Lysimachia (Thrace)

Lysimachia (in Greek Λυσιμαχια or Λυσιμαχεια) was an important hellenistic Greek town in European Turkey on the north-western extremity of the Thracian Chersonese (the modern Gallipoli peninsula), not far from the bay of Melas (the modern Gulf of Saros). It was built by Lysimachus in 309 BC, when he was preparing for the last struggle with his rivals; for the new city, being situated on the isthmus, commanded the road from Sestos to the north and the mainland of Thrace. In order to obtain inhabitants for his new city, Lysimachus destroyed the neighbouring town of Cardia, the birthplace of the historian Hieronymus. Lysimachus no doubt made Lysimachia the capital of his kingdom, and it must have rapidly risen to great splendour and prosperity. After his death the city fell under the dominion of Syria, and during the wars between Seleucus Callinicus and Ptolemy Euergetes it passed from the hands of the Seleucids into those of the Egyptians. Whether these latter set the town free, or whether it emancipated itself, is uncertain; at any rate it entered into the relation of sympolity with the Aetolian League. In 277 BC near Lysimachia the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas defeated the Celtic invasion. The same year an earthquake destroyed Lysimachia. As the Aetolians were not able to afford the town the necessary protection, it was destroyed in 197 BC by the Thracians during the war of the Romans against Philip of Macedonia. Antiochus the Great restored the place, collected the scattered and enslaved inhabitants, and attracted colonists from all parts by generous promises. This restoration, however, appears to have been unsuccessful, and under the dominion of Rome it decayed more and more. The last time the place is mentioned under its ancient name, is in a passage of Ammianus Marcellinus The emperor Justinian (527–565) restored it and surrounded it with strong fortifications, and after that time it is spoken of only under the name of Hexamilion. The place now occupying the place of Lysimachia, Ecsemil, derives its name from the Justinianean fortress, though the ruins of the ancient place are more numerous in the neighbouring village of Orta Koy.

References

*Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, "Lysimachia", London, (1854)

Notes

Strabo, Geography, ii. 5, vii. 52, 54; Pausanias, Description of Greece, i. 9; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xx. 29; Polybius, Histories, v. 34; Pliny, Natural History, iv. 18 Livy, History of Rome, xxxiii. 38, 40; Appian, The Foreign Wars, "The Syrian Wars", 1 Ammianus Marcellinus, Histoire de Rome, xxii. 8 Procopius, De aedificiis, iv. 10 Symeon Metaphrastes, Chronicon

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