Doriscus

Doriscus (Greek: Δορίσκος and Δωρίσκος, Dorískos) was a settlement in ancient Thrace (modern-day Greece), on the northern shores of Aegean Sea, in a plain west of the river Hebrus. It was notable for remaining in Persian hands for many years after the Second Persian invasion of Greece, and remained thus known as the last Persian stronghold in Europe.[1]

Doriscus

Location of ancient Doriscus in modern Greece.

Doricos appears on the northern shore of the Aegean Sea.

Doriscus was founded by Greeks in the 6th century BC. It was conquered by Darius I and he built a Royal Fortress and stationed a large number of Persian troops there at the time of his Scythian campaign.[2]

Herodotus (7.59) reports that Doriscus was the first place Xerxes the Great stopped to review his troops after crossing the Hellespont in 480 BC, during the Second Persian invasion of Greece.[3] Herodotus also writes that Xerxes I of Persia made Mascames, son of Megadostes, governor of Doriscus in order to replace the man Darius I had appointed.[4]

The Athenian general Cimon that led the conquests after the Persian retreat was unable to capture it. Herodotus states that Doriscus "was never taken" from the Persians.[5] Its governor Mascames was honored by the Persian king for his defence.[5]

The Achaemenid ruler probably recalled Mascames with his garrison around 465 BC, and finally abandoned Doriscus.[6]

Doriscus' site is located at the modern village of Doriskos, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece.[7][8]

See also

• Eion
• Boryza (city)

References

1. Raymond A. Bowman. Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis Vol.91 University of Chicago Press, 1970, p. 61.
2. Kuhrt 2007, p. 209.
3. Christopher J. Tuplin, Xerxes' March from Doriscus to Therme, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Bd 52, H. 4 (2003), pp. 385–409.
4. Herodotus (2008). The Histories. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-19-953566-8.
5. Kuhrt, Amélie (2013). The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. Routledge. pp. 290–291. ISBN 9781136016943.
6. Sealey, Raphael (1976). A History of the Greek City States, 700-338 B. C. University of California Press. p. 208. ISBN 9780520031777.
7. Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 51, and directory notes accompanying.
8. Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.

Sources

• Dandamaev, M. A. (1989). A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004091726.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kuhrt, Amélie (2007). The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415552790.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Doriscus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.