LETTER XXI.

HISTORY OF THE MYSIANS.

THE Country of the Mysians is considered by some writers to have borrowed its name from the Lydian word Mysos, signifying a beech-tree, because this kind of tree grew there in great abundance. It was divided into Greater and Lesser Mysia.*

In the part of Mysia Minor which lay in the Propontis, were several cities worthy of note.

Cyzicus, or Cyzicum,† was seated on an island of the Propontis bearing the same name, but joined to the continent by two bridges by Alexander the Great. This city, when first known to the Romans, was one of the greatest and richest of Asia; hence Florust calls it the Rome of Asia. Its haven, marble towers, fortifications, &c., are much extolled by him, as well as by many other Latin writers. Among the many magnificent buildings that adorned it, the chief temple surpassed all others celebrated by the ancients. The whole structure is described to have been of polished marble, and the joining all covered with lines of gold; the pillars four cubits thick, and fifty high, each of one piece. The statue of Jupiter in this temple was of ivory, and of most exquisite workmanship.

In after ages, Cyzicus was obstinately defended against Mithridates the Great, who lost under its walls an immense number of soldiers, without being able to reduce it. Its ancient inhabitants, however, were deemed a timid and effeminate race; insomuch so, that, when any one betrayed weakness or cowardice, he was contemptuously called a Cyzian.

The current coin of this island, called Stater, and weighing eighteen drachmas, was engraved with such nicety and skill, that it was anciently

* Mysia Lesser, or Minor, lay, according to Strabo, on the Propontis, and from thence extended to Mount Olympus, being bounded by Bithynia and the Propontis on the north and and west, by Phrygia Minor on the south, and by Phrygia Major on the east. Mysia Greater, or Major, was bounded on the north by Phrygia Minor, on the south by Æolia, on the east by Phrygia Major, and on the west by the Egean Sea. But Ptolemy gives the name of Mysia Major to what Strabo calls Mysia Minor; and what the latter calls Mysia Major the former calls Mysia Minor. That part of Mysia which lay between Ancyra of Phrygia and the river Rhindacus, is also called by Strabo Abrettana, and the remaining part Morena. The former denomination is sometimes given to all Mysia.

This island city is said to have got its name from one of its kings, who also ruled over a part of the adjacent continent.

Lib. iii. c. 5.

looked upon as a great wonder of art.* This coin represented on one side Cybele, the Great Mother of the gods; and on the other a lion, which has made some imagine the proverb, which hence originated, to be a taunt on those who talk pompously, and affect to appear courageous as lions, while they, in reality, are timid as women.t

The inhabitants of Cyzicus claimed great antiquity, and that their city had been given by Jupiter to Proserpine for her dowry; for which reason they worshipped her as their chief deity.

Cyzicus was destroyed by an earthquake, and the fallen marbles and pillars were conveyed to Constantinople, to embellish that city. Under the dominion of the Romans, it was the metropolis of Consular Hellespont; but is now an insignificant place, called Chizico.

Parium, so called, according to the opinion of some writers, from Parus, the son of Jason, was the next city in importance. In it was a naked Cupid, much celebrated by the ancients, and deemed not in the least inferior to the famous Venus of Cnidos. In the vicinity of this city once stood a beautiful temple of Apollo, Actæus, and Diana, whose ruins were afterwards employed to build the altar at Parium, which was looked upon as one of the wonders of Asia. The ancient Parians are said to have been a colony of the Milesians and the more modern of the Romans, who, in all this province, had but this colony and that of Troas. Parium is now but a village.

Lampsacus, or Lampsacum, was seated on the entrance of the Propontis, over against Calliopolis, in the Thracian Chersoneus. It was built, according to some writers, by the Phocæans; according to others, by Priapus, who was a native of this place, and the most infamous of all the heathen deities. This city is said to have borrowed its name from a young woman named Lampsacus. It had a capacious and safe harbor, and a stately temple consecrated to Cybele.

Alexander the Great conceived such an aversion to the inhabitants of this city, on account of their scandalous vices, as is related, that he resolved to lay the city itself in ashes. The inhabitants, receiving timely information of his intention, dispatched deputies to pray for mercy, and to avert, if possible, the impending doom. The deputies no sooner appeared before the king than he, to relieve himself from their importunity, solemnly vow

This gave birth to the Greek proverb, Kusiknvoi sanoor, an expression used in commending any eminent performance in the art of engraving; as if the Cyzician statues were the utmost effort of that art.-Engl. Univ. Hist. vol. ii.

+ Erasm. Chiliad.

Appian has given a detailed account of what concerns this city, in that part of his History that relates to Mithridates.

In the neighborhood of this city lived the Ophiogenes, mentioned by Pliny-lib. vii.— who are said to have had the gift of curing the bites of serpents with their touch.

See p. 46, vol. i. of this work.

ed to deny their request. But the celebrated Anaximenes, who had been the teacher of Alexander in eloquence, and who was now at the head of the embassy, addressed him thus: "Most just and mighty king, the inhabitants of Lampsacus, having been so unhappy as to incur your displeasure, are anxious to atone for the enormous crime that could provoke the wrath of so merciful a prince, and have therefore sent us to beg you would utterly destroy their city, as a punishment due to their transgressions." This unexpected request, and the vow which Alexander had made to reject the supplication of the deputies, became thus the means of the preservation of Lampsacus.

Priapus was worshipped here in a particular manner, and his temple is described as a perfect sink of lewdness, a public school of the most infamous and unnatural lust.

The chief rivers of Mysia Minor are the Rhyndacus-called by Pliny Lycus-and by the moderns Lartacho, rises from a lake and falls into the Propontis; and Granicus, which rising on Mount Ida, discharges itself also into the Propontis. The former of these rivers is memorable for the victory which Lucullus gained over the Great Mithridates on its banks; and the latter is still more famous for the defeat the superior forces of Darius suffered after having made a vain attempt to prevent Alexander and his army from crossing it.*

In this part of Mysia stands Mount Olympus, called by the Romans Olympus Mysiorum, as a distinction. It is one of the highest mountains in Western Asia.

The city of greatest note in Mysia Major was Pergamos, seated on a spacious plain on the banks of the Caicus. It was in the time of the Romans the royal seat of the Attalic kings. Eumenes enriched it with a library, containing, we are told, 200,000 volumes, for the transcribing of which it is said that parchment was invented, and thence called by the Latins Charta Pergamena.t

The soil of this country was celebrated by the ancients as one of the most fertile of Asia. It abounded chiefly in wine and corn, and was well stocked with cattle, which fed on large plains covered with luxuriant grass. It is plentifully watered with small rivers running down from Mount Ida and Mount Olympus.

* Granicus is now called Sousoughirli

It is related that Ptolemy, king of Egypt, gave occasion to this useful contrivance, by prohibiting the exportation of the Egyptian papyrus, in order to frustrate the design of Eumenes, which was to cause all the valuable works then extant to be carefully transcribed, and by that means make a collection that might vie with the famous library of Alexandria. In Pergamus was also invented those costly hangings which now are called tapestry, and to which the Romans gave the appellation of Aulea, from Aula, signifying a hall, because the hall of Attalus-during whose reign the invention took place-was the first room adorned with it. Galen, the celebrated physician, was born in this city, and there Esculapius is said to have practised physic.

We are informed by Herodotus* that the Mysians were of the same origin as the Lydians. According to his account, Menes, the first king of Lydia, was father to Catys, and Catys to Atys, who had three sons, Lydus, Mysus, and Cares. From the first, the Lydians, formerly called Mæones, from Mæon, the sister of Cybele, borrowed their name. Mysius and Cares planted Lydian colonies in the neighboring countries, which from them were named Mysia and Caria. But there are other writers who tell us that the Mysians were the descendants, not of a Lydian, but of a Phrygian colony.†

It would appear from what Herodotus‡ and Plinys relate, that the Mysians had in a very remote age been a brave people, and that they, together with the Trojans, before the Trojan war, had passed over the Bosphorus to Europe, subdued all Thrace, and penetrated even to the river Peneus. But in after ages they degenerated so much from the valor of their ancestors as to be deemed very cowardly. They were prone to tears, and therefore employed by the Greeks to attend their funerals, to lament those that were dead.

The Mysian language is presumed to have been the same as the Phrygian and Trojan, with some variations of dialect. As to their manners, and their progress in the arts and the sciences, we have no information. From the situation of their country and their wealth-for Philostratus informs us that in ancient times they were the most wealthy people of that part of Asia-we may be justified in concluding that they carried on a lucrative trade.

Their religion seems to have been the same as that of the Phrygians. They worshipped the same deities and practised the same religious ceremonies, which has induced many to conclude that they originally were Phrygians. There was in the city of Cyzicus a magnificent temple dedicated to Cybele, and near Parium stood another dedicated to Apollo. Nemesis is also numbered among their deities, and was worshipped in a stately temple built by King Adrastus, not far from the last-mentioned city. The worship of Priapus seems to have been introduced among the Mysians not until after the time of Hesiod. The Mysian priests abstained from flesh, and were forbidden to marry. It was a ceremony practised among them to sacrifice a horse and eat his entrails before they were admitted to the priesthood.

Their government appears to have been monarchical; and though several writers have expressed the opinion, in which I fully concur, that there existed Mysian kings before the time of the Argonauts, there is, however,

Lib. i. c. clxxi.

+ Strabo derives the Asiatic Mysians from those of Europe inhabiting the country which lies between Mount Hemas and Danube, and called by the Romans Mæsia, and now comprising Bosnia, Syria, Bulgaria, and Wallachia.

+ Lib. vii.

§ Lib. vii.

Strabo, lib. xii

none known to us anterior to the Argonautic expedition. But Diodorus tells us that the Mysians had been subjected to the sway of Ninus, and continued for a long time to remain under the dominion of his successors. After the destruction of Troy and dispersion of the Trojans, the Mysians took possession of a great part of Troas, which they continued to hold until they were conquered by Croesus.

Olympus.

Teuthras.

The first king of Mysia whose name has come down to us is Olympus. He is said to have been married to the daughter of Jasius or Jasion, brother of Dardanus, king of Troy. Next to Olympus, we find Teuthras mentioned, though it is uncertain whom it was he succeeded. He married Auge, the daughter of Aleus, son of the king of Arcadia. Having no son himself, Teuthras gave his daughter Agriope, whom he had by his first wife, in marriage to Telephus, his second wife's son by Hercules. He is also said to have built a city, to which he gave the name Teuthrania, which name afterwards became common to the surrounding country, and in process of time to all Mysia. He had also another daughter by Tecmessa, who, in the division of the captives whom the Greeks had taken in Mysia, fell to Ajax the son of Telamon.

Telephus, who succeeded Teuthras to the crown, is said to Telephus. have been an illegitimate son of Hercules by Auge. Being exposed, by order of his grandfather, on Mount Parthenius, he was nursed there by a hind till he was found by the shepherds of one Corythus, who brought him up as his own child. When Telephus was grown up, he became desirous to find out his mother, and was directed by an oracle to steer his course towards Mysia, where he was received with much joy, not only by his mother, but also by Teuthras, who was so pleased with him that he bestowed his daughter upon him, and appointed him his heir.

In the Trojan war he first sided with Priam, and was severely wounded by Achilles; but afterwards he was prevailed upon by the Greeks to discontinue the aid he had lent the Trojans and to act a neutral part. We are told by Pausanias and Aristides that he planted a colony of Arcadians in the neighborhood of Pergamus. Jornandes; makes him the king of the Goths.

Telephus is said to have had two sons, Eurypylus and Latinus. The former, some writers tell us, was killed in the Trojan war; others say that he succeeded his father, or reigned over the Cilicians. Latinus is said to have led a colony of Ceteans to Italy.

Eurypulus left a son named Arius, who was slain in a single combat by

• Lib. ii. ch. ii.

+ Diod. lib. iv; Strabo, lib. xiii.; Apollod. etc.

De rebus Getesis.

Jornandes confounds the European with the Asiatic Mysians; for those of Europe, whom Pliny calls Mæsians, are thought to be descended from the Mysians of Asia.