Maroneia
MARONEIA (Μαρώνεια: Eth. Μαρωνείτης), a rich and powerful city of the Cicones, in Thrace, situated on the Aegean sea, not far from the lake Ismaris. (Hdt. 7.109.) It was said to have been founded by Maron, a son of Dionysus (Eurip. Cycle. 5.100, 141), or, according to some, a companion of Osiris (Diod. Sic. 1.20); but Scymnus (675) relates that it was built by a colony from Chios in the fourth year of the fifty-ninth Olympiad (B.C. 540). Pliny (Plin. Nat. 4.11. s. 18) tells us that the ancient name was Ortagurea. The people of Maronea venerated Dionysus in an especial manner, as we learn from their coins, probably on account of the superior character of their wine, which was celebrated as early as the days of Homer (Hom. Od. 9.196, seqq.). This wine was universally esteemed all over the. ancient world; it was said to possess the odour of Nectar (Nonnus, 1.12, 17.6, 19.11), and to be capable of mixture with twenty times its quantity of water (Hom. Od. 9.209); and, according to Pliny, on an experiment being made by Mucianus, who doubted the truth of Homer's statement, it was found to bear even a larger proportion of water. (Plin. Nat. 14.4. s. 6; comp. Victa Maroneo foedatus lumina Baccho,T ibull. 4.1. 57).
Maroneia was taken by Philip V. of Macedon in B.C. 200 ; and when he was ordered by the Romans to evacuate the towns of Thrace, he vented his rage by slaughtering a great number of the inhabitants of the city. (Liv. 31.16, 39.24; Plb. 22.6, 13, 23.11, 13.) The Romans subsequently granted Maroneia to Attalus; but they almost immediately afterwards revoked their gift, and declared it a free city. (Plb. 30.3.) By Constantine Porphyrogenitus (Them. 2.2), Maroneia is reckoned among the towns of Macedon. The modern name is Marogna, and it has been the seat of an archbishopric. (Comp. Ptol. 3.11.2; Scylax, p. 27; Strab. 7.331; Ammian. 22.8, 27.4; Hierocl. p. 643; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. p. 818; Theophil. ad Autol 11. p. 86.) COIN OF MARONEIA.
[A. L.]A prosperous Kikonian city on the coast, not far from the modern town of Maronia. It was traditionally founded by Maron, priest of Apollo at Ismaros and grandson of Dionysos. Together with the other Kikonian cities of Ismaros and Xantheia, it was already in existence in the 7th c. The principal cult was devoted to the triad of Zeus, Dionysos, and Maron. A fine local coinage began in the 6th c. and continued until the union of Thrace with Macedonia. The city was especially noted for its strong wine, like that which was given by Maron to Odysseus, who used it to intoxicate Polyphemos. Reinach reported many Byzantine and Venetian remains as well as architectural fragments of white marble. A small marble theater was destroyed early in the 20th c.
BIBLIOGRAPHYHom. Od. 9.196; Hdt. 7.109; Plin. 4.43, 6.217, 14.6.54; Strab. 7, fr. 44 (45); 5. Reinach in BCH 5 (1881) 87f; 8 (1884) 50; C. Avezou & C. Picard in BCH 37 (1913) 141f; S. Casson, Macedonia, Thrace and Illyria (1926) MI.
M. H. MC ALLISTER- on Xerxes' route: Hdt. 7.109