Magnesia
- a geographical proper name.
- A A country in Thessaly, on the Aegean Sea, Mel. 2, 3, 4; Plin. 4, 9, 16, § 32; Liv. 42, 54, 10; 44, 11, 3. —
- B A city in Caria, on the Maeander, now Aineh Bazar, Plin. 5, 29, 31, § 114; Liv. 37, 45, 1; Nep. Them. 10, 2.—
- C A city in Lydia, on Mount Sipylus, now Manisa, Plin. 2, 91, 93, § 205; Liv. 36, 43, 9; 37, 10, 12; 37, 11, 3.—Hence,
- A Magnēsĭus, a, um, adj., = Μαγνήσιος, of or belonging to Magnesia, Magnesian: Magnesia flumine saxa, i.e. of the magnet, Lucr. 6, 1064; v. 1. magnes.—
- B Magnessa, ae, adj. f., = Μάγνησσα, a Magnesian woman: Magnessam Hippolyten dum fugit abstinens, Hor. C. 3, 7, 18.—
- C Magnētarches, ae, m., = Μαγνητάρχης, the chief magistrate of the Magnesians, Liv. 35, 31, 11; 35, 39, 6. —
- D Magnētes, um, m., = Μάγνητες, the Magnesians, Liv. 33, 32; 34; 35, 31: (lapis) Magnetum quia sit patriis in finibus ortus, Lucr. 6, 909; Luc. 6, 385: Magnetas adit vagus exsul, Ov. M. 11, 408.—In sing.: Magnes, ētis, m., a Magnesian: Dionysius Magnes, Cic. Brut. 91, 316.—As adj., Magnes campus, Val. Fl. 2, 9.—
- E Mag-nētis, ĭdis, adj. f., = Μαγνῆτις, of or belonging to Magnesia, Magnesian: cur umquam Colchi Magnetida vidimus Argo? (because built at Pagasae, in Magnesia), Ov. H. 12, 9.
- 1. Thessalisch schiereiland (N.-Griekenland), waar magneetijzererts (magnetiet) voorkomt; — Magnētarchēs, ae m hoogste ambtsbekleder v. Magnesia;
- 2. stad in Carië aan de rivier de Meander (Kl.-Azië);
- 3. stad in Lydië (Kl.-Azië), nu Manisa; / inw. Magnēs, ētis m, Magnēssa, ae en Magnētis, idis f Magnesische; / adj. Magnēs, gen. ētis Magnesisch, van Magnesia [lapis magneet(steen)], Magnēsius, a, um [saxum magneet], fem. ook Magnētis, idis [Argo]; / subst. Magnēs, ētis m magneetsteen.
MAGNE´SIA, MAGNE´TES. [THESSALIA]
MAGNE´SIA (Μαγνησία: Eth. Μάγνης.)
1.A city in Ionia, generally with the addition πρὸς or ἐπὶ Μαιάνδρῳ (ad Maeandrum), to distinguish it from the Lydian Magnesia, was a considerable city, situated on the slope of mount Thorax, on the banks of the small river Lethaeus, a tributary of the Maeander. Its distance from Miletus was 120 stadia or 15 miles. (Strab. xiv. pp. 636, 647; Plin. Nat. 5.31.) It was an Aeolian city, said to have been founded by Magnesians from Europe, in the east of Thessaly, who were joined by some Cretans. It soon attained great power and prosperity, so as to be able to cope even with Ephesus (Callinus, ap. Strab. 14. p. 647.) At a later time, however, the city was taken and destroyed by the Cimmerians; perhaps about B.C. 726. In the year following the deserted site was occupied, and the place rebuilt by the Milesians,or, according to Athenaeus (12. p. 525), by the Ephesians. Themistocles during his exile took up his residence at Magnesia, the town having been assigned to him by Artaxerxes to supply him with bread. (Nepos, Themist. 10; Diod. 11.57.) The Persian satraps of Lydia also occasionally resided in the place. (Hdt. 1.161, 3.122.) The territory of Magnesia was extremely fertile, and produced excellent wine, figs, and cucumbers (Athen. 1. p. 29, 2. p. 59, 3. p. 78.) The town contained a temple of Dindymene, the mother of the gods; and the wife of Themistocles, or, according to others, his daughter, was priestess of that divinity; but, says Strabo (p. 647), the temple no longer exists, the town having been transferred to another place. The new town which the geographer saw, was most remarkable for its temple of Artemis Leucophryene, which in size and in the number of its treasures was indeed surpassed by the temple of Ephesus, but in beauty and the harmony of its parts was superior to all the temples in Asia Minor. The change in the site of the town alluded to by Strabo, is not noticed by any other author. The temple, as we learn from Vitruvius (vii. Praefat.), was built by the architect Hermogenes, in the Ionic style. In the time of the Romans, Magnesia was added to the kingdom of Pergamus, after Antiochus had been driven eastward beyond Mount Taurus. (Liv. 37.45, 38.13.) After this time the town seems to have decayed, and is rarely mentioned, though it is still noticed by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.31) and Tacitus (Tac. Ann. 4.55). Hierocles (p. 659) ranks it among the bishoprics of Asia, and later documents seem to imply that at one time it bore the name of Maeandropolis. (Concil. Constantin. 3. p. 666.) The existence of the town in the time of the emperors Aurelius and Gallienus is attested by coins.
Formerly the site of Magnesia was identified with the modern Guzel-hissar; but it is now generally admitted, that Inek-bazar, where ruins of the temple of Artemis Leucophryene still exist, is the site of the ancient Magnesia. (Leake, Asia Minor, pp. 242, foll.; Arundell, Seven Churches, pp. 58, foll.; Cramer, Asia Minor, vol. i. pp. 459, foll.) COIN OF MAGNESIA AD MAEANDRUM.
COIN OF MAGNESIA AD MAEANDRUM.A town of Lydia, usually with the addition πρὸς or ὑπὸ Σιπύλῳ (ad Sipylum), to distinguish it from Magnesia on the Maeander in Ionia situated on the north-western slope of Mount Sipylus on the southern bank of the river Hermus. We are not informed when or by whom the town was founded, but it may have been a settlement of the Magnesians in the east of Thessaly. Magnesia is most celebrated in history for the victory gained under its walls by the two Scipios in B.C. 190, over Antiochus the Great, whereby the king was for ever driven from Western Asia. (Strab. 13. p. 622 Plin 2.93; Ptol. 5.2.16, 8.17.16; Scylax, p. 37 Liv. 37.37, foll.; Tac. Ann. 2.47.) The town, after the victory of the Scipios, surrendered to the Romans. (Appian, App. Syr. 35.) During the war against Mithridates the Magnesians defended themselves bravely against the king. (Paus. 1.20.3.) In the reign of Tiberius, the town was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, in which several other Asiatic cities perished; and the emperor on that occasion granted liberal sums from the treasury to repair the loss sustained by the inhabitants (Strab. 12. p. 579; 13. p. 622; Tac. l. c.) From coins and other sources, we learn that Magnesia continued to flourish down to the fifth century (Hierocl. p. 660); and it is often mentioned by the Byzantine writers. During the Turkish rule, it once was the residence of the Sultan; but at present it is much reduced, though it preserves its ancient name in the corrupt form of Manissa. The ruins of ancient buildings are not very considerable. (Chandler, Travels in Asia, 2. p. 332; Keppel, Travels, 2. p. 295.) The accompanying coin is remarkable by having on its obverse the head of Cicero, though the reason why it appears here, is unknown. The legend, which is incorrectly figured, should be, ΜΑΡΚΟΣ ΤΥΛΛΙΟΣ ΚΙΚΕΡΩΝ. COIN OF MAGNESIA AD SIPYLUM.[L.S]
(Μαγνησία). (1) A narrow strip of country along the eastern coast of Thessaly, extending from the Peneus on the north to the Pagasaean Gulf on the south. Its inhabitants, the Magnetes, are said to have founded the two cities in Asia mentioned below.
(2) Magnesia Ad Sipylum, a city in the northwest of Lydia, at the foot of Mount Sipylus, and on the south bank of the Hermus, famous as the scene of the victory gained by Scipio Asiaticus over Antiochus the Great, B.C. 190.
(3) Magnesia Ad Maeandrum, a city in the southwest of Lydia, situated on the river Lethaeus, a tributary of the Maeander. It was destroyed by the Cimmerians (probably about B.C. 700), and rebuilt by colonists from Miletus. It was celebrated for its beautiful temple of Artemis, ruins of which still exist.
Magnesia is a region in central Greece at the head of the Pagasitikos gulf, a splendid natural harbor that serves as the entrance to Thessaly. The shape of the district is that of a large crescent with its western point among the rolling hills of the mainland on the west, and in the east its other point is the splendid Mount Pelion that extends south into the Aegean sea towards the northern Sporades islands, then curves back to the east in a great crab clay that attempts to close the mouth of the Pagasitikos gulf. The modern town of Volos, the largest in central Greece, sits on a small plain midway along the crescent in the north at the top end of the gulf. The ancient sites of Magnesia cluster around Volos and its pocket plain and include the Neolithic towns of Sesklo and Dimini, the Bronze Age towns of Pefkakia and Iolkos, and the Classical cities of Phthiotic Thebes, Demetrias, and Pagasai.
HistoryMagnesia, as the natural point of entry to the fertile plains of Thessaly, was settled by Neolithic immigrants early in the 7th millennium B.C., and a typical village of this period is found at Sesklo some 19 km west of Volos on the road to Larissa. The Thessalian Neolithic lasted 4000 years, and more than 350 artificial mounds (called tells) are scattered today across the plain. These tells were formed by the successive construction and destruction of farming villages on the same site, and the debris from the ruined houses of adobe brick helped raise the summit of the mounds above the level of the flood-prone plain. Dimini is another of these Neolithic villages, and like Sesklo it is near to Volos. Recent study of the geology of the district has shown that the coastline has been moving seawards over the last 8000 years as new alluvium has washed down from the mountain slopes, building the plain outwards at the coast. The villages were shifted periodically to keep them close to the moving coastline.
In the 3rd millennium B.C., at the beginning of the Bronze Age, the center of population and the development of advanced civilization shifted to the Peloponnese, the Cycladic islands, and Crete in southern Greece. Thessaly had its own flourishing Bronze Age civilization at this time, but little is known about the history of this period. In Mycenaean times a major city known as Iolkos was the political center of the region. Greek archaeologists excavated the remains of a Mycenaean tell in the heart of modern Volos in the 1950's that are believed to be those of Iolkos. Jason and the Argonauts began their voyage according to tradition at Iolkos.
The greatest prosperity and importance for Magnesia in Classical Antiquity was in the Hellenistic period, when the Macedonian kings who succeeded Alexander as rulers of Greece moved the principal city from Pagasai to the newly-built city of Demetrias. The latter became an important town in the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C., primarily as the exporter of Thessalian grain and war horses. The Macedonian kings used Demetrias as a port and regional capital during the wars with Rome, and after their defeat Demetrias became a Roman provincial town of no great significance.
Magnesia and Thessaly were part of the Byzantine Empire until the Turks occupied them in the 15th century A.D., and they were only united with the modern Greek state after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Partisans from the picturesque, and nearly impregnable, villages that cling to the high slopes of Mount Pelion above Volos played a heroic and still-remembered role in resisting Turkish dominion.
SitesDemetrias and Pagasai-The successive Classical and Hellenistic cities of Magnesia are found together at the southwest edge of the present city of Volos. There is little preserved at the surface. What is known about the sites has come from Greek and German excavations carried out intermittently during this century. The fortification walls, mostly belonging to the Hellenistic period, are the only conspicuous feature. It is from these walls that archaeologists have pulled a number of beautiful Classical painted grave stelae that were used as construction material in antiquity.
Dimini-The site is perched on a rock at the northwest edge of the city of Volos. The site is confined to the summit of the rock, and was first cleared by Greek archaeologists in 1899, and subsequently explored in the 1970's by a team from the Volos archaeological museum. Foundations of concentric stone walls, with an inner courtyard, and a central megaron-style building were once part of a Neolithic and Early Bronze Age citadel complex. The lower town has not been explored. At the edge of the site is a fine small Mycenaean tholos tomb, possibly belonging to an important person from nearby Iolkos.
Iolkos-Remains of two Mycenaean buildings, perhaps palaces, were found in excavations by Greek archaeologists in the 1950's in a tell in a suburb of Volos, about 2 km southeast of Dimini. These remains, the tholos tomb at Dimini, and other chance finds from the vicinity, have convinced many archaeologists that this is site is Mycenaean Iolkos. There is nothing to be seen at the site at present.
Pefkakia-This small tell is found at the southwest edge of the Volos, and it was an important town in the Early Bronze Age. A succession of villages and towns, moving from Dimini, to Pefkakia, Iolkos, Pagasai, and Demetrias, were following the retreating coastline. Pefkakia was excavated briefly by German archaeologists in the 1970's, and some ruined walls are visible in a section at the site.
Phthiotic Thebes-The Classical city of Phthiotic Thebes is located 20 km southwest of Volos, and it was the center of the mainland arm of Magnesia. The most conspicuous feature are the extensive Classical fortifications with 40 standing towers. There are also remains of a stone temple of Athena, a theater, and a stoa. The city was moved a few kilometers to the coast in the Late Roman period, and Greek archaeologists have uncovered a fascinating string of 5 Early Christian basilica churches with beautiful stone columns along the beach. In addition to the churches there are many fine mosaics, roads, public buildings, and houses tobe seen.
Sesklo-This site is some 19 km northwest of Volos off the road to Larissa. This is one of the important Neolithic sites of Thessaly. Excavated by Greek archaeologists in 1900 and the 1960's and 1970's there are many interesting remains to be seen. First settled at the beginning of the Neolithic period c. 6800 B.C., the site was continuously occupied until the Early Bronze Age. A small acropolis has a Middle Neolithic (c. 5500 B.C.) megaron on its summit, and around it are many foundations of houses and other buildings, many showing clear traces of the fire that destroyed them. A stone fortification wall was built around the Neolithic acropolis after 4000 B.C., a time when the town reached its greatest size. Neolithic houses, possibly part of an extensive lower town, can be seen in the fields by the car park, about 100 m from the acropolis.
Curtis Runnels- in Thessaly: Paus. 10.20.6
- Xerxes' fleet there: Hdt. 7.183, Hdt. 7.193
- Magnesians in Xerxes' army: Hdt. 7.132, Hdt. 7.185
- at foot of Mount Pelion: Paus. 7.7.6
- Magnesians belong to Amphictyonic League: Paus. 10.8.2