Myrina

• A fortified seaport town of the Aeolians, in Asia Minor, afterwards called Sebastopolis, Cic. Fam. 5, 20, 8; Liv. 33, 30, 3; Tac. A. 2, 47. —Hence,
• • B Myrīnus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Myrina, Mart. 9, 43, 1.—
• II A city in the Isle of Lemnos, Plin. 4, 12, 23, § 73. —
• III A town in Crete, Plin. 4, 12, 20, § 59.

(Μύρινα).

1. A daughter of Cretheus and the wife of Thoas, from whom the town of Myrina in Lemnos was believed to have derived its name. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.604.)

2. An Amazon, who is likewise said to have given the name to the town of Myrina in Lemnos. (Strab. xii. p.573; Steph. Byz. s. v.)

3. A daughter of Teucer and the wife of Dardanus. (Hom. Il. 2.814; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 351.) [L.S]

MYRI´NA (Μυρίνα: Eth. Μυριναῖος), one of the Aeolian cities on the western coast of Mysia, about 40 stadia to the south-west of Gryneium. (Hdt. 1.149.) It is said to have been founded by one Myrinus before the other Aeolian cities (Mela, 1.18), or by the Amazon Myrina (Strab. 11. p. 505, 12. p. 573, 13. p. 623; Diod. 3.54). Artaxerxes gave Gryneium and Myrina to Gongylus, an Eretrian, who had been banished from his native city for favouring the interests of Persia. (Xenoph. Hellen. 3.1.4.) Myrina was a very strong place (Liv. 33.30), though not very large, and had a good harbour. (Scylax, p. 36; Agath. Praef. p. 9, ed. Bonn.) Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.32) mentions that it bore the surname of Sebastopolis; while, according to Syncellus, it was also called Smyrna. For some time Myrina was occupied by Philip of Macedonia; but the Romans compelled him to evacuate it, and declared the place free. (Liv. l. c,;Plb. 18.27.) It was twice visited by severe earthquakes; first in the reign of Tiberius (Tac. Ann. 2.47), on which occasion it received a remission of duties on account of the loss it had sustained; and a second time in the reign of Trajan (Oros. 7.12). The town was restored each time, and continued to exist until a late period. (Steph. Byz. s. v.;Ptol. 5.2.6; Apollon. 1.604; Hierocl. p. 661; Geogr. Ray. 5.9, where it is called Myrenna, while in the Pent. Tab. it bears the name Marinna.) Its site is believed to be occupied by the modern Sandarlik. COIN OF MYRINA.

MYRI´NA [LEMNOS]

MYRINA [MYCENAE NO. 1.]

(Μυρίνα). (1) An ancient and important city of the Aeolians on the western coast of Mysia. At Gryneum, which belonged to it, was a famous oracle of Apollo. The city was also called Smyrna, and in Roman times Sebastopŏlis.

(2) A town in Lemnos.

City on the coast of Aiolis, about 37 km SW of Pergamon. Apart from a legendary foundation by Myrina, queen of the Amazons, nothing is known of the city's origin or of its settlement by Greeks. Its history also is almost a blank. Two earthquakes are recorded; in A.D. 17 Myrina was one of twelve cities destroyed in a night and rebuilt with help from Tiberius, and in A.D. 106 a second earthquake was again followed by rebuilding. Otherwise Myrina is known almost solely for the famous temple and oracle of Apollo at Gryneion.

The ruins are scanty. The city was built on two hills of modest height at the mouth of the river Pythikos or Titnaios, now the Güzelhisar Çayi. The main occupation was on the larger E hill, where there are slight remains of a polygonal circuit wall and more conspicuous remains of a Byzantine wall. At the W foot of this hill is a hollow which probably held a theater, though nothing visible survives. The smaller hill is terraced and was evidently occupied in antiquity, but here again nothing is standing. On the shore are remains of an ancient quay, interesting for the projecting blocks pierced with a round hole by means of which vessels were moored.

Over 4000 graves in the necropolis on the N slope of the larger hill and the S slope of the adjacent hill to the N were excavated in the 19th c., but nothing can now be seen. In general they were simple rectangular graves holding a single body, though there were also a few cinerary urns. The inscriptions, on tombstones or on bronze tablets, date the necropolis as a whole to the later Hellenistic period. The tomb contents were of great variety: small bronze coins for Charon's fare, plates and bottles for the dead man's food and drink, mirrors, needles, lamps and other objects of daily use, and over 1000 terracotta figurines rivaling those of Tanagra.

There are also a number of rock-cut tombs on the neighboring hills. One of them, now known as İntaş, comprises a central chamber with ten niches.

E. Pottier & A. J. Reinach, La Necropole de Myrina (1887); C. Schuchhardt, Altertümer von Pergamon I, 1 (1912) 96-98; G. E. Bean, Aegean Turkey (1966) 106-10.

• Hdt. 6.140

• Hdt. 1.149