Cenchreae (Troad)
Cenchreae or Kenchreai (Ancient Greek: Κεγχρεαί) was a city of the ancient Troad. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, the city was that "in which Homer lived while he was inquiring of the things that concerned the Trees.".[1] Another tradition, of no more value, makes it the birthplace of Homer.[2]
The city continued to exist as part of the Roman Empire, until the late Middle Ages. In the early 14th century, the town was filled with refugees from Mysia and primarily from Scamandrus, who were fleeing from Turkish raiders who invaded Western Anatolia, and who soon also reached Cenchreae. The Turks reduced the city by blockade, and when they entered it they pillaged it, killed the majority of its inhabitants and then set the town on fire, destroying it.[3]
Its site is located near modern Kayalı Dağ.[4][5]
References
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
- ^ Suda s. v. Ὅμηρος.
- ^ Vryonis, Speros (1971). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamisation from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. Berkeley: California University Press. pp. 252, 254
- ^ Talbert, Richard, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9, with accompanying Map-by-Map Directory.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Cenchraea". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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