Leucae ( el, Λεῦκαι) or Leuce ( el, Λεύκη) was a small town of ancient Ionia, in the neighbourhood of

Phocaea Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, in ...

. Leucae was situated, according to

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

in ''promontorio quod insula fuit'', or, "on an island promontory." From

Scylax Scylax of Caryanda ( el, Σκύλαξ ὁ Καρυανδεύς) was a Greek explorer and writer of the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE. His own writings are lost, though occasionally cited or quoted by later Greek and Roman authors. The peri ...

we learn that it was a place with harbours. According to

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

, the Persian admiral Tachos founded this town on an eminence on the sea coast, in 352 BCE; but shortly after, when Tachos had died, the Clazomenians and Cymaeans quarrelled about its possession, and the former succeeded by a stratagem in making themselves masters of it. At a later time Leucae became remarkable for the battle fought in its neighbourhood between the consul

Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus (c. 180 BC – 130 BC) was the natural son of Publius Mucius Scaevola and Licinia, and brother of Publius Mucius Scaevola. He was adopted at an unknown date by Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 171 BC), h ...

and Aristonicus in 131 BCE. Some have supposed this place to be identical with the Leuconium mentioned by

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

;Thuc. viii. 24 but this is impossible, as this latter place must be looked for in

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...

. The site of the ancient Leucae is at Üçtepeler, Izmir Province,

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 ...

, some distance from the coast. Coins were minted at Leucae in the 3rd century BCE.

References

Literature

*D. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor (1950) p. 1035. *G. E. Bean, Aegean Turkey (1966) pp. 125–27. Geography of İzmir Province Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Populated places in ancient Ionia Former populated places in Turkey History of İzmir Province {{İzmir-geo-stub