Assos (Greek: Άσσος), also known as
Behramkale or for short
Behram, is a small historically rich town in
Çanakkale ProvinceÇanakkale is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the town of Çanakkale.Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province has a European and an Asian part. The European part is formed by the Gallipoli peninsula, while the Asian part is largely coterminous...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
.
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
lived here and opened an Academy. The city was also visited by
St. PaulPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
. Today Assos is a
AegeanThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
-coast seaside retreat amid ancient ruins.
Though officially named Behramkale , most people still call the town by its ancient name of Assos. The town is on the Biga Peninsula, although the peninsula is known by its ancient name, Troad.
Assos (Greek: Άσσος), also known as
Behramkale or for short
Behram, is a small historically rich town in
Çanakkale ProvinceÇanakkale is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the town of Çanakkale.Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province has a European and an Asian part. The European part is formed by the Gallipoli peninsula, while the Asian part is largely coterminous...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
.
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
lived here and opened an Academy. The city was also visited by
St. PaulPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
. Today Assos is a
AegeanThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
-coast seaside retreat amid ancient ruins.
Geography
Though officially named Behramkale , most people still call the town by its ancient name of Assos. The town is on the Biga Peninsula, although the peninsula is known by its ancient name, Troad. The town itself is on the Adramyttian Gulf (Turkish: Edremit Körfezi).
It is possible to see much of the surrounding area from the top of a Trachyte Crag. From this temple, it was possible to see Lesbos in the south, Pergamum in the southeast, and Mount Ida of Phrygia in the east. To the north, the
Tuzla RiverTuzla is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of the 1991 census, it had 131,000 inhabitants. Taking the influx of refugees into account, the city is currently estimated to have 174,558 inhabitants. After Sarajevo, and Banja Luka, Tuzla is the third largest city in Bosnia...
flows. To the northwest, there is the gate to the city of two massive Hellenic columns that still exist today.
Assos had a harbor, which was the only good harbor on the 80 kilometres (50 miles) of the north coast of the Adramyttian Gulf. This made Assos a key shipping station through the Troad.
History
The city was founded from 900-1000 BC by
AeolianAeolian may refer to:* things related to Aeolus, the Greek God of wind* Aeolian harp, a harp that is played by the wind* Aeolian processes, wind generated geologic processes* Aeolians, an ancient Greek tribe said to be descended from Æolus...
colonists from Lesbos, who specifically are said to have come from Methymna. The settlers built a Doric Temple to
AthenaIn Greek mythology, Athena is the goddess of wisdom, peace, warfare, strategy, handicrafts and reason, shrewd companion of heroes and the goddess of heroic endeavour...
on top of the crag in 530 BC. From this temple
Hermias of AtarneusHermias of Atarneus, who lived in Atarneus, was Aristotle's father-in-law.The first mention of Hermias is as a slave to Eubulus, a Bithynian banker who ruled Atarneus. Hermias eventually won his freedom and inherited the rule of Atarneus...
, a student of
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
, ruled Assos, the Troad and Lesbos for a period of time, under which the city experienced its greatest prosperity. (Strangely, Hermias was actually the slave of the ruler of Atarneus.) Under his rule, he encouraged philosophers to move to the city. As part of this, in 348 BC Aristotle came here and married King Hermeias's niece, Pythia, before leaving to Lesbos three years later in 345 BC. This 'golden period' of Assos ended several years later when the Persians arrived, and subsequently tortured Hermias to death.
The Persians were driven out by
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
in 334 BC. Between 241 and 133 BC, the city was ruled by the Kings of
PergamonPergamon, Pergamum or Pérgamo was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty,...
. However, in 133 BC, the Pergamons lost control of the city as it was absorbed by the Roman empire.
St. PaulPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
also visited the city during his third missionary journey through Asia Minor, which was between 53-57 AD, on his way to Lesbos. From this period onwards, Assos shrunk to a small village, as it has remained ever since. Ruins around Assos continue to be excavated.
The pillars from the ancient port lay in the harbor for over a millennia. Eventually they were probably sold.
In the early 1900s an attempt was made to move the contents of the Temple of Athena. Much of the art has been moved to museums like the
LouvreThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
. The art found includes pictures both of mythical creatures and heraldic events.
Present day
Many of the old buildings of Assos are in ruins today, but Behramkale (the city's modern name) is still active. It still serves as a port for Troad. Temple ruins remain.
Down the steep seaward side of the hill at the water's edge is the
hamletA hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community...
called Iskele (meaning Dock or Wharf), with old stone houses now serving as inns, pensions and restaurants. There is a small pebbly beach. There are boat tours and tours of the hamlet itself. Although the one lane road to the hamlet is steep with sheer drops, the sea front has a constant stream of cars and minibuses arriving from dawn to dusk.
External links