We propose to notice the more important towns, according to the order of the provinces just recited; and, following this order, we take first Mysia and its chief town, Cyzicus (the Esquize of mediæval times), which was situated on the neck of a peninsula running out into the Sea of Marmora. Mr. Hamilton describes its position as “a sandy isthmus, having near its southern end many large blocks of stone,” not, improbably, the remains of Strabo’s “bridge.” Many ancient monuments may still be traced among its present cherry-orchards, attesting its original magnitude and magnificence, most of the relics now visible being Roman, and its destruction having, no doubt, been mainly due to the great earthquakes in the reign of Tiberius and Aurelius, which ruined and depopulated so many other of the fairest towns of Asia Minor.[[1]]
[1]. Tacitus, speaking of A.D. 17, the 4th of Tiberius, says:—“Eodem anno duodecim celebres Asiæ urbes collapsæ nocturno motu terræ” (Annal. ii. c. 47): and Cicero speaks of Cyzicus as “urbem Asiæ celeberrimam nobisque amicissimam.” Compare also Apoll. Rhod. i. 936-941, 983-987; Valer. Max. ii. 630; Ovid. Trist. i. 9.
Mr. Hamilton, indeed, noting the loose and rubbly character of its buildings, doubts the architectural fame of the city; but it is probable that what we now see was once cased with marble, as much fine marble is found in the adjacent hills. Some, too, of its buildings are of a granite easily disintegrable. Any how, it would seem to be a place where well-conducted excavations might bring to light many curious relics of the past. Cyzicus was classed by Anaximenes of Lampsacus among the colonies of Miletus, but was not of importance till the close of the Peloponnesian war, when, by the discreditable peace of Antalcidas, it was surrendered to the Persians, its ultimate prosperity being in great measure due to its position, as a natural entrepôt, between the Black Sea and the Ægean. In Roman times it was, according to Strabo, a “Libera civitas,” and, with the exception of Nicomedia and Nicæa, the most important city in that part of Asia Minor. In the days of Caracalla it had become a “Metropolis,” and, still later, was an Episcopal see.
Of the great wealth and, we may perhaps add, of the popularity of its citizens in the fifth and fourth century B.C., the gold coins, called Cyzicene staters, are ample evidence; though it may be doubted whether, as was once thought, the zecchino (or sequin), means Cyzicene. In an able paper by Dr. (now Sir Patrick) Colquhoun (Trans. Roy. Liter. vol. iv. p. 35), it is clearly shown that the “Squise” of Ville-Hardouin is the ancient Cyzicus, “the oldest commercial place in the world,” as that writer, with some exaggeration, asserts. The form “Esquisse” is probably, as Dr. Colquhoun suggests, a corruption of εἰς Κὐζικον (“to Cyzicus”).[[2]] Dr. Colquhoun’s paper is full of curious information on the early mediæval state of this part of Asia Minor. Its decline was mainly due to the invasion of the Goths in A.D. 262, but it long remained the metropolis of the Hellespontine province (Hierocl. Synecd. p. 661. Malala, Chron. i. p. 364). It was finally destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 943.
[2]. Similar modern modifications may be noticed in other sites of the Levant. Thus, Stanchio (Kos) comes from εἰς τἡν Κῶν; Stamboul is not, necessarily, a corruption of Constantinopolis, but, more probably, of εἰς τἡν πόλιν (“to the city”); so Stalimene (Lesbos) comes from εἰς τὁν λιμἐνα (“to the port”).
Another Mysian town of note was Lampsacus, also a colony of Miletus and Phocæa, attested as this is by its gold and silver coins, and by a statue of a prostrate lion, said to have been the work of Lysippus, and subsequently, placed by Agrippa in the Campus Martius at Rome. The town was famous for its wine, and was, for this reason, granted to Themistocles, who is said to have learnt here, or at Magnesia, Persian in a year; the district around having been granted to him by his old enemy the King of Persia. Like most of the towns of western Asia Minor, it often changed hands during the rival contests of its more powerful neighbours; but, having, with a wise forethought, voted a crown of gold to the Romans, it was accepted by them as an ally,[[3]] and, hence, was, in the time of Strabo, a town of some magnitude. A small village, called Lampsaki, most likely marks on our modern maps the site of the old town.
[3]. Liv. xliii. 6. Most likely, its brave resistance to Antiochus had favourably inclined the Romans to it (Liv. xxxiii. 38; xxxv. 42; Polyb. xxi. 10).
A little to the south of Lampsacus was Abydus, at the narrowest part of the Hellespont, and opposite the town of Sestus.[[4]] It was a little above Abydus that Xerxes constructed his famous bridge, B.C. 480; but, except for the gallant resistance it made to Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon, Abydus has no place in history. In legendary lore, however, it was the scene of the famous swimming of Leander to visit his lady-love, the Priestess of the Temple at Sestus, on the opposite or European shore, a natatory feat, however, far surpassed in recent days. Lord Byron’s lines on the subject are well known:—
He could, perhaps, have pass’d the Hellespont,
As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided)