Lysimacheia (Thrace)

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Lysimacheia ( Greek  Λυσιμάχεια , also Lysimachia , formerly Kardia ) was an important Hellenistic city ​​in Greek Thrace at the northern end of the Chersonese peninsula (today: Gallipoli ). Their remains can be found near the present-day village of Bolayır in the Turkish province of Çanakkale .

Kardia was originally a colony of Miletus and an important Greek polis of the Thracian Chersonessos. In the first half of the 4th century BC However, the city belonged to the sphere of influence of Athens , whose sovereignty it had been since the Peace of Philocrates in 346 BC. No longer recognized. The attempt of Diopeithes to bring the Thracian Chersonese back under Attic control, Kardia faced in 342 BC. As a result, the political relationship between Athens and King Philip II of Macedonia deteriorated considerably. During the time of this king, the city was ruled by the tyrant Hecataeus . Out of hostility to this, Eumenes († 316 BC) exiled to the Macedonian court, where he became royal secretary and in vain urged Alexander the great to end the tyranny of Hecataeus. Another prominent citizen of Kardia was the historian Hieronymos , who was a friend and perhaps even a relative of Eumenes.

Kardia was born in 309 BC. Destroyed by the Diadoch ruler of Thrace, Lysimachos , who forcibly relocated the population to his newly founded Lysimacheia, which was to become his capital. The city secured the strategically important Hellespont ( Dardanelles ), which was important as a sea route for supplying Greece and at the same time as a gateway to Asia. After the death of Lysimachus it was fought over between the other diadochi, but soon gained a certain autonomy and joined the Aitolian League . 277 BC BC the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas defeated the invaded Galatians near Lysimachia . In the same year the city was destroyed by a severe earthquake. 197 BC The city suffered from the war of the Romans against Philip V of Macedonia . Antiochus III. then had the city rebuilt and promoted the settlement through generous promises. Nevertheless, the city could not recover from the blows and fell into disrepair during the Roman period. It is last mentioned under its ancient name by the historian Ammianus Marcellinus (4th century). Emperor Justinian rebuilt and fortified the city; this time it was named Hexamilion .

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