Assus or Assos [mod. Behram] was an ancient Greek city of the Troad, on the Adramyttian Gulf. The situation is one of the most magnificent in all the Greek lands. The natural cleavage of the trachyte into joint planes had already scarped out shelves which it was comparatively easy for human labour to shape; and so, high up this cone of trachyte, the Greek town of Assus was built, tier above tier, the summit of the crag being crowned with a Doric temple of Athena. Map of the Troas The Troas (Troad) is an ancient region in the northwestern part of Anatolia, bounded by the Hellespont to the northwest, the Aegean Sea to the west, and separated from the rest of Anatolia by the massif that forms Mount Ida. ... Trachyte is an igneous, volcanic rock with an aphanitic to porphyritic texture. ... Athena from the east pediment of the Afea temple in Aegina After a sculpture of Athena at the Louvre. ...

The view from the summit is very beautiful and of great historical interest. In front is Lesbos, one of whose towns, Methymna, is said to have sent forth the founders of Assus, as early, perhaps, as 800 or 900 B.C. The whole south coast-line of the Troad is seen, and in the south-east the ancient territory of Pergamum, from whose masters the possession of Assus passed to Rome by the bequest of Attalus III (133 BC). The great heights of Ida rise in the east. Northward the Tuzla is seen winding through a rich valley. This valley was traversed by the road which Saint Paul must have followed when he came overland from Alexandria Troas to Assus, leaving his fellow-travellers to proceed by sea. Lesbos Prefecture Lesbos Island Category: ... In Greek mythology, Methymna was the daughter of Macar. ... Pergamon or Pergamum (modern day Bergama in Turkey) was a Greek city, in northwestern Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakir), that became an important kingdom during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 282... Attalus III was the last Attalid king of Pergamum, ruling from 138 BC to 133 BC. He succeeded Attalus II, although their relationship, if any, is unknown. ... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC - 130s BC - 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC Years: 138 BC 137 BC 136 BC 135 BC 134 BC - 133 BC - 132 BC 131 BC... Ida of Bernicia, King of a British state. ... Tuzla city shield Municipality of Tuzla (marked green) Tuzla is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ... An early portrait of the Apostle Paul. ... There are other cities named Alexandria. ...

The north-west gateway, to which this road led, is still flanked by two massive towers, of Hellenic work. On the shore below, the ancient mole can still be traced by large blocks under the clear water. Assus affords the only harbour on the 50 M. of coast between Cape Lectum and the east end of the Adramyttian Gulf; hence it must always have been the chief shipping-place for the exports of the southern Troad. The great natural strength of the site protected it against petty assailants; but, like other towns in that region, it has known many masters: Lydians, Persians, the kings of Pergamum, Romans and Ottoman Turks. From the Persian wars to about 350 BC Assus enjoyed at least partial independence. Hellenic may refer to: the Hellenic Republic (the modern Greek state) the Hellenes, itself a term for either ancient or modern Greeks anything related to Greece in general or Ancient Greece in particular. ... A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or junction between places separated by water. ... Lydia (disambiguation) Lydia is a historic region of western Anatolia, congruent with Turkeys modern provinces of Ä°zmir and Manisa. ... The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... The Ottoman Turks were the ethnic subdivision of the Turkish people who dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. ...

It was about 348-345 B.C. that Aristotle spent three years at Assus with Hermeas, an ex-slave who had succeeded his former master Eubulus as despot of Assus and Atameus. Aristotle has left some verses from an invocation to Arete (Virtue), commemorating the worth of Hermeas, who had been seized by Persian treachery and put to death. Aristotle, marble copy of bronze by Lysippos. ... At least two notable persons of ancient Greece were named Eubulus: Eubulus, Athenian statesman Eubulus, Middle Comedy poet This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Under its Turkish name of Behram, Assus is still the commercial port of the southern Troad, being the place to which loads of valonia are conveyed by camels from all parts of the country.

Explorations were conducted at Assus in 1881-1883 by Mr J. T. Clarke for the Archaeological Institute of America. The main object was to clear the Doric temple of Athena, built about 470 B.C. This temple is remarkable for a sculptured architrave which took the place of the ordinary frieze. The scenes are partly mythological (labours of Heracles), partly purely heraldic. Eighteen panels were transported to the Louvre in 1838; other fragments rewarded the Americans, and a scientific ground-plan was drawn. The well-preserved Hellenistic walls were also studied. The architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. ... Frieze of the Tower of the Winds. ... I.M. Peis Louvre Pyramid: the entrance to the galleries lies below the glass pyramid The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) in Paris, France, is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. ...

See J. T. Clarke, Assos, 2 vols., 1882 and 1898 (Papers of Arch. Inst. of America, i. ii.).

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.