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Pactolus
Pactolus (), also called Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας), the modern Sart Çayı , is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus. The Pactolus once contained electrum that was the basis of the economy of the ancient state of Lydia, which used the naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver to mint the first coins under Alyattes of Lydia. Name Pseudo-Plutarch in the De fluviis writes that the river was initially called Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας ) because according to the legend, Chrysorrhoas (the son of Apollo) threw himself into the river. Later it was called Pactolus, from Pactolus, the son of Leucothea, who during a festival of Aphrodite failed to recognize his own sister, Demodice, and ravished her. Upon realizing what he had done, overwhelmed with grief, he threw himself into the river. Because of this the name of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardis
Sardis ( ) or Sardes ( ; Lydian language, Lydian: , romanized: ; ; ) was an ancient city best known as the capital of the Lydian Empire. After the fall of the Lydian Empire, it became the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Lydia (satrapy), satrapy of Lydia and later a major center of Hellenistic Greece, Hellenistic and Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine culture. Now an active archaeological site, it is located in modern day Turkey, in Manisa Province, near the town of ''Sart, Salihli, Sart''. History Sardis was occupied for at least 3500 years. In that time, it fluctuated between a wealthy city of international importance and a collection of modest hamlets. Early settlement Sardis was settled before 1500 BC. However, the size and nature of early settlement is not known since only small extramural portions of these layers have been excavated. Evidence of occupation consists largely of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age pottery which shows affinities with Mycenaean Greece and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demodice
In Greek mythology, the name Demodice (Ancient Greek: Δημοδίκη) may refer to: *Demodice, daughter of Agenor, also known as Demonice. *Demodice or Demodika (also known as Gorgopis, Themisto, or Biadice), second wife of either Cretheus or Athamas, who unsuccessfully attempted to seduce Phrixus and in revenge accused him of sexual abuse, which caused him to flee from his father's kingdom. *Demodice, daughter of Rheximachus of Tegea. After Tegea had been at war with Phenea for a long time, the cities agreed to put an end to the conflict by electing a set of triplet brothers to represent each side and letting the victorious side be determined in a fight between them. The Tegeans sent the three sons of Rheximachus, brothers of Demodice, while the Pheneans sent the three sons of Demostratus, one of whom, Demodicus, was betrothed to Demodice. Two of Rheximachus' sons were killed in the fight, but the third brother, Critolaus, outwitted his opponents by pretending to flee from them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Ancient Rome, Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called ''baccheia''. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His ''thyrsus'', a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his Cult of Dionysus, cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms; some are described by ancient sources as Thrace, Thracian, others as Greek. In O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lydia
Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, the Lydian people achieved some sort of political cohesion, and existed as an independent kingdom by the 600s BC. At its greatest extent, during the 7th century BC, it covered all of western Anatolia. In 546 BC, it became a Lydia (satrapy), satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, known as ''Sparda'' in Old Persian. In 133 BC, it became part of the Roman Republic, Roman Asia (Roman province), province of Asia. Lydian coins, made of electrum, are among the oldest in existence, dated to around the 7th century BC. Geography Lydia is generally located east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak Province, Uşak, Manisa Province, Manisa and inland İzmir Province, İzmir.Rhodes, P.J. ''A History of the Classical Greek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Fluviis
''De fluviīs'' (Latin for "concerning rivers"), also called ''Dē fluviōrum et montium nōminibus et dē iīs quae in illīs inveniuntur'' ("concerning the names of rivers and mountains and those things which are found in them") or the Greek ''Περὶ ποταμῶν καὶ ὀρῶν ἐπωνυμίας'', is a Greek text by Pseudo-Plutarch written during the 2nd century CE. It discusses twenty-five rivers in Greece, Asia Minor, India, Gaul, Egypt, Scythia, and Armenia. The chapters typically start with a myth about the river, include information about local flora and stones, and end with details about a nearby mountain. Scholars today classify it as paradoxography, or even a parody of paradoxography. The work Notably, Pseudo-Plutarch describes 22 of the 25 rivers as deriving their names from people who committed suicide in them. Six of the rivers were renamed ''twice'' due to suicide. Several of the mountains are also said to have gotten their names from suicides. Most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantalus
Tantalus ( ), also called Atys, was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus: for either revealing many secrets of the gods, for stealing ambrosia from them, or for trying to trick them into eating his son, he was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. This punishment, although the most well-known today, was a more unusual detail in surviving early Greek sources, where variants including a stone suspended above his head are more commonly recorded. The ancient Greeks used the proverb "Tantalean punishment" (: ) in reference to those who have good things but are not permitted to enjoy them. His name and punishment are also the source of the English word ''tantalize'', meaning to torment with the sight of something desired but out of reach; tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedly disappointed. 'The rock of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euryanassa
In Greek mythology, Euryanassa (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυάνασσα) is a name that may refer to: *Euryanassa, daughter of the river-god Pactolus. She was the wife of Tantalus, and one of the possible mothers of Pelops, Broteas and Niobe. *Euryanassa, daughter of Hyperphas, leader of the Phlegyans and thus, sister to Euryganeia, wife of Oedipus. She was the mother of Minyas by Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit .... *Euryanassa, a surname of Hebe Hesychius of Alexandria, s.v. ''Euryanassa'' Notes References * Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, ''Moralia'' with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Gods (Greek Mythology)
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, rivers () were often personified as deities, and in a number of ancient Greek cities river gods were the subject of local worship. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', the river gods are the offspring of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and the brothers of the Oceanids. In Greek mythology, river deities – such as Inachus, Scamander, and Peneus – are often progenitors of local genealogical lines. In the ''Iliad'', there are references to sacrifices being made to river deities, including the sacrifice of ephebes' hair. During military campaigns into foreign territory, there is evidence of sacrifices having been made to rivers upon their crossing. River deities could also be invoked as witnesses to an oath. Depictions of river deities in ancient Greek art often combine anthropomorphic features with bull-like elements such as horns. Mythology The river gods were the 3000 sons of the great earth-encircling river Oceanus and his wife Tethy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alyattes
Alyattes ( Lydian language: ; ; reigned c. 635 – c. 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 died after a reign of 57 years and was succeeded by his son Croesus. Alyattes was the first monarch who issued coins, made from electrum (and his successor Croesus was the first to issue gold coins). Alyattes is therefore sometimes mentioned as the originator of coinage, or of currency. Name The most likely etymology for the name derives it, via a form with initial digamma (), itself originally from a Lydian ( Lydian alphabet: ). The name meant "lion-ness" (i.e. the state of being a lion), and was composed of the Lydian term (), meaning "lion", to which was added an abstract suffix (). Chronology Dates for the Mermnad kings are uncertain and are based on a computation by J. B. Bury and Russell Meiggs (1975) who estimated c.687–c.652 BC fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Coins
The history of coins stretches back to the first millennium BC/BCE. Notable early examples of coins include the Lydian lion coins, Persian daric and siglos, Tong Bei, the dirham and gold dinar. Coins are a major archaeological source of history. Coins convey information about language, administration, religion, economic conditions, and the ruler who minted those coins. Coins were first made of scraps of metal by hitting a hammer positioned over an anvil. The Chinese produced primarily cast coinage, and this spread to South-East Asia and Japan. Although few non-Chinese cast coins were produced by governments, it was a common practice amongst counterfeiters. Early coins Ephesus' great temple of Artemis has provided evidence for the earliest coins yet known from the ancient world. The first structures in the sanctuary, buried deep under the later temples, date back to the eighth century BCE, and from that time on precious objects were used in the cult or dedicated to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Tmolus
Mount Tmolus (Ancient Greek: Τμῶλος, modern Bozdağ; highest point: 2,157 m), named after Tmolus, King of Lydia, is in "a mountain range on the south of Sardis, forming the watershed between the basins of the Hermus in the north and the Cayster in the south, and being connected in the east with Mount Messogis." It is situated in Lydia in western Turkey with the ancient Lydian capital Sardis at its foot and Hypaepa on its southern slope. The mountain was "celebrated for its excellent wine-growing slopes. It was equally rich in metals; and the river Pactolus, which had its source in Mount Tmolus, at one time carried from its interior a rich supply of gold." The geography of Tmolus and the contest between Pan and Apollo, associated with the mythical Tmolus, son of Ares, are mentioned in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
