Σίγειον | |
 | |
  Shown within Turkey | |
| Alternative name | Sigeum |
|---|---|
| Location | Kumkale, Çanakkale Province, Turkey |
| Region | Troad |
| Coordinates | 39°59′24″N 26°10′50″E / 39.99000°N 26.18056°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Builder | Colonists from Mytilene |
| Founded | 8th or 7th century BC |
| Abandoned | Between 168 BC and 23 AD |
| Periods | Archaic Greece to Hellenistic period |
Sigeion[pronunciation?] (Ancient Greek: Σίγειον, Sigeion; Latin: Sigeum) was an ancient Greek city in the north-west of the Troad region of Anatolia located at the mouth of the Scamander (the modern Karamenderes River).[1] Sigeion commanded a ridge between the Aegean Sea and the Scamander which is now known as Yenişehir and is a part of the Çanakkale district in Çanakkale province, Turkey.[2] The surrounding region was referred to as the Sigean Promonotory, which was frequently used as a point of reference by ancient geographers since it marked the mouth of the Hellespont.[3] The outline of this promontory is no longer visible due to the alluvial activity of the Karamenderes which has filled in the embayment east of Yenişehir.[4] The name 'Sigeion' means 'silent place' and is derived from Ancient Greek σιγή (sigē), 'silence'; in Classical Antiquity, the name was assumed to be antiphrastic, i.e. indicating a characteristic of the place contrary to reality, since the seas in this region are known for their fierce storms.[5]
- ^ Herodotus 5.65.3: Σίγειον τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ Σκαμάνδρῳ ('Sigeion on the Scamander').
- ^ Cook (1973) 184-5.
- ^ Herodotus 4.38.2, Strabo 7 fr. 52, 58, 13.1.32, 36, Pomponius Mela 2.100, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 2.245, 5.140, 150, Ptolemy, Geography 5.2.3, Agathemerus 18, 19.
- ^ Luce (1984).
- ^ Claudius Aelianus, Varia Historia 12.13, Schol. (vetus) in Sophocles, Philoctetes 355, Etymologicum Gudianum s.v. Σίγειον, Etymologicum Magnum s.v. Σίγειον, Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae 14.7.2. Rough seas around Sigeion: Aristotle, Historia Animalium 549b.