Sillyon

Sillyon
Site notes
City gates at Sillyon
Shown within Turkey
Location	Antalya Province, Turkey
Region	Pamphylia
Coordinates	36°59′33″N 30°59′23″E / 36.99250°N 30.98972°E / 36.99250; 30.98972Coordinates: 36°59′33″N 30°59′23″E / 36.99250°N 30.98972°E / 36.99250; 30.98972
Type	Settlement
Condition	In ruins

Sillyon (Greek: Σίλλυον), also Sylleion (Σύλλειον), in Byzantine times Syllaeum or Syllaion (Συλλαῖον), was an important fortress and city near Attaleia in Pamphylia, on the southern coast of modern Turkey. The native Greco-Pamphylian form was Selyniys, possibly deriving from the original Hittite Sallawassi. Its modern Turkish names are Yanköy Hisarı or Asar Köy.^[1]

Antiquity

Throughout Antiquity, the city was relatively unimportant. According to one legend, the city was founded as a colony from Argos, while another holds that it was founded, along with Side and Aspendos, by the seers Mopsos, Calchas and Amphilochus after the Trojan War.^[2] The city is first mentioned in ca. 500 BC by Pseudo-Scylax (polis Sylleion). From 469 BC, the city (as Sillyon) became part of the Athenian-led Delian League. It is mentioned in the Athenian tribute lists in ca. 450 BC and again in 425 BC, and then disappears again from the historical record until 333 BC, when Alexander the Great is said to have unsuccessfully besieged it. According to Arrian (Anabasis Alexandri I. 26), the site (recorded as Syllion) was well-fortified and had a strong garrison of mercenaries and "native barbarians", so that Alexander, pressed for time, had to abandon the siege after the first attempt at storming it failed.^[2]

The city was extensively rebuilt under the Seleucids, especially its theatre. In later times, when most of western Asia Minor fell to the Kingdom of Pergamon, Sillyon remained a free city by a decision of the Roman Senate.^[2]

Numismatics

The city has an attested continuous tradition of minting its own coins from the early 3rd century BC up to the reign of the Roman emperor Aurelian in the 270s.^[1] Silver tetradrachms of the Alexandrian and Lysimachian types were minted between 281 and 190 BC, but other than that, the city's coinage is in bronze. 3rd-century BC coins feature a bearded head or a standing figure, possibly identifiable with Apollo, or a lightning and the inscription ΣΕΛΥΝΙΥΣ (the native Pamphylian name). Coinage under Roman suzerainty featured the same motifs, but with the inscription hellenized to CΙΛΛΥΕΩΝ ("of the Sillyeans").^[1]

Byzantine period

Remains of a Byzantine-era structure on the acropolis of Syllaion

Under the Byzantine Empire, the city rose to relative prominence. It is mentioned as the site of the destruction of an Arab fleet by storm in late 677 or 678, following the unsuccessful Arab Siege of Constantinople.^[3] As one of the major fortified sites of the area, it became the seat of an imperial representative (ek prosōpou), complementing the stratēgos of the naval theme of the Kibyrrhaiotai.^[3] Syllaeum was also located at the start of the great public road that linked the southern coast, via Amorium and Nicaea, with Bithynia and the capital Constantinople. In this position, it began to eclipse the traditional local metropolis of Perge, and sometime between 787 and 815, the local bishop's seat was transferred to Syllaeum.^[3] Together with the wider area of Pamphylia, the city fell to the Seljuks in 1207.

Notable people

Saint Antony the Younger was ek prosōpou at Syllaion in ca. 821-29.^[3]
Patriarch Constantine II of Constantinople was bishop of the city.^[3]
Patriarch Antony I of Constantinople was born in the city.^[3]

Archaeological remains

The ruins of Sillyon/Syllaion date from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and partly Seljuk eras. Among these are remains of city gates, a stadium, an amphitheatre and an odeon (some of which have tumbled because of a landslide), a temple, a cistern and a gymnasium. Much of it is threatened by landslide, since the city is located atop a rocky plateau.^[2]

References

1 2 3 Gernot (2003), p. 439
1 2 3 4 Gernot (2003), p. 442
1 2 3 4 5 6 Kazhdan (1991), p. 1980

Sources

Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 1980. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
Lang, Gernot (2003). Klassische antike Stätten Anatoliens, Band II: Larissa-Zeleia. Books on Demand GmbH. pp. 439–443. ISBN 978-3-8330-0068-3.
Niewöhner, Philipp (2007). "Archäologie und die "Dunklen Jahrhunderte" im byzantinischen Anatolien". In Henning, Joachim. Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium, Vol. 2: Byzantium, Pliska, and the Balkans. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-3-11-018358-0.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sillyon.

Ancient settlements in Turkey

Aegean	Aegae Aizanoi Alabanda Alinda Allianoi Amorium Amyzon Antioch on the Maeander Apamea in Phrygia Aphrodisias Apollonia in Mysia Atarneus Bargylia Beycesultan Blaundus Caloe Caryanda Celaenae Ceramus Colophon Claros Cyme Didyma Docimium Ephesus Erythrae Eucarpia Euromus Gambrion Gryneion Halicarnassus Hierapolis Iasos Karmylissos Kaunos Klazomenai Knidos Labraunda Laodicea on the Lycus Latmus Lebedus Leucae Limantepe Magnesia ad Sipylus Magnesia on the Maeander Metropolis Miletus Myndus Myriandrus Myrina Myus Notion Nysa on the Maeander Oenoanda Pepuza Pergamon Perperene Phocaea Pinara Pitane Priene Sardis Smyrna Stratonicea in Lydia Stratonicea in Caria Temnos Teos Tymion

Black Sea	Alaca Höyük Comana in the Pontus Euchaita Hattusa Heraclea Pontica Hüseyindede Tepe Ibora Laodicea Pontica Nerik Nicopolis Pompeiopolis Salatiwara Samuha Sapinuwa Tripolis Yazılıkaya Zaliche

Central Anatolia	Alishar Hüyük Binbirkilise Çatalhöyük Cotenna Derbe Dorylaeum Eudocia (Cappadocia) Eudocia (Phrygia) Gordium Heraclea Cybistra Irenopolis Kaman-Kalehöyük Kerkenes Kültepe (Kanesh) Laodicea Combusta Meloë Mokissos Nyssa Pessinus Purushanda Tavium Tyana

Eastern Anatolia	Altıntepe Ani Cafer Höyük Melid Sugunia Tushpa

Marmara	Achilleion Aegospotami Ainos Alexandria Troas Apamea Myrlea Apollonia on the Rhyndax Apros Assos Byzantium Cardia Cebrene Chalcedon Charax Cius Cyzicus Drusipara Faustinopolis Germanicopolis Lamponeia Lampsacus Lygos Lysimachia Marpessos Neandreia Nicomedia Orestias Perinthos Sestos Sigeion Skepsis Troy (Hisarlik)

Mediterranean	Acalissus Acarassus Alalakh Amelas Anazarbus Andriaca Antigonia Antioch on the Orontes Antioch of Pisidia Antiochia Lamotis Antioch on the Cragus Antioch on the Pyramis Antiphellus Aperlae Aphrodisias of Cilicia Araxa Ariassos Arneae Arsinoe Arycanda Aspendos Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing Balbura Bubon Calynda Carallia Carmylessus Casae Cestrus Choma Cibyra Mikra Comama Comana in Cappadocia Comba Coracesium Corycus (Kızkalesi) Corydala Cremna Cyaneae Cyrrhus Dalisandus in Isauria Dalisandus in Pamphylia Dias Domuztepe Elaiussa Sebaste Epiphania Erymna Etenna Eudocia (Lycia) Eudocias (Pamphylia) Gagae Gözlükule Hacilar Idebessos Irenopolis Isba Issus Kandyba Karakabaklı Karatepe Kibyra Lebessus Limyra Lyrbe Magydus Mallus Mamure Castle Mastaura Meloë Mezgitkale Mopsuestia Myra Nisa Olba Olympos Öküzlü Orokenda Patara Perga Phaselis Phellus Podalia Rhodiapolis Rhosus Sagalassos Seleucia in Pamphylia Seleucia Pieria Seleucia Sidera Selge Side Sidyma Sillyon Simena Sinda Soli Sozopolis Syedra Tapureli Tell Tayinat Termessos Tlos Trebenna Xanthos Yanıkhan Yumuktepe

Southeastern Anatolia	Antioch in the Taurus Antioch in Mesopotamia Apamea on the Euphrates Carchemish Urshu Khashshum Çayönü Dara Edessa Göbekli Tepe Harran Kussara Nevalı Çori Sakçagözü Sam'al Samosata Sareisa Seleucia at the Zeugma Sultantepe Tille Tushhan Zeugma

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