκαίου τὸ πρὸς Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ πρὸς Πισιδίᾳ καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ἀντιοχέων. "
“She [Pythodoris] also owns a sanctuary to Men called Pharnakes, and the village town of Ameria with many temple servants and sacred territory, the proceeds of which are always enjoyed by the high priest. The kings honored this sanctuary so excessively that they swore the king's oath in this form: "By the fortune [ Tyche ] of the king and by the men of Pharnakes ." But it is also a sanctuary of Selene, like that of the Albanians and like them Sanctuaries in Phrygia , that of Men in the place of the same name as well as that of (Men) Askaios near Antioch in Pisidia , and that in the area of the Antiochenes. "
literature
- Gustav Hirschfeld : Ameria 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, column 1826.
- Eckart Olshausen : Ameria 2. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 589 (with retelling by Strabo and localization on a hill near Hüseyingazi in the southeast of Niksar).