1. Geographical Location – Identification
Euhippe was a settlement to the south of the Meander River. Opinions are divided over the exact location of the ancient settlement. The discovery of an inscription dated to the Imperial period and reporting Euhippe as “η Ευιππέων πόλις” (the city of the Euhippeans) led researchers to identify the ancient city with the modern settlement of Dalama,1 which was initially recognised as the site of the ancient city of Koskinia. According to a subsequent view, Euhippe is located on the site of the modern settlement of Dereköy,2 which remains unexcavated. Traces of Hellenistic and Roman pottery were found in the area of Dereköy, while no architectural remains have survived.
2. Historical Information – Archaeological Remains
Stephanus Byzantius3 describes Eurippe as a Carian demos founded by Euhippeus, who obviously gave his name to the city. Pliny4 includes Euhippe among the cities of the conventus of Alabanda, which, according to Stephanus Byzantius, was named after Euhippeus’ son, Alabandus. A.H. Jones5 wrongly considers that the name Euhippe is a Greek version of the Carian name of the city of Alabanda.
According to researchers the discovery of bronze coins of unknown origin, minted in the 2nd and 1st c. BC and carrying the ethnic name “Ευιππέων”, testifies that the settlement of Euhippe must have been an autonomous city at least for as long as it minted its own coins.6 On the obverse of the coins Artemis is depicted while on the reverse Pegasus. The winged horse indicates that Euhippe was a member of the Koinon of Chrysaorea during the Hellenistic period. Bronze coins of the Imperial period were also found, dated to between the reigns of emperors Trajan (98-117 AD) and Maximus (383-388 AD) and including iconographical types of Hecate, Tyche and Hygeia.7
1. Robert, L, “La Ville d’ Euippè en Carie,” CRAI (1952) pp. 589‑599; PECS p. 320, see entry Euippe (G. E. Bean).
2. Marchese, R.T., The Lower Maeander Flood Plain, A regional settlement study, part I, (BAR 292, Oxford 1986) p. 283; Marchese, R.T., The Historical Archaeology of Northern Caria (BAR 536, Oxford 1989) p. 150.
5. Jones, A. H. M., The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces (Oxford 1937) p. 57.
6. Robert, L, “La Ville d’ Euippè en Carie,” CRAI (1952) pp. 589-599.
7. BMC Caria and the Islands p. Iii , 98.;Head B. V., Historia Numorum (Oxford 1911) p. 617.