Assesos or Assesus ( grc, Ἀσσησός) was a small ancient Greek town in the region of

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the ...

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

, near Miletus, and the site of a sanctuary of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

( grc, Ἀσσησία Ἀθηνᾶ). It is mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

in his '' Histories'' (I.18–23) in the context of an episode during the war between the

Lydia Lydia ( Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provin ...

ns under

Sadyattes Sadyattes ( grc, Σαδυαττης, Saduattēs; la, Sadyattēs; reigned 637–) was the third king of the Mermnad dynasty in Lydia, the son of Ardys and the grandson of Gyges of Lydia. Sadyattes reigned 12 years according to Herodotus. Reign ...

and the Milesians in the late 7th century BC, when Lydian troops destroyed the sanctuary with fire. Herodotus also writes that after the peace between the two enemies the

Alyattes of Lydia Alyattes (Lydian language: ; grc, Ἀλυάττης ; reigned c. 635-585 BC), sometimes described as Alyattes I, was the fourth king of the Mermnad dynasty in Lydia, the son of Sadyattes, grandson of Ardys, and great-grandson of Gyges. He ...

built two temples dedicated to Athena at the city.HERODOTUS, HISTORIES, § 1.22
/ref> The site of the ancient settlement has been identified by archaeologists at the modern location Mengerevtepe, some 7 km south-east of ancient Miletus.

References

*Peter Herrmann, Denis Feissel (2006):
Inschriften von Milet: Milet. Inschriften n. 1020 - 1580
', Vol.3/6, p. 172 *Alan M. Greaves (2002)
Miletus: A history
'. London: Routledge. p. 75 Archaeological sites in the Aegean Region History of Aydın Province Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Populated places in ancient Caria {{AncientGreece-stub