Mysia
|
Hercules with Hylas in Mysia |
Mysia was a region in the northwest of
Turkey. It was located on the south coast of the
Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by
Bithynia on the east,
Phrygia on the southeast,
Lydia on the south,
Aeolis on the southwest,
Troad on the west and by the
Propontis on the north. In ancient times it was inhabited by the
Mysi,
Phrygians,
Aeolian Greeks, and other groups.
The precise limits of Mysia are difficult to assign. The Phrygian frontier was fluctuating, while in the northwest the
Troad was only sometimes included in Mysia. The northern portion was known as
Mysia Minor or
Hellespontica, while the southern was called
Major or
Pergamene.
The chief physical features of Mysia are the two
mountains—
Mount Olympus at (7600 feet) in the north and
Mount Temnus in the south, which for some distance separates Mysia from
Lydia and is afterwards prolonged through Mysia to the neighbourhood of the
Gulf of Adramyttium. The major rivers in the northern part of the province are the
Macestus and its tributary, the
Rhyndacus, both of which rise in
Phrygia, and, after diverging widely through Mysia, unite their waters below the lake of
Apollonia about 15 miles from the Propontis. The
Caïcus in the south rises in Temnus, and from thence flows westward to the
Aegean Sea, passing within a few miles of
Pergamon. In the northern portion of the province are two considerable lakes,
Artynia, or Apolloniatis (Abulliont Geul), and
Aphnitis (Maniyas Geul), which discharge their waters into the Macestus from the east and west respectively.
The most important cities were Pergamon in the valley of the Caïcus, and
Cyzicus on the Propontis. The whole sea-coast was studded with Greek towns, several of which were places of considerable importance; thus the northern portion included
Parium,
Lampsacus and
Abydos, and the southern
Assus,
Adramyttium. Further south, on the
Eleatic Gulf, were
Elaea,
Myrina and
Cyme.
A minor episode in the
Trojan War cycle in
Greek mythology has the Greek fleet land at Mysia, mistaking it for
Troy.
Achilles wounds their king,
Telephus, after he slays a Greek; Telephus later pleads with
Achilles to heal the wound. This coastal region ruled by Telephus is alternatively named
Teuthrania in Greek mythology, and was previously ruled by a King
Teuthras. In the
Iliad,
Homer represents the Mysians as allies of Troy, with the Mysian forces led by
Ennomus (a prophet) and
Chromius, sons of
Arsinous. Homeric Mysia appears to have been much smaller in extent than historical Mysia, and did not extend north to the Hellespont. Homer does not mention any cities or landmarks for Mysia, and it is not clear exactly where Homeric Mysia was situated, although it was probably somewhere between the
Troad (to the northwest of Mysia) and Lydia/Maeonia (to its south).
There are a number of Mysian inscriptions in a dialect of the
Phrygian language, in a variant of the
Phrygian alphabet.
*
Aeolis
