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ASSUS [mod. Behram]

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 790 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ASSUS [mod. Behram] , an See also:ancient See also:Greek See also:city of the See also:Troad, on the Adramyttian Gulf. The situation is one of the most magnificent in all the Greek lands. The natural cleavage of the trach'yte into See also:joint planes had already scarped out shelves which it was comparatively easy for human labour to shape; and so, high up this See also:cone of See also:trachyte, the Greek See also:town of Assus was built, tier above tier, the See also:summit of the See also:crag being crowned with a Doric See also:temple of See also:Athena. The view from the summit is very beautiful and of See also:great See also:historical See also:interest. In front is See also:Lesbos, one of whose towns, Methymna, is said to have sent forth the founders of Assus, as See also:early, perhaps, as r000 or 900 B.C. The whole See also:south See also:coast-See also:line of the Troad is seen, and in the south-See also:east the ancient territory of See also:Pergamum, from whose masters the See also:possession of Assus passed to See also:Rome by the See also:bequest of Attalus III. (133 B.c.). The great heights of See also:Ida rise in the east. Northward the Tuzla is seen winding through a See also:rich valley. This valley was traversed by the road which St See also:Paul must have followed when he came overland from See also:Alexandria Troas to Assus, leaving his See also:fellow-travellers to proceed by See also:sea. The See also:north-See also:west gateway, to which this road led, is still flanked by two massive towers, of Hellenic See also:work.

On the See also:

shore below, the ancient See also:mole can still be traced by large blocks under the clear See also:water. Assus affords the only See also: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 See also:chief See also:shipping-See also:place for the exports of the See also:southern Troad. The great natural strength of the site protected it against See also:petty assailants; but, like other towns in that region, it has known many masters—Lydians, Persians, the See also:kings of Pergamum, See also:Romans and See also:Ottoman See also:Turks. From the See also:Persian See also:wars to about 350 B.C. Assus enjoyed at least partial See also:independence. It was about 348–345 B.C. that See also:Aristotle spent three years at Assus with Hermeas, an ex-slave who had succeeded his former See also:master See also:Eubulus as See also:despot of Assus and Atameus. Aristotle has See also:left some verses from an invocation to See also:Arete (Virtue), commemorating the See also:worth of Hermeas, who had been seized by Persian treachery and put to See also:death. Under its See also:Turkish name of Behram, Assus is still the commercial See also:port of the southern Troad, being the place to which loads of valonia are conveyed by camels from all parts of the See also:country. Explorations were conducted at Assus in 1881–1883 by Mr J. T. See also:Clarke for the Archaeological See also:Institute of See also:America. The See also:main See also:object was to clear the Doric temple of Athena, built about 470 B.C.

This temple is remarkable for a sculptured See also:

architrave which took the place of the See also:ordinary See also: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-See also:plan was See also:drawn. The well-preserved Hellenistic walls were also studied. See J. T. Clarke, Assos, 2 vols., 1882 and 1898 (Papers of See also:Arch. Inst. of America, i. ii.) ; and authorities under TROAD. (D. G.

End of Article: ASSUS [mod. Behram]

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