Greek city of Phokaia in Ionia
Bronze 16mm (4.0 grams) Struck 250-150 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4539; B.M.C.14.217,107-8
Draped bust of Hermes right, wearing petasos.
Forepart of griffin right; Φ - Ω in field, TIMOΘEOΣ below.
A coastal city of considerable importance, situated forty miles north-west of
Smyrna, Phokaia was one of the first mints, producing electrum coiange from
early in the 6th century B.C. Electrum hektai (sixth-staters) were issued in
great quantity at Phokaia from the late 6th century until the time of Alexander,
a series that was produced in conjuction with the Lesbian mint of Mytilene.
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Phocaea, or Phokaia, (Greek:
Φώκαια) (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[1]
(modern day
Marseille, in
France) in 600 BC,
Emporion (modern day
Empúries,
in Catalonia,
Spain) in 575 BC
and Elea (modern day
Velia, in
Campania, Italy)
in 540 BC.
Geography
Phocaea was the most northern of the Ionian cities, on the boundary with
Aeolis.[2]
It was located near the mouth of the river Hermus (now
Gediz),
and situated on the coast of the peninsula separating the Gulf of
Cyme to the north, named for the largest of the
Aeolian cities,
and the Gulf of
Smyrna (now İzmir)
to the south.
Phocaea had two natural harbours within close range of the settlement, both
containing a number of small islands. Phocaea's harbours allowed it to develop a
thriving seafaring economy, and to become a great naval power, which greatly
influenced its culture.[citation
needed]
Recent archaeological surveys have shown that the city of Phocaea was large
for the archaic period. Herodotus gives an idea of the size of Phocaea by the
describing the walls of Phocaea as having a diameter of 5 km, large even by
modern standards. Phocaea was one of the largest cities in the ancient world.[citation
needed]
History
The ancient Greek geographer
Pausanias says that Phocaea was founded by
Phocians under
Athenian
leadership, on land given to them by the Aeolian
Cymaeans, and that they were admitted into the
Ionian League after accepting as kings the line of
Codrus.[3]
Pottery remains indicate Aeolian presence as late as the
9th
century BC, and Ionian presence as early as the end of the 9th century BC.
From this an approximate date of settlement for Phocaea can be inferred.[4]
According to
Herodotus
the Phocaeans were the first Greeks to make long sea-voyages, having discovered
the coasts of the
Adriatic,
Tyrrhenia and Spain. Herodotus relates that they so impressed
Arganthonios, king of
Tartessus in
Spain, that he invited them to settle there, and, when they declined, gave
them a great sum of money to build a wall around their city.[5]
Their sea travel was extensive. To the south they probably conducted trade
with the Greek colony of
Naucratis
in Egypt, which
was the colony of their fellow Ionian city
Miletus. To
the north, they probably helped settle
Amisos (Samsun) on the
Black Sea,
and Lampsacus
at the north end of the
Hellespont
(now the
Dardanelles). However Phocaea's major colonies were to the west. These
included
Alalia in
Corsica,
Emporiae and
Rhoda
in Spain, and especially Massalia (Marseille)
in France.[4]
Phocaea remained independent until the reign of the
Lydian king
Croesus
(circa 560–545 BC), when they, along with the rest of mainland Ionia, first,
fell under Lydian control[6]
and then, along with Lydia (who had allied itself with
Sparta) were
conquered by
Cyrus the Great of
Persia in 546 BC, in one of the opening skirmishes of the great
Greco-Persian conflict.
Rather than submit to Persian rule, the Phocaeans abandoned their city. Some
may have fled to
Chios, others to their colonies on
Corsica and
elsewhere in the
Mediterranean, with some eventually returning to Phocaea. Many however
became the founders of
Elea, around 540
BC.[7]
In 500 BC, Phocaea joined the
Ionian Revolt against Persia. Indicative of its naval prowess,
Dionysius, a Phocaean was chosen to command the Ionian fleet at the decisive
Battle of Lade, in 494 BC.[8]
However, indicative of its declining fortunes, Phocaea was only able to
contribute three ships, out of a total of "three hundred and fifty three".[9]
The Ionian fleet was defeated and the revolt ended shortly thereafter.
After the defeat of
Xerxes I by the Greeks in 480 BC and the subsequent rise of Athenian power,
Phocaea joined the
Delian League, paying tribute to Athens of two
talents.[4]
In 412 BC, during the
Peloponnesian War, with the help of
Sparta, Phocaea
rebelled along with the rest of Ionia. The
Peace of Antalcidas, which ended the
Corinthian War, returned nominal control to Persia in 367 BC.
In 343 BC, the Phocaeans unsuccessfully laid siege to
Kydonia on
the island of Crete.[10]
During the
Hellenistic period it fell under
Seleucid, then
Attalid rule.
It was later briefly under the control of
Benedetto Zaccaria, the
Genoan ambassador
to Byzantium;
Zaccaria amassed a considerable fortune from his properties there. It remained a
Genoese colony until it was taken by the Turks in 1455.[11]
It is a
titular see of the
Roman Catholic Church.[11]
Coinage
Probably following the Lydians, the Phocaeans were among the earliest in the
world to make and use coins as money. Its earliest coins were made of
electrum, a
naturally occurring alloy of silver and gold. The
British Museum has a Phocaean coin containing the image of a seal dating
from 600–550 BC.[12] |