Canae

Canae /ˈkeɪ.niː/ (Ancient Greek: Κάναι; Turkish: Kane) was, in classical antiquity, a city in ancient Aeolis, on the island of Argennusa in the Aegean Sea off the modern Dikili Peninsula on the coast of modern-day Turkey, near the modern village of Bademli.[1][2] Today Argennusa has joined the mainland as the Kane Promontory off the Dikili Peninsula. Canae is famous as the site of the Battle of Arginusae in 406 B.C.[1][3][4]

Not to be confused with Cannae or Cana.

Canae Κάναι
Location within Turkey
Place in the Roman world
Province	Asia
Nearby water	Aegean Sea (Dikili Gulf)
Events	Battle of Arginusae
Location
Coordinates	39°2′19″N 26°48′53″E
Place name	Kane Promontory (Cane)
Town	Bademli
County	İzmir
State	Dikili District
Country	Turkey
Site notes
Discovery year	2015

Canae is mentioned by the ancient writers Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Livy, Ptolemy, Sappho, Thucydides, and Mela.[5][6]

History

According to the first-century Greek geographer Strabo, Canae was founded by Locrians coming from Cynus in eastern Greece.[5][7] Canae was built on the island of Argennusa (also spelt Arginusa), beside a small promontory hill variously called Mount Cane /ˈkeɪ.niː/ (Ancient Greek: Κάνη), Aega /ˈiːɡə/ (Αἰγᾶ), or Argennon /ɑːrˈdʒɛnən/ (Ἄργεννον).[5][7][8] The name Canae (Κάναι) means "(city) of Mount Cane"; the district that included Argennusa and the neighboring two islands of Garip and Kalem was called Canaea.[5]

According to the 5th-century B.C. Greek historian Herodotus, the massive Achaemenid army of Xerxes I passed Mount Cane on its way from Sardis to the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.[5][9][10]

During the Peloponnesian War, an Athenian fleet commanded by eight strategoi unexpectedly defeated a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas off the coast of Canae in 406 B.C. in the Battle of Arginusae.[6]

During the Roman–Seleucid War, fought between the Roman Republic and Antiochus the Great in 192–188 B.C., the Roman navy wintered in Canae on their way to Chios.[5] Livy writes that "the ships were hauled on shore and surrounded with a trench and rampart."[11]

By the time of Pliny the Elder in the first century A.D., the city was deserted.[5][12]

Archaeology

See also

• Arginusae
• Battle of Arginusae
• List of ancient Greek cities

References

1. Goldhill, Olivia (16 November 2015). "Researchers just unearthed a lost island in the Aegean". Quartz. İzmir. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
2. Hamel, Debra (21 May 2015). The Battle of Arginusae: Victory at Sea and Its Tragic Aftermath in the Final Years of the Peloponnesian War. U.S.A.: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4214-1680-9.
3. "Lost ancient island found in the Aegean". Hurriyet Daily News. İzmir. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
4. Crew, Bec (20 November 2015). "An entire ancient island has been rediscovered in the Aegean: Have we finally found the long-lost city of Kane?". Science Alert. İzmir. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
5. Long, George (1878). "Canae". In William Smith (ed.). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. I. London: John Murray.
6. Long, George (1878). "Arginusae". In William Smith (ed.). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. I. London: John Murray.
7. Strabo (1903). The Geography of Strabo. II. Translated by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer. London: George Bell & Sons. p. 388.
8. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica
9. Herodotus, Histories 7.42
10. Barkworth, 1993. The Organization of Xerxes' Army. Iranica Antiqua Vol. 27, pp. 149–167
11. Livy, Foundation of the City 36.45, 37.8
12. Pliny, Natural History 5.30

Classical sources

• Herodotus, The Histories
• Livy, The Foundation of the City
• Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
• Pomponius Mela, De situ orbis
• Ptolemy, Geography
• Sappho, quoted in Strabo (below)
• Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica
• Strabo, Geography
• Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

External links

• "Lost Island of Ancient Greece Discovered in Aegean Sea"