Asine (; ) was an ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

city of

ancient Argolis The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths. Conceptually, there is no cl ...

, located on the coast. It is mentioned by

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

in the

Catalogue of Ships The Catalogue of Ships (, ''neōn katálogos'') is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's ''Iliad'' (2.494–759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. The catalogue gives the names of the leaders of each conting ...

in the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' as one of the places subject to

Diomedes Diomedes (Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.) or Diomede (; ) is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan ...

, king of Argos. It is said to have been founded by the Dryopes, who originally dwelt on

Mount Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; , ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the c ...

. In one of the early wars (740 BCE) between the

Lacedaemonians Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

and the Argives, the Asinaeans joined the former when they invaded the Argive territory under their king

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

; but as soon as the Lacedaemonians returned home, the Argives laid

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

to Asine and razed it to the ground, sparing only the sanctuary of Pythaëus Apollo. The Asinaeans escaped by sea; and the Lacedaemonians gave to them, after the end of the

First Messenian War The First Messenian War was a war between Messenia_(ancient_region), Messenia and Sparta. It began in 743 BC and ended in 724 BC, according to the dates given by Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias. The war continued the rivalry between the Achae ...

, a portion of the Messenian territory, where they built a new town (also named Asine). Nearly ten centuries after the destruction of the city its ruins were visited by Pausanias, who found the sanctuary of Apollo still visible. Its site is located near the modern Tolon. Excavations made from 1922 by Swedish

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

led by Axel W. Persson (and involving the then Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden) found the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

of ancient Asine surrounded by a

Cyclopean wall Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...

(much modified in the

Hellenistic era In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...

) and a Mycenaean era

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

with many Mycenaean chamber tombs containing skeletal remains and grave goods. Excavations have continued since the 1920s almost continuously under the

Swedish Institute at Athens The Swedish Institute at Athens (; ) was founded in 1946 and is one of 19 foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. The Institute is one of three Swedish research institutes in the Mediterranean, along with the Swedish Insti ...

.Richard Stillwell, ed. ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', 1976:
"ASINE Argolid, Greece" The site was last used as a fortified position by Italian troops during the second world war when machine gun nests were built.

Sources

* Swedish Institute at Athens - Asine, Argolid: https://www.sia.gr/en/articles.php?tid=338&page=1

References

{{Authority control Populated places in ancient Argolis Former populated places in Greece Destroyed populated places Cities in ancient Peloponnese Places in the Iliad Mycenaean sites in the Peloponnese (region) Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Peloponnese (region)

See also

Sources

References