Antissa ( grc, Ἄντισσα) was a city of the island

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...

(Lesvos), near to Cape Sigrium, the western point of Lesbos. The place had a harbour. The ruins found by

Richard Pococke Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765)''Notes and Queries'', p. 129. was an English-born churchman, inveterate traveller and travel writer. He was the Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church ...

at Calas Limneonas, a little NE. of cape Sigri, may be those of Antissa. This place was the birthplace of Terpander, who is said to be the inventor of the seven-stringed

lyre The lyre () is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it ...

. According to the local historian Myrsilus of Methymna, local tradition held that the head of

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

had floated south from the

Hebros Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Antissa exists nowadays as a village on

. Nearby the village is the cave of

. The village has an alternative old name, it is called "Τελώνια" which may be translated as sprite.

Foundation

Almost nothing is known about the early history of Antissa. The late 1st century AD writer Herennius Philo claimed that Antissa was named after the homonymous daughter of

Macar In Greek mythology, Macar (; Ancient Greek: Μάκαρ ''Makar'') or Macareus (; Μακαρεύς ''Makareus'' means 'happy') or Macareas (, ''Makareas''), is the name of several individuals: * Macareus, an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 son ...

, the legendary king of Lesbos. An anonymous scholiast commenting on Homer alternatively claimed that the Antissa in question was Macar's wife. Since the practice of positing mythical figures to explain the origins of otherwise unexplained toponyms was common - for example, the same is claimed of

Methymna Mithymna () ( el, Μήθυμνα, also sometimes spelled ''Methymna'') is a town and former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is part of the municipality of West Lesbos, of wh ...

, Mt. Lepetymnos,

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 ...

, Eresos and

itself - this tradition about Macar and a female relative named Antissa only indicates that the Greeks themselves did not know the origin of the name. An alternative tradition attempted to etymologize (''Antissa'') as (''ant' Issa''), exploiting the meaning 'opposite to' of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

(''anti''). Re-dividing toponyms to yield explanations for their origin was a common practice, and in this region we encounter it, for example, in the mythological tradition for Antandros in the Troad. This tradition appears to originate with Myrsilus, a local historian from neighbouring Methymna who wrote in the first half of the 3rd century BCE. He wrote that Antissa was formerly an island, so called because it was 'opposite Issa', which at that time, he claims, was the name of Lesbos. This tradition appears to reflect the situation of Antissa's promontory, which was located on a low rise (elevation ~13 metres) jutting out to sea a short distance from its acropolis. The excavator of Antissa, Winnifred Lamb, noted that subsistence was a problem in the low-lying land between the promontory and the acropolis, and so the tradition may relate to an actual change in the landscape; alternatively, it could be the product of learned speculation. Another interpretation is that the name Antissa comes from the Hittite words "hanti iša", meaning "near the face", in the sense "near the port".

History

Antissa joined the Mytilenaeans in their revolt from

Athens 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 a ...

in 428 BCE during the

Peloponnesian war The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of ...

, and successfully defended itself against the Methymnaeans who attacked it. But after Mytilene had been compelled to surrender to the Athenians, Antissa was recovered by them also. In 371 the Athenian general

Iphicrates Iphicrates ( grc-gre, Ιφικράτης; c. 418 BC – c. 353 BC) was an Athenian general, who flourished in the earlier half of the 4th century BC. He is credited with important infantry reforms that revolutionized ancient Greek warfare by ...

fled to Antissa, and later to Drys, after he fell out with his father-in-law Cotys, King of the Thracians, when he refused to besiege the strongholds of his fellow Athenians in the Thracian Chersonese. In the 330s BCE was ruled by a tyranny which also controlled the neighbouring city of Eresos until it was overthrown by the forces of

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 ...

in 332. Antissa was destroyed by the Romans after the defeat of Perseus, king of Macedonia in 168 BCE because the Antissans had received in their port and given supplies to Antenor, the admiral of Perseus. The people were removed to Methymna. Archaeological excavations carried out by Winifred Lamb for the British School of Archaeology at Athens revealed parts of the city wall and Iron Age buildings including an

apsidal In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

structure.W. Lamb, 'Antissa' ''The Annual of the British School at Athens'' 32 (1931-1932) 42-8. The original island site is now joined to the mainland by a sandy isthmus; its most conspicuous remains are those of a medieval castle. Traces of the harbour mole may also be seen on the eastern side of the city.

In popular culture

Antissa is the name of the first song in the first album by the band

E.S. Posthumus E.S. Posthumus was an independent music group that produced a form of 21st-century classical music/epic music that intertwined popular style drum rhythms with orchestral and electronic sounds. Their music is inspired by the Pythagorean philosoph ...

, ' Unearthed'. All of the songs in that album are named after historical cities.

References

{{coord, 39.291377, N, 26.018991, E, display=title, format=dms, source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/22969 Populated places in Lesbos Cities in ancient Greece Former populated places in Greece Locations in Greek mythology Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands