Neandria
NEANDRIA[NEA.]
The Greek name Korone, referring to the territory of the city, is arbitrary. Though sources are scarce, some information appears in Strabo (Geogr. 13.604), Pliny (HN 5.30.122) and Xenophon (Hell. 3.1.16). Its name appears from 454 to 431 m the tribute lists of the Attic maritime league. From 399 Neandria fell under the satrapy of Mania, and at her death, under Dercyllidas (Xen. Hell. 3.1.16). In 310 B.C. the population of the city was transferred by Antigonos to Antigoneia (later Alexandria Troas) (Strab. Geogr. 13.593,597,604,607). At the end of the 4th c. B.C., with the synoecism of the work of Antigonos, one may consider the history of the city closed.
The ruins of Neandria are at a height of 500 m on a granite crest of Çgri Dağ near the sea, to the S of the river Skamandros and of Troy. The walls have a continuous socle and average 3 m in thickness. They enclose an irregular polygon, with a perimeter of 3200 m. The enclosure has 11 towers and as many openings; 4 principal towers, at the extremities of the perimeter, are built to double size, jutting out to protect recessed gates joined to the wall by large angle-walls. The arrangement described has been assigned to the 5th c. B.C. on the basis of the masonry technique, which is of the irregular trapezoidal type. However, to the principal tower on the S side a section of wall was added in trapezoidal isodomic technique with squared facings, datable to the 4th c. B.C.; while at the SE corner of the enclosure there is a section constructed of overlaid rough stones, certainly from the 6th c. B.C. A long section of wall on the W side of the city may be assigned to the beginning of the same century. A road crosses the city from N to S, lined with groups of houses constructed of accurately squared blocks, datable to the 5th c. B.C. Remains of archaic houses are to the W of the road. To the N of houses from the Classical period, between them and the city wall, is a large space recognizable as the site of the stadium. About 1 km outside the encircling wall to the S there is a square area where inscriptions have been found attesting to the existence of a sanctuary of Zeus. Necropoleis have been found to the N, NE, E, S, and SW of the walls. The burials are between slabs of terracotta, in pithoi, in caskets made of slabs, in monolithic sarcophagi, or in sarcophagi constructed of slabs. Several tombs on the S side are marked by miniature tumuli of earth. An actual tumulus ringed with large stones has been identified to the S of the principal tower on the S side of the city wall. Within the walls, on an esplanade in the center of the city, a Temple to Apollo has been found. On the terrace of the substructure (12.87 x 25.71 m) rises the true cella, a rectangle 8.04 x 19.82 m. The entrance is at the NW, the longitudinal axis of the temple being oriented NW-SE. Along its length, aligned inside the cella, is a row of seven columns that divide the temple into two aisles. The entire construction is in local limestone. The columns rested on socles, without bases, and had smooth and highly tapered shafts. Each column was surmounted by a so-called Aiolian capital (sometimes called proto-Ionic) consisting of two elements. A low, shallow abacus rises from a palmette that flowers between two spiral volutes which constitute the echinus; the true capital is separated from the shaft by two foliated rings (so-called water lilies), between two convex moldings. The columns sustained the principal beam of the roof, which must have been sloping, forming pediments on the short sides. The covering was of tiles with sima and antefix of terracotta, several decorated fragments of which have been found. The capitals, whose elements vary from example to example, were reconstructed (by Koldewey). The graphic reconstruction and restoration of the fragments have been accepted in general, but contrary opinions have been expressed. On the basis of comparison with capitals recently discovered at Thasos, some feel the foliated elements of the Aiolian capitals at Neandria should be considered apart. Abutting the short SE side of the temple's podium an inscribed base has been discovered that mentions a statue of Apollo. A little farther S are the foundations (4.8 x 4.1 m) of the altar of the temple. The coins of Neandria, almost entirely in silver with the head of Apollo on the obverse, are datable between 430 and 310 B.C., but throw little light on the final period of the city's life.
BIBLIOGRAPHYF. Calvert, ArchJ 12 (1865); C. T. Newton, Travels and Discoveries in the Levant I (1865); R. Koldewey, “Neandria,” 51 Winckelmannspr. (1894); W. Andrae, Die ionische Säule (1933); R. L. Scranton, Greek Walls (1941); W. B. Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Ancient Greece (1950); A. Ciasca, Il capitello detto eolico in Etruria (1962); A. v. Gerkan, Neue Beitr. z. Klass. Altert. (1954); R. Martin, Etudes d'Arch. Class., I (1955-56); E. Akurgal, Anatolia v (1960).
For the coins : W. Wroth, British Mus. Coins, Troad, Aeolis, and Lesbos (1894). For the inscriptions : L. Robert, Villes d'Asie Mineure (2d ed. 1962).
N. BONACASA