Myndus () or Myndos () was an ancient Dorian colony of

Troezen Troezen (; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the munic ...

, on the coast of

Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, (

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

), sited on the

Bodrum Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km2 and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Hal ...

Peninsula, a few miles northwest of

Halicarnassus Halicarnassus ( ; Latin: ''Halicarnassus'' or ''Halicarnāsus''; ''Halikarnāssós''; ; Carian language, Carian: 𐊠𐊣𐊫𐊰 𐊴𐊠𐊥𐊵𐊫𐊰 ''alos k̂arnos'') was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Caria, in Anatolia.

. The site is now occupied by the modern village of

Gümüşlük Gümüşlük is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Bodrum, Muğla Province, Turkey. Its population is 4,478 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''belde''). It is a seaside village and fishing port. Location ...

History

Myndos was protected by strong walls, and had a good harbor. ( Paus. ii. 30. § 8;

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

xiv. p. 658;

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

, Anab. i. 20, ii. 5.) Otherwise, the place is not of much importance in ancient history. Both Pliny (v. 29) and

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

(''s. v.'') mention Palaemyndus as an ancient Carian settlement near to Myndus, which seems to have become deserted after Dorian Mynduse was founded. (Comp. Strab. xiii. p. 611). Mela (i. 16) and Pliny (''l. c.'') also speak of Neapolis in the same peninsula and as no other authors mention such a place in that part of the country, it had been supposed that Myndus (the Dorian colony) and Neapolis were the same place. Pliny, however, mentions both Myndus and Neapolis as two different towns, and modern scholars differentiate the two. The cynic philosopher

Diogenes of Sinope Diogenes the Cynic, also known as Diogenes of Sinope (c. 413/403–c. 324/321 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism. Renowned for his ascetic lifestyle, biting wit, and radical critiques of social conventi ...

visited Myndos and noticed how large the city gates were, relative to the town; he cynically remarked; "Oh men of Myndos, I urge you to shut the city gates, as your town might exit from these!". Myndian ships are mentioned in the expedition of Anaxagoras against Naxos. (Herod. v. 33.)

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

relates the story of how a captain from Myndus, Scylax, was found to have left no guards on his ship while a Persian force was preparing to attack the island of

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

. The Persian commander,

Megabates Megabates (Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; dates unknown) was a Persian military leader in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC. According to Herodotus he was a cousin of Darius the Great and his brother Artaphernes, satrap of Lydia. Based o ...

, flew into a rage and had him put in stocks, at which point

Aristagoras Aristagoras of Miletus (), d. 497/496 BC, was the tyrant of the Ionian city of Miletus in the late 6th century BC and early 5th century BC. He acted as one of the instigators of the Ionian Revolt against the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He was ...

, a

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

from

Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...

helping several Naxian oligarchs to retake Naxos, discovered what had happened to his guest-friend Scylax. Pleading with Megabates to no avail for Scylax, he released him anyway, incurring the Persian commander's wrath. The consequence of this falling out was that, according to Herodotus, Megabates warned the Naxians of what was afoot, ruining the expedition and in turn Aristagoras who, with nowhere to go, stirred up the

Ionian Revolt The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris (Asia Minor), Doris, Ancient history of Cyprus, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several Greek regions of Asia Minor against Achaemenid Empire, Persian rule, lasting from 499 ...

. This is a classic example of Ionian αταξιη (lack of discipline, disorder, licentiousness), a charge commonly levelled at them, especially in the 5th century by

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. At a later time, when

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

besieged Halicarnassus, he was anxious first to make himself master of Myndus; but when he attempted to take it by surprise, the Myndians, with the aid of reinforcements from Halicarnassus repulsed him with some loss. (Arrian, ''l. c.''; comp. Hecat. Fragm. 229; Polyb. xvi. 15, 21; Scylax, p. 38; Ptol. v. 2. § 9; Liv. xxxvii. 15; Hierocl. p. 687.)

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

(i. 32) states that the wine grown in the district of Myndus was good for digestion. Remains of the city are visible in and around Gümüşlük and in the adjacent waters; it is supposed that some unrecorded earthquake caused seafront sections of the ancient town to be submerged. As a result, much of the land and offshore areas are protected from interference and development.

Ecclesiastical history

Myndus was an

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

, a suffragan of Stauropolis (Aphrodisias). The ''

Notitiæ episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the mostl ...

'' allude to it as late as the 12th or 13th century. However, only four of its bishops are known: Archelaus, who attended the

First Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

(431); Alphius, who assisted at the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

(451); John who was present at the

Third Council of Constantinople The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical a ...

(680); and another John who went to the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics and others. ...

(787). The bishopric is included in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

's list of

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

Notable people

Alexander of Myndus Alexander () of Myndus in Caria was an ancient Greek writer who some believe lived during the 1st century AD but this date is uncertain. He wrote on diverse topics, including zoology and divination. His works, which are now lost, must have been c ...

, ancient Greek writer * Apollonius of Myndus, ancient Greek astrologer * Eusebius of Myndus, ancient Greek philosopher * Botryas of Myndus, ancient Greek writer * Zenon of Myndus, ancient Greek writerStephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § M462.3
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

Gümüslük
{{Authority control Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Greek colonies in Caria Dorian colonies Ancient Troezen Ruins in Turkey Destroyed populated places Former populated places in Turkey Geography of Muğla Province History of Muğla Province Buildings and structures in Muğla Province Halicarnassus Members of the Delian League Populated places in ancient Caria Bodrum District