Achilleion ( grc, Ἀχίλλειον, Achilleion; la, Achilleum or ''Achilleium'') was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

city in the south-west of the

Troad The Troad ( or ; el, Τρωάδα, ''Troáda'') or Troas (; grc, Τρῳάς, ''Trōiás'' or , ''Trōïás'') is a historical region in northwestern Anatolia. It corresponds with the Biga Peninsula ( Turkish: ''Biga Yarımadası'') in the � ...

region of

Anatolia 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 ...

. It has been located on a promontory known as Beşika Burnu ('cradle promontory') about 8 km south of Sigeion. Beşika Burnu is 2 km south of the modern village of Yeniköy in the

Ezine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

district of

Çanakkale Province Çanakkale Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the city of Çanakkale. Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province has a European (Thrace) and an Asian (Anatolia) part. The E ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. The site considered in

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

to be the tomb of

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

is a short distance inland at a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...

known as Beşiktepe. Achilleion in the Troad is not to be confused with Achilleion near

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

and Achilleion in the territory of

Tanagra Tanagra ( el, Τανάγρα) is a town and a municipality north of Athens in Boeotia, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Schimatari. It is not far from Thebes, and it was noted in antiquity for the figurines named after it. The ...

Tomb of Achilles and Patroclus

The otherwise obscure

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

of Achilleion was most famous in

for its association with

, after whom it was named ('the place of Achilles'). According to some sources, while passing by Ilion in 334 BC

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

sacrificed at the Tomb of Achilles. This story became famous, and in the mid-1st century BC it is mentioned by the politician and writer

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

in his ''

Pro Archia Poeta Cicero's oration ''Pro Archia Poeta'' ("On Behalf of Archias the Poet") is the published literary form of his defense of Aulus Licinius Archias, a poet accused of not being a Roman citizen. The accusation is believed to have been a political move ...

''. In AD 216 the Emperor

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

emulated Alexander when, on passing Ilion on his way to a war against

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

, he held funeral games around the tumulus. Following the abandonment of the settlement at Achilleion in the late

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, writers began to associate the tomb with nearby Sigeion to the north.

History

The first mention of Achilleion is as a fortified settlement from which

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University o ...

conducted its attacks on

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

controlled Sigeion to the north in the early 6th century

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

. It is not clear whether Achilleion had been settled earlier, but the

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

record also begins at this point, suggesting that it had not. Recent excavations have established that the walls of the settlement also date to the first half of the 6th century BCE, further corroborating the literary accounts of

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

and Strabo regarding its origins. Achilleion remained under Mytilenaean control until Athens brought an end to the

Mytilenean revolt The Mytilenean revolt was an incident in the Peloponnesian War in which the city of Mytilene attempted to unify the island of Lesbos under its control and revolt from the Athenian Empire. In 428 BC, the Mytilenean government planned a rebellion ...

in 427 BCE and took over all the so-called Actaean cities in the

. Achilleion appears in the Athenian tribute lists for 425/4 and 422/1 BCE, indicating that it had joined the Delian League. The legend (''ACH'') which some bronze coins found in this region bear is thought to refer to Ach (illeion) and suggest that c. 350 - 300 BCE the city minted its own coins. King Lysimachus synoecized Ilion with many surrounding communities including Achilleion during his reign (306 - 281 BCE), effectively ending Achilleion's political independence. The testimony of

Demetrius of Scepsis Demetrius of Scepsis ( grc, Δημήτριος ὁ Σκήψιος) was a Greek Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian of the time of Aristarchus of Samothrace, Aristarchus and Crates of Mallus, Crates (Strabo, Strab. xiii. p. 609), the first half ...

, who hailed from a nearby town in the Troad, indicates that there was still a hamlet known as Achilleion on the site in the mid-2nd century BCE. It is to around this time that the latest

finds from Achilleion date, suggesting that the site became uninhabited soon afterwards.Cook (1973) 185.

References

Bibliography

*O. Hirschfeld, '' RE'' I (1893) s.v. 'Achilleion (1)' col. 220. *J.M. Cook, ''The Troad'' (Oxford, 1973) 178–86. *P.A. Brunt, ''Arrian. Anabasis Alexanderi, books I-IV'' (Cambridge Mass., 1976). *M. Korfmann, 'Beşik-Tepe. Vorbericht über die Ergebnisse der Granungen von 1985 und 1986' ''Archäologische Anzeiger'' (1988) 391–8. *A.U. Kossatz, 'Beşik-Tepe 1985 und 1986; zur archaischen Keramik vom Beşik-Tepe' ''Archäologische Anzeiger'' (1988) 398–404. *A. Schulz, ''Die Stadtmauer von Neandreia in der Troas. Asia Minor Studien 38'' (Bonn, 2000). *C. Carusi, ''Isole e Peree in Asia Minore'' (Pisa, 2003) 41–2. *S. Mitchell, 'Achilleion' in M.H. Hansen and T.H. Nielsen (eds.), ''An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis'' (Oxford, 2004) no. 766. {{Authority control Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Cities in ancient Troad Aeolian colonies Former populated places in Turkey Members of the Delian League Populated places in ancient Troad Greek city-states Tells (archaeology)