Myrina (Asia Minor)

Eros , terracotta statuette from Myrina, Louvre

Grotesque , terracotta statuette from Myrina, National Archaeological Museum (Athens) .

Myrina was an ancient Aeolian city ​​in Mysia . It was about 5 km north of today's Aliağa on the west coast of Turkey .

It was located about 37 kilometers southwest of Pergamon . Myrina was one of the twelve Aeolian cities that were first conquered by Croesus and then incorporated into the Persian Empire under Cyrus II . In the 5th century BC BC Myrina belonged to the Delisch-Attic League . In the Hellenistic period, characteristic terracotta statuettes were made in Myrina , which were found in the city's necropolis. The neighboring city of Gryneion with a well-known Apollo sanctuary was united with Myrina in Hellenism. Myrina was destroyed by earthquakes in 17 and 106 AD and rebuilt. In the 1st century it was temporarily called Sebastopolis (" Augustus City").

The city was on and around two hills at the mouth of a small river. The remains of a Byzantine city wall can be seen on the Acropolis hill. There are also remains of a quay. Excavations have uncovered thousands of graves from the Hellenistic era. Finds from Myrina, mainly terracottas, are exhibited in the Bergama Archaeological Museum , while most of the 19th century finds are in the Louvre in Paris .

The Byzantine writer Agathias came from Myrina .

literature

• George Ewart Bean :  Myrina, Turkey . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
• George Ewart Bean: Asia Minor . Volume 1. Aegean Turkey from Pergamon to Didyma . 5th edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-17-009678-8 , pp. 105-109.
• Dominique Kassab Tezgör: Statuettes en terre cuite de Myrina. Corpus des signatures, monogrammes, lettres et signes . Maisonneuve, Paris 1988, ISBN 2-906053-07-4 (Bibliothèque de l'Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes d'Istanbul, 29).
• Ute Mrogenda: The terracotta figures of Myrina. An examination of their possible meaning and function in the grave context . Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-631-30962-7 (European university publications , series 38 Archeology, 63).
• Murat Çekilmez, Emel Dereboylu Poulain: Myrina ve Gryneion. Arkeolojik Yüzey Araştırmaları / Archaeological surveys on Myrina and Gryneion (MYGAR) .
  • Vol. 1: Belgeler ve Yeni Araştırmalar . Ankara 2017, ISBN 978-975-97975-5-3 .
  • Vol. 2: Son Araştırmalar ve Disiplinler Arası Çalışmalar . Ankara 2018, ISBN 978-605-68267-2-6 .

Web links

Commons : Myrina  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Inscriptions from Myrina
• Coins Myrinas (English)

Coordinates: 38 ° 51 '  N , 26 ° 59'  E