Bybassos

1. Geographical Location-Foundation

Bybassos was a town in Caria and an important deme of the Rhodian Peraea. It has been identified with a coastal site on a hill 1 km SW of the modern village of Hisarönü, which lies 13 km to the SW of Marmaris (ancient Fyscos).1 Other variations of the name are Bybastos, Boubassos and Boubastos.2

Bybassos is cited by many ancient writers. Herodotus refers to the Peninsula of Bybassos while Diodorus to Boubastos of Cherronesus. Plinius mentions the region of Bybassos, while Pombonius Melas mentions the bay of Bybassos. Stephanus Byzantius narrates that Bybassos, a town in Caria, was named after the shepherd Bybassos. According to the myth delivered by Stephanus Byzantius, Bybassos saved Podaleirius whose ship was wrecked on his return from Troy. Podaleirius founded Byrbassos to honour the native shepherd.3

The town was located, based on the geographical description provided by the ancient writers, in the valley near the village of Hisarönü. The Peninsula of Bybassos, mentioned by Herodotus, was identified with the Peninsula of Loryma.4 The identification of Kastabos with the village of Pazarhk, which lies close to the village of Hisarönü, as well as the information attested by a Rhodian resolution of the mid-2nd c. BC that Kastabos was located in the area of Bybassos, led scholars to the identification of the demos of Bybassos with the site to the NW of the village of Hisarönü. That resolution, which was discovered at Bakiçak near Gölenye but was probably originated from the area of Bybassos, testifies that the sanctuary of Hemithea at Kastabos was partly under the control of the inhabitants of Bybassos.5

2. History

Bybassos was not mentioned in the tribute list of the First Delian League, which led to the hypothesis that it might have been included in the Synteleia of Cherronision.6 It was one of the most important demes of the Rhodian Peraea and it appears in Rhodian inscriptions.7 Rhodian coins of the Hellenistic period (1st cent. BC), testifying the economic interactions with the powerful island of Rhodes were discovered at Hisarönü.8

Diodorus informs us that Parthenos was worshiped in Bybassos. More precisely he refers to two sisters, Molpadia and Parthenos, who were rescued by Apollo and were taken to the cities of Cherronesos. Parthenos received honours and a shrine at Bybassos, while Molpadia, who was named Hemithea acquired a sanctuary at Kastabos.9 Thus, the close relation between Kastabos and Bybassos is mythologically testified as well.

3. Archaeological remains

The archaeological remains found at the acropolis to the SW of the village of Hisarönü are scanty. Only parts of the fortification wall, ruins of buildings and of a Byzantine church have survived. Pottery sherds of the Hellenistic and the Roman period were also unearthed, though there is a noteworthy lack of inscriptions. A ceramic workshop of amphorae was discovered near the village of Hisarönü at the location known as Cubuçak. The amphorae dated to the 3rd cent. BC and in the period between the 1st cent. BC and the 2nd cent. AD.10



1. Müller, D., Topographischer Bildkommentar zu den Historien Herodots, Kleinasien (Berlin 1997), pp. 246-251; PECS, p. 176, see entry ' Bybassos' (G. E. Bean). Initially Bybassos had been identified with a site on the Cnidian Peninsula, SW of Emeçik, 11 km E of Datça, while the peninsula of Bybassos was identified with the eastern area of the Cnidian peninsula. The settlement of Hisarönü was erroneously identified with the ancient deme Erine ( national name Erines, Erinaeus, Ereinaeis) which is listed in the catalogues of the Delian League and mentioned in inscriptions of Rhodes, due to its earlier name Rena (fem. Rena, early 20th cent.), Erine, Arine, Assarine. However, that ancient demos was presumably located in the island of Rhodes, whereas the village of Hisarönü was named Erine, Arine, Assarine after the Christian church of Saint Eirine, which is believed to have existed in the area. Cf. Cook, J.M., ' Cnidian Peraia and Spartan Coins', JHS 81 (1961), pp. 62-66; Cook, J.M.-Plommer, W.H., The Sanctuary of Hemithea at Kastabos (Cambridge 1966), pp. 6-7; Fraser, P.M.-Bean, G.E., The Rhodian Peraea and Islands (London 1954), pp. 67-68.

2. See Zgusta, L., Kleinasiatische Ortsnamen (Heidebert 1984), p. 130.

3. Hdt. I.174; D.S. 5.62; Plin., HN V.104; Pompon. I.84; St. Byz. See entry Bybassos; Laumonier, A., Les Cultes Indigènes en Carie (Paris 1958), pp. 663.

4. Fraser, P.M.-Bean, G.E., The Rhodian Peraea and Islands (London 1954), p. 65.

5. Blümel, W., Die Inschriften der Rhodischen Peraia (IK 38, Bonn 1991), pp. 110-111; Fraser, P.M.-Bean, G.E., The Rhodian Peraea and Islands (London 1954), pp. 24-27; Cook, J.M.-Plommer, W.H., The Sanctuary of Hemithea at Kastabos (Cambridge 1966), pp. 61-65; PECS, p. 176, see entry 'Bybassos' (G.E. Bean).

6. Cook, J.M., ' Cnidian Peraia and Spartan Coins', JHS 81 (1961), pp. 62.

7. Maiuri, A., Nuova Silloge Epigraphica di Rodi e Cos (Firenze 1925), p. 41, Nr 27.

8. Cook, J.M.-Plommer, W.H., The Sanctuary of Hemithea at Kastabos (Cambridge 1966), p. 66.

9. D.S. 5.62; Laumonier, A., Les Cultes Indigènes en Carie (Paris 1958), pp. 662-667; Fraser, P.M.-Bean, G.E., The Rhodian Peraea and Islands (London 1954), p. 26.

10. Cook, J.M.-Plommer, W.H., The Sanctuary of Hemithea at Kastabos (Cambridge 1966), pp. 11-12; PECS, p. 176, see entry 'Bybassos' (G.E. Bean); Blümel, W., Die Inschriften der Rhodischen Peraia (IK 38, Bonn 1991), p. 110.