1. Location and Foundation
Built on a small peninsula to the northwest of Smyrna, Phocaea was an Ionian city on Aeolian land. The peninsula it extended on separated the gulf of Cyme, an Aeolian district, from the gulf of Hermos, where Smyrna and Clazomenae were built.
Ancient writers report that Phocaea, the northernmost of the twelve Ionian cities, was founded by the colonists of Phocis under the leadership of the Athenian Philogenes on land granted to them by Cyme. However, contemporary research admits that this tradition actually reflects the effort of the city of Athens to establish itself as the motherland of all Ionians. Even the Phocian origin of the colonists is justified by the common method of ancient historiography to consider any similarities among names indications of the existence of historical relations.
The city was probably named after the shape of the adjacent islands, which resemble to a seal (Phocaea=seal). This animal was furthermore depicted on the obverse of its coins as a ‘speaking symbol’.
Excavations have brought to light shells of the characteristic Aeolian monochrome ceramics of the 9th century BC, a sign that the first inhabitants of Phocaea were Aeolians. The city came under Ionian control at the latest within the 8th century BC, when colonists from Teos and Erythrae settled there. The dominance of the Ionian element in Phocaea since very early times is corroborated by archaeological data, particularly by Proto-Geometric and Geometric ceramics found there. A reminder of the transition from the Aeolian to the Ionian unity has been preserved in Pausanias’ accounts.1 According to this, in order to be accepted in the Panionion, the political and religious union of the Ionian cities, Phocaea had to surrender to an imported royal dynasty from Teos and Erythrae. Considering this historical relation, one can interpret the adoption of the symbol of Teos by the Phocaean coinage as well as the mintage of small amber coins at the Erythrae mint, according to the Phocaean pattern, on a par with 1/6 of a stater (hecta).2
2. Colonisation Activities
Being extremely bold seafarers, the Phocaeans were, according to Herodotus, the first Greeks to venture sea routes further out to the Adriatic, the Tyrrhenian and the Balearic Sea, going as far as Tartessus of the Iberian Peninsula. They actually became so dear to the local king, Arganthonius, that he urged them to leave Ionia and immigrate to his country.
The colonisation activities of Phocaea had already begun since the mid-7th century BC, with the foundation of Lampsacus on the coasts of the Hellespont and Amisos in the Black Sea. By the end of the 7th century, the Phocaeans had already turned exclusively to the exploitation of trading relations with the furthermost West. Sailing with the high-speed fifty-oared ships (pentecontor), instead of using the usual round ships of the Phoenicians, they founded colonies along the western Mediterranean coastline, in order to secure their trading relations with far-off destinations of the West. Boosting the Phocaean trade network was necessary, since their competitors, the Carthaginians and Etruscans, were not at least pleased with the upturn of the Phocaean trade.
Circa 600 BC, the Phocaeans had already founded Massalia (Marseilles) near the outfall of the Rhone River, in order to secure a base for their trade with Spain. According to Strabo,3 the priestess at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus followed the Phocaeans and, bringing along a devotional statue of the goddess, imported her worship to this new land.4 Thanks to its location at the end of an important trade artery along the Rhone River, Massalia rapidly evolved into one of the greatest Greek colonies of the West.
Contemporary researchers disagree whether it was Phocaea that founded a series of Greek cities along the Spanish and French coasts in the 6th century or it was Massalia later. Maenaca (near contemporary Malaga), Hemeroscopium and Emporion (Ampurias) on the Spanish coasts and, amongst others, Nikaia (Nice), Antipolis (Antibes) and Monoikos (Monaco) on the French coasts are included in this colonial network.
Founded circa 570 BC, Alalia in Corsica was the second most important base for Phocaean merchants in the West after Massalia. The western Mediterranean basin would very soon become a closed sea, dominated exclusively by Phocaeans and Massalians, unless the alliance between Etruscans and Carthaginians had ended the Greek expansion with the battle of Alalia in 540 BC.
A category of bronze archaic oinochoae, probably of Phocaean origin, is one of the archaeological finds of the Phocaean expansion to the West. Samples of this category have been found at several locations, from the Adriatic and Spain as far as France and Britain.5 The city’s exceptionally important place in the trade field is also verified by its powerful mintage, even during the Persian occupation (546-480 BC).
3. Historical Background
Before the Persian invasion, Phocaea was subjugated to the Lydian King Croesus (560-546 BC), like all Greek cities of Asia Minor. In view of the Persian threat, the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the Eastern Aegean islands asked for help from Sparta and Athens by sending a delegation with Pythermos from Phocaea taking the lead. For the first time this shows a spirit of solidarity amongst Greeks in view of external danger. Eventually, the occupation of the Lydian kingdom (546 BC) by the Persians marked a highly significant moment in the history of the city. During the siege by Persian general Harpagus, the Phocaeans, in order to avoid captivity, embarked on ships with their families, possessions and all votive offerings and devotional statues and left their city.
Since the Chians refused to grant them the islands of Oinousses to settle, for fear of losing their trade privileges, the Phocaeans decided to set sail for Alalia, their colony in Corsica. First, they sailed back to their homeland and after slaughtering the Persian garrison there they sworn never to return.6 While setting sail to Corsica though, half of them felt homesick and decided to go back. The rest of them settled in Alalia only for a few years for, after the battle against the Etruscans and the Carthaginians circa 540 BC, they were forced to sail for Reggio and eventually find a new home at Hyele (Elea-Velia) of Lucania. In spite of its limited extent and small population, in comparison with neighbouring Poseidonia and the population of Lucania, Hyele set for its own historic course and very soon became known as the mother city of the Eleatic philosophical school.
However, even the Phocaeans that stayed back home or returned there, very soon managed to regain their footing and much of their economical foothold. Proof of the Phocaean trade bloom during the years of Persian occupation are at least seventeen new coin mints, dating from the period from 545 to 522 BC.
Phocaea took part in the Ionian Revolt (499BC-494 BC) against the Persian yoke, but during the sea battle of Lade (494 BC) it only managed to send three ships. The unfortunate outcome of the Revolt does not seem to have affected the economy of the city, judging by its uninterrupted mintage during that time. The end of the Persian domination for Phocaea, as well as for all of Ionia, came in 479 BC with the defeat of the Persians at the sea battle of Mycale. Shortly after this (478/7 BC), Phocaea joined the First Athenian League paying relatively a low annual tribute, first of two talents and later of three. The city continued being a member, with only a small break (circa the mid-5th century), until 412 BC. Next, it fell under Spartan control, until 394 BC, when it was liberated by the Athenian Admiral Conon, the victor of the sea battle of Cnidus. The Spartan occupation seems to have had a negative effect on the economy of the city, restraining the liberty of its trade activity. The repeated cessations of mintage clearly reflect this condition.
The liberation from Spartan dominance was a brief period, since in 386 BC, under Antalcidas' Peace, Phocaea fell under Persian control along with all other Greek cities of Asia Minor. Despite the lack of definite historical evidence, it was liberated after Alexander’s victory at the Granicus River (334 BC), along with the entire Ionia.
In the Hellenistic period the trading force of Phocaea began to die down tremendously and the city never managed to rise again to its former affluence. The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC marked a new era of upheavals in the eastern Mediterranean. Regarding the history of the city during this period, one can only recompose an outline, based on the conditions prevailing in the area at that time. These conditions changed according to the powers exercised there and Phocaea, much like its neighbouring cities, successively passed into different spheres of influence.
After the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Phocaea was integrated into Lysimachus’ kingdom, but his death at Corupedium of Lydia in 281 BC signalled the change of sides and the subjugation to the kingdom of the Seleucids. Until the early 2nd century BC, the city was a possession of the Seleucids at one time and of the Attalids at another in their effort to establish their domination in the area.
In the war Rome made against the Seleucid Antiochus ΙΙΙ (191-190 BC), Phocaea supported the latter one, who was defeated on land and in the sea by the Romans and their allies, the Attalids. The victors seized Phocaea, took over its port and, after the desperate citizens rose in insurrection, they sacked it (190 BC).
The Peace of Apamea (188 BC) redefined the spheres of influence in Asia Minor. Phocaea was recognised as an independent city, under the suzerainty of Pergamon though, which at that time had reached an unprecedented heyday. New territories were integrated to the Attalid kingdom, stretching from the Hellespont as far as the Taurus, thus isolating the Seleucids in the interior of the East. This period ended with the death of Attalus ΙΙΙ (138 BC-133 BC), who bequeathed his kingdom to Rome in 133 BC. Very soon, Aristonicus, an alleged descendant of the Attalid dynasty, mustered around him everyone dissatisfied with the Roman hegemony. Phocaea also took part in this rebellion (132-129 BC), which was stifled by the Romans. With the mediation of Massalia though, it managed to avoid the disastrous retaliation of the Roman legions.7
Over the following centuries, the historical route of the city, which was now a part of the Roman province of Asia, remains unknown. The sole exception is its recorded proclamation as ‘civitas llibera’ (free city) by Pompey (106-48 BC).8 The general resurgence and prosperity the Pax Romana secured for the whole Roman Empire in the years to come also favoured Phocaea, as shown by literary and archaeological records.9 Phocaea appeared again in the Byzantine sources, while in the Ottoman period a Greek settlement called Old Phokaia is formed.
4. Economy
Even later writers10 speak of the naval supremacy of the Phocaeans in the western Mediterranean during the Archaic Period (7th-6th century BC). Phocaea owes its reputation to the lucrative metal trade –tin and copper– with the West. Tin, in particular, an especially precious metal, came from the Cassiterides Islands (Tin Islands), located either south of Bretagne or in the open sea of English Cornwall. In order to make sure the Greek world would have access to tin and copper, the Phocaeans founded, as mentioned above, two main stations: Massalia and Alalia. On the other hand, the monopoly with Tartessus, a centre of metal trading, consolidated their dominance in this field.
The period of the city’s peak may be dated in the first half of the 6th century BC, before its inhabitants left it because of the Persian invasion, the trade though, according to coin finds, was still a resource during the Persian occupation as well.
Phocaea owed its enormous wealth not only to its naval power, but also to its being an entrepôt for products of Asia Minor inland. The mint also played a significant role in its economy. The coinage of small amber coins on a par with 1/6 of a stater is attributed to it. The hecta (weighing 2.57 gr.) dominated the Phocaean mintage for two centuries (6th-4th century BC), thus revealing the blooming conditions in the city in this period. Especially staters and hectae minted in the 4th century, after a monetary pact between Phocaea and Lesbos, became the dominant local currency for the cities of western Asia Minor.
5. Religious Life
The worship of Athena in Phocaea, patron goddess of the city, was widely spread. Her image was imprinted on coins until the imperial times and Pausanias11 included her temple amongst the oldest and most beautiful of Ionia, despite the strong signs of destruction caused during the Persian siege (546 BC). Nowadays, nothing but architectural parts has survived from the site identified as the original location of the temple; these parts have been taken to the museum of Smyrna.
The oldest record of Apollo’s worship in the city comes from the Homeric hymns, while imperial coins corroborate its continuance.12 There is also epigraphic evidence of Asclepius’ worship with the attribute of the ‘Saviour’ and of Dionysus’ worship, in honour of whom they celebrated the Lenaia and the Dionysia, accompanying them with dramatic contests.
Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, held a foremost place in the religious life of the city, having been worshipped in many places, both inside the city and on the adjacent islands. Her worship was also spread to the Phocaean colonies Massalia and Hyele. Evidence of this spread is the votive reliefs of a northern-Ionian/Aeolian type depicting the goddess seating inside a small temple, known both from the metropolis and its colonies. The connection of these reliefs with Cybele has been recently doubted, with the objection that their iconographical shape was used in the Archaic Period for several deities of the Greek world.13
6. Topography and Buildings
The Roman Livy14 talks about a city built on a peninsula, by the calm waters of a bay, with a western and a southern harbour called Naustathmus. The description fits with that of ancient Phocaea, ruins of which have been found on the peninsula and the adjacent piece of land, both taken up now by the contemporary city of Eski Foça.
The ancient place-name has been preserved, but constant habitation leaves very little room for recomposing the ancient topography. After a long break, the excavations were initiated again in the past decade and parts of the archaic wall were found for the first time. Herodotus15 also speaks of the wall when referring to the ties of friendship developed between the Phocaeans and Arganthonius, the king of Tartessus, who urged them to leave their city and immigrate to his land, as soon as he found out the Persians threatened their city. But since he did not manage to persuade them, he gave them money to fortify the city. The construction of a wall with enormous rectangular stone plinths began in 590-580 BC. It must have been longer than five kilometres and fortified a part of the land,16 apart from the peninsula. On the other hand, contrary to what was believed until recently, the archaic city was not limited on the peninsula alone, but extended to the wider fortified area. Therefore, in the first half of the 6th century, Phocaea was one of the largest cities of the Mediterranean.
Of all its public buildings, few remnants have been uncovered. Architectural parts of a porous archaic temple of Ionian order, identified with the temple of Athena, have been discovered at the edge of the peninsula, in the area of the contemporary high school. Within the same area, beneath the terrace of the temple, there are rock-cut niches, interpreted as a sanctuary of Cybele. Outdoor sanctuaries of this goddess have been also located on the hills of Chrysospiliotissa and the theatre, to the east of the city. On the northwestern slope of the namesake hill there has been recently uncovered the 4th century BC theatre, one of the oldest theatres of Asia Minor, with parts of the auditorium and the retaining wall still visible today.