DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0222
196 V. PHRYGIAN CITIES OF THE LOWER MAEANDER.
Now Strabo entertains doubts as to whether the Katakekaumene was
Mysian or Maeonian, but he has no doubts about Philadelpheia : it was
a city of the Mysians 1. It follows, therefore, that there was a district
containing Philadelpheia and probably some other places which was
reckoned by Strabo to Mysia, although separated by the Katakekaumene
from the mass of Mysia.
Further, Strabo declares that the long mountain-ridge extending from
Kelainai to My kale (which is called in at least part of its extent Messogis)
is Phrygian on the east, Mysian and Lydian in the centre, Carian and
Ionian on the west. He therefore understood that a certain district
extending from this ridge north as far as Philadelpheia, was inhabited by
a Mysian people. There must have been some reason why, in a country
where boundaries were so vague, this region should be so positively and
emphatically reckoned to Mysia; and the reason probably is that the
people called themselves Mysians2. In this neighbourhood then we
should look for the Mysomakedones; and the agreement of Strabo and
Ptolemy on a point which is at first sight so improbable guarantees its
correctness. We cannot place the Mysomakedones north of Philadelpheia,
for it is plain that Philadelpheia was the frontier place of the Mysians,
and that all beyond it to the north-west towards Sardis was Lydian. We
must therefore go further south. Again we cannot look for them on the
south-east in the Kogamis valley 3, for the line of road which connected
Tripolis with Philadelpheia and Sardis must be considered as belonging
to the conventus of Sardis; and the Mysomakedones, who went to
Ephesos for the assizes, must lie west of that road. We must therefore
look for them due south or south-west of Philadelpheia on a road com-
municating with Ephesos. This consideration brings us to the Uzum-
Ovasi (Grape-Valley) and the line of road connecting it with the Cayster
valley. So far as I can learn, there is no very suitable situation on the
road for a city except in or close to the Uzum-Ovasi; and we may there-
fore expect that the Macedonian colonists were posted on this line of road
by the Seleucid kings, and that their centre was in the high-lying Uzum-
Ova. In this position their duty was to guard the lines of communica-
tion between the Lycos valley on the one side and the Cayster and Hermos
valleys on the other. Now we have already seen that Apollonos-Hieron
1 /jera Se Avdovs elcnv 01 Mucroi «u iroXis Yuruks, and Turkmen dwelling in sepa-
*iXa8e\<£«a p. 628. rate villages, never intermarrying, and
2 This is an excellent example of the all retaining their distinct dress and
persistence of different peoples, charac- manners. See on this subject Ch. I § 13.
terized by different customs, in the same 3 Pliny calls the river Cogamus, but
district. So, in one valley at the present a coin belonging to Mr. Lawson of
day, you may find Circassians, Turks, Smyrna reads KOTAMIC.
Now Strabo entertains doubts as to whether the Katakekaumene was
Mysian or Maeonian, but he has no doubts about Philadelpheia : it was
a city of the Mysians 1. It follows, therefore, that there was a district
containing Philadelpheia and probably some other places which was
reckoned by Strabo to Mysia, although separated by the Katakekaumene
from the mass of Mysia.
Further, Strabo declares that the long mountain-ridge extending from
Kelainai to My kale (which is called in at least part of its extent Messogis)
is Phrygian on the east, Mysian and Lydian in the centre, Carian and
Ionian on the west. He therefore understood that a certain district
extending from this ridge north as far as Philadelpheia, was inhabited by
a Mysian people. There must have been some reason why, in a country
where boundaries were so vague, this region should be so positively and
emphatically reckoned to Mysia; and the reason probably is that the
people called themselves Mysians2. In this neighbourhood then we
should look for the Mysomakedones; and the agreement of Strabo and
Ptolemy on a point which is at first sight so improbable guarantees its
correctness. We cannot place the Mysomakedones north of Philadelpheia,
for it is plain that Philadelpheia was the frontier place of the Mysians,
and that all beyond it to the north-west towards Sardis was Lydian. We
must therefore go further south. Again we cannot look for them on the
south-east in the Kogamis valley 3, for the line of road which connected
Tripolis with Philadelpheia and Sardis must be considered as belonging
to the conventus of Sardis; and the Mysomakedones, who went to
Ephesos for the assizes, must lie west of that road. We must therefore
look for them due south or south-west of Philadelpheia on a road com-
municating with Ephesos. This consideration brings us to the Uzum-
Ovasi (Grape-Valley) and the line of road connecting it with the Cayster
valley. So far as I can learn, there is no very suitable situation on the
road for a city except in or close to the Uzum-Ovasi; and we may there-
fore expect that the Macedonian colonists were posted on this line of road
by the Seleucid kings, and that their centre was in the high-lying Uzum-
Ova. In this position their duty was to guard the lines of communica-
tion between the Lycos valley on the one side and the Cayster and Hermos
valleys on the other. Now we have already seen that Apollonos-Hieron
1 /jera Se Avdovs elcnv 01 Mucroi «u iroXis Yuruks, and Turkmen dwelling in sepa-
*iXa8e\<£«a p. 628. rate villages, never intermarrying, and
2 This is an excellent example of the all retaining their distinct dress and
persistence of different peoples, charac- manners. See on this subject Ch. I § 13.
terized by different customs, in the same 3 Pliny calls the river Cogamus, but
district. So, in one valley at the present a coin belonging to Mr. Lawson of
day, you may find Circassians, Turks, Smyrna reads KOTAMIC.