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MAGNESIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 319 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAGNESIA , in See also:

ancient See also:geography the name of two cities in See also:Asia See also:Minor and of a See also:district in eastern See also:Thessaly, lying between the Vale of See also:Tempe and the Pagasaean Gulf. (I) MAGNESIA AD MAEANDRUM, a See also:city of See also:Ionia, situated on a small stream flowing into the Maeander, 15 See also:Roman See also:miles from See also:Miletus and rather less from See also:Ephesus. According to tradition, reinforced by the similarity of names, it was founded by colonists from the Thessalian tribe of the Magnetes, with whom were associated, according to See also:Strabo, some Cretan settlers (Magnesia retained a connexion with See also:Crete, as See also:inscriptions found there attest). It was thus not properly an Ionic city, and for this See also:reason, apparently, was not included in the Ionian See also:league, though See also:superior in See also:wealth and prosperity to most of the members except Ephesus and Miletus. It was destroyed by the See also:Cimmerii in their irruption into Asia Minor, but was soon after rebuilt, and gradually recovered its former prosperity. It was one of the towns assigned by See also:Artaxerxes to See also:Themistocles for support in his See also:exile, and there the latter ended his days. His statue stood in its See also:market-See also:place. Thibron, the Spartan, persuaded the Magnesians to leave their indefensible and mutinous city in 399 B.C. and build afresh at Leucophrys, an See also:hour distant, noted for its See also:temple of See also:Artemis Leucophryne, which, according to Strabo, surpassed that at Ephesus in the beauty of its See also:architecture, though inferior in See also:size and wealth. Its ruins were excavated by Dr K. Humann for the See also:Constantinople Museum in 1891—1893; but most of the See also:frieze of the temple of Artemis Leucophryne, representing an See also:Amazon See also:battle, had already been carried off by Texier (1843) to the Louvre. It was an See also:octostyle, pseudo-See also:dipteral temple of highly ornate Ionic See also:order, built on older See also:foundations by See also:Hermogenes of Alaba'nda at the end of the 3rd See also:century B.C. The plat-See also:form has been greatly overgrown since the excavation, but many bases, capitals, and other architectural members are visible.

In front of the See also:

west See also:facade stood a See also:great See also:altar. An immense peribolus See also:wall is still See also:standing (20 ft. high), but its Doric See also:colonnade has vanished. The railway runs right through the See also:precinct, and much of Magnesia has gone into its See also:bridges and embankments. See also:South and west of the temple are many other remains of the Roman city, including a fairly perfect See also:theatre excavated by See also:Hiller von Gartringen, and the See also:shell of a large gymnasium. See also:Part of the See also:Agora was laid open to Humann, but his trenches have fallen in. The site is so unhealthy that even the Circassians who settled there twenty years ago have almost all died off or emigrated. Magnesia continued under the See also:kings of See also:Pergamum to be one of the most flourishing cities in this part of Asia; it resisted See also:Mithradates in 87 B.C., and was rewarded with civic freedom by See also:Sulla; but it appears to have greatly declined under the Roman See also:empire, and its name disappears from See also:history, though on coins of the See also:time of See also:Gordian it still claimed to be the seventh city of Asia. See K. Haumann, Magnesia am Maeander (1904). (2) MAGNESIA AD SIPYLUM (mod. See also:Manisa, q.v.), a city of See also:Lydia about 40 M. N.E. of See also:Smyrna on the See also:river Hermus at the See also:foot of Mt Sipylus.

No mention of the See also:

town is found till 190 B.C., when See also:Antiochus the Great was defeated under its walls by the Roman See also:consul L. Scipio Asiaticus. It became a city of importance under the Roman dominion and, though nearly destroyed by an See also:earthquake in the reign of Tiberius, was restored by that See also:emperor and flourished through the Roman empire. It was one of the few towns in this part of Asia Minor which remained prosperous under the See also:Turkish See also:rule. The most famous relic of antiquity is the " See also:Niobe of Sipylus-" (Suratlu Task) on the lowest slopes of the See also:mountain about 4 M. See also:east of the town. This is a See also:colossal seated See also:image cut in a See also:niche of the See also:rock, of "Hittite" origin, and perhaps that called by See also:Pausanias the " very ancient statue of the See also:Mother of the Gods," carved by Broteas, son of See also:Tantalus, and sung by See also:Homer. Near it See also:lie many remains of a See also:primitive city, and about See also:half a mile east is the rock-seat conjecturally identified with Pausanias' " See also:Throne of See also:Pelops." There are also hot springs and a sacred grotto of See also:Apollo. The whole site seems to be that of the See also:early " Tantalus " city. (D. G.

End of Article: MAGNESIA

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