View source for Mycale

{{Short description|Mountain on the west coast of central Anatolia in Turkey}}
{{about|the mountain|the vocal group|Mycale (vocal ensemble)| the genus of sea sponges|Mycale (genus)}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = '''Mount Mycale'''
| other_name = Μυκάλη<br />Samsun Dağı
| photo = Priene.jpg
| photo_caption = The flanks of Mycale behind [[Priene]]
| photo_size = 250
| elevation_m = 1237
| elevation_ref = &nbsp;at Dilek Tepesi, the high point; {{cvt|600|m|ft|0}} average
| prominence = 
| listing = 
| translation = [[Priene|Samson's Mountain]]
| language = [[Turkish language]]
| location = [[Aydin]] Province, [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]]
| range = Aydin Mountain Range in the Menderes Massif
| map =Turkey 
| map_size = 
| label_position = right
| coordinates = {{Coord|37|39|40|N|27|09|02|E|type:mountain_scale:500000|display=inline,title}}
| topo = 
| type = [[Ridge]], {{cvt|20|km|mi|0}} long
| age = 
| volcanic_arc/belt = 
| last_eruption = 
| first_ascent = 
| easiest_route = Hike
}}

'''Mycale''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|k|ə|l|i}}) also '''Mykale''' and '''Mykali''' ({{langx|grc|Μυκάλη}}, ''Mykálē''), called '''Samsun Dağı''' and '''Dilek Dağı''' ([[Dilek Peninsula]]) in modern [[Turkey]], is a mountain on the west coast of central [[Anatolia]] in Turkey, north of the mouth of the [[Maeander]] and divided from the Greek island of [[Samos Island|Samos]] by the 1.6&nbsp;km wide [[Mycale Strait]]. The mountain forms a [[ridge]], terminating in what was known anciently as the Trogilium [[promontory]] ([[Ancient Greek]] Τρωγίλιον or Τρωγύλιον).<ref>{{Cite book |first=William |last=Smith |author-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |title=New Classical Dictionary of Biography, Mythology and Geography |contribution=Mycale |place=London |year=1850 |publisher=John Murray}}. Downloadable Google Books.</ref> There are several beaches on the north shore ranging from sand to pebbles. The south flank is mainly [[escarpment]].

In the Late Bronze Age, it may have been known under the Hittite name Arrinnanda.

In [[classical Greece]] nearly the entire ridge was a promontory enclosed by the [[Aegean Sea]]. Geopolitically it was part of [[Ionia]] with [[Priene]] placed on the coast on the south flank of the mountain and [[Miletus]] on the coast opposite to the south across the deep embayment into which the Maeander River drained. Somewhat further north was [[Ephesus]].

The ruins of the first two Ionian cities mentioned with their harbor facilities remain but today are several miles inland overlooking instead a rich agricultural plain and delta parkland created by deposition of sediments from the river, which continues to form the geological feature named after it, [[meander|maeander]]s. The end of the former bay remains as a lake, Çamiçi Gölü ([[Lake Bafa]]). Samsun Daği, or Mycale, still has a promontory.

The entire ridge was designated as a national park in 1966; ''Dilek Yarimadisi Milli Parki'' ("Dilek Peninsula National Park") has {{cvt|109.85|km2|acre|0}}, which is partly accessible to the public. The remainder is a military reservation. The park's isolation has encouraged the return of the native ecology, which is 60% [[maquis shrubland]]. It is a refuge for species that used to be more abundant in the region.

== Geophysics ==
{{main|Geology of Turkey|Geography of Turkey}}
[[File:Mount Mycale and Mycale Strait.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Mount Mycale seen from the island of [[Samos]], across the [[Mycale Strait]].]]
Western Turkey is mainly [[fault-block]] terrain, with steep-sided ridges running east–west and rivers in the rifts. The source of the faulting is the closing of [[Tethys Sea]] and the collision of the [[African Plate|African]] and [[Arabian Plate]]s with the [[Eurasian Plate]]. The smaller [[Anatolian Plate|Turkish]] and Aegean plates are being pushed together, generating ridges in Turkey. This orogenic belt was in place by 1.6 mya and continues to be a hot spot of earthquakes and volcanoes.<ref>{{cite web |editor-last=Metz |editor-first=Helen Chapin |editor-link=Helen Chapin Metz |title=Geology |work=Turkey: A Country Study |publisher=GPO for the [[Library of Congress]] |year=1995 |url=http://countrystudies.us/turkey/20.htm |access-date=2008-01-30}}</ref>

Mount Mycale is part of a larger ridge, which continues in [[Samos Island|Samos]] on the other side of the Samos Strait, and to the northeast in the Aydin Dağlari ("Aydin Mountains"), ancient Messogis range, on the other side of low hills and passes. The entire block of mountains around the Menderes (Maeander) River is known as the Menderes Massif.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Candan |first=Osman |author2=O. Özcan Dora |title=Granulite, eclogite and blueschist relics in the Menderes Massif: an approach to pan-African and tertiary metamorphic evolution |journal=Geological Bulletin of Turkey |volume=41 |issue=1 |page=3 |date=February 1998 |url=http://www.jmo.org.tr/resimler/ekler/542599794c1cf06_ek.pdf?dergi=T%C3%9CRK%C4%B0YE%20JEOLOJ%C4%B0%20B%C3%9CLTEN%C4%B0}}</ref>

Mycale is scored transversely by numerous ravines through which sources drain. The biggest ravine is Oluk Gorge, with cliffs {{cvt|200|m|ft|0}} high. The main permanent streams are the Bal Deresi, the Sarap Dami and the Oluk Dereleri. The ample water supply supports a verdant maquis.

The rock is primarily [[Metamorphic rock|metamorphic]]: [[marble]] and [[limestone]] formed from rocks originating in the [[Mesozoic]], crystalline [[schist]]s formed from rocks originating in the [[Palaeozoic]] and [[Conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]]s of the [[Cenozoic]]. The renowned builders and sculptors of Ionia made full use of these materials for their major works.

== Ecology ==
[[File:Cypress.JPG|thumb|left|Cypress in maquis]]
The ridge and its environs offer a number of different ecologies. The crest is a sharp divide between the [[xerophytic]] southern slopes and the forested northern slopes, with {{cvt|66.24|km2|acre|0}} of [[maquis shrubland|maquis]] and {{cvt|35.74|km2|acre|0}} of mixed pine.<ref name="UNEP">{{cite web |author=UNEP:WCMC |title=Turkey: Dilek Yarimadisi NP (Dilek Peninsula) |publisher=United Nations Environment Programme: World Conservation Monitoring Centre |year=1988 |url=http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/data/sample/0075v.htm |accessdate=2008-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221154040/http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/data/sample/0075v.htm |archive-date=2008-02-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Around the base of the promontory is a maritime environment.

The maquis vegetation includes ''[[Pistacia lentiscus]]; [[Laurus nobilis]]; [[Quercus ilex]], [[Quercus frainetto|Q. frainetto]]'' and ''[[Quercus ithaburensis|Q. ithaburensis]]; [[Phillyrea latifolia]]; [[Ceratonia siliqua]]; [[Olea europaea]]; [[Rubus fruticosus]]; [[Myrtus communis]]; [[Smilax]]; [[Jasminum fruticans]]; [[Vitis vinifera]]; [[Lathyrus grandiflorus]]; [[Erica arborea]]'', and ''[[Juncus]]'' on the slopes of the north. In moister areas are to be found ''[[Nerium oleander]], [[Platanus orientalis]], [[Fraxinus ornus]], [[Laurus nobilis]], [[Cupressus sempervirens]]'' and ''[[Rubus fruticosus]]''.

The mixed pine forest goes up to {{cvt|700|m|ft|0}}. Its major plant species are ''[[Pinus brutia]]'', ''[[Juniperus phoenicea]]'', with broad-leaved trees and shrubs: ''[[Ulmus campestris]], [[Acer sempervirens]], [[Fraxinus ornus]], [[Sweet Chestnut|Castanea sativa]], [[Tilia platyphyllos]], [[Sorbus torminalis]], [[Viburnum tinus]], [[Pyrus eleagrifolia]]'', and ''[[Almond|Prunus dulcis]]''.

Some [[mammal]]s native to the region are ''[[Sus scrofa]]'', ''[[Vulpes vulpes]]'', ''[[Hystrix cristata]]'', ''[[Canis aureus]]'', ''[[Canis lupus]]'', ''[[Martes martes]]'', ''[[Lynx lynx]]'', ''[[Wildcat|Felis sylvestris]]'', ''[[Ursus arctos]]'', ''[[Meles meles]]'', ''[[Hare|Lepus]]'', ''[[Erinaceus europaeus]]'', and ''[[Sciurus]]''. Migrants are ''[[Caracal caracal]]'' and ''[[Panthera pardus]]''.

Some birds are ''[[Columba livia]]'', ''[[Alectoris graeca]]'', ''[[Perdix perdix]]'', ''[[Coturnix coturnix]]'', ''[[Scolopax rusticola]]'', ''[[Turdus merula]]'', ''[[Turdus pilaris]]'', ''[[Oriolus oriolus]]'', ''[[Merops apiaster]]'', [[eagle]]s, [[vulture]]s, ''[[Common raven|Corvus corax]]'', ''[[Pica pica]]'', and ''[[Sturnus vulgaris]]''.

''[[Monachus monachus]]'' breeds in caves around the shores of Mycale. They and other marine predators (including man) feed on ''[[Planiliza]]'', ''[[Pagellus]]'', ''[[Dentex vulgaris]]'' and ''[[Thunnus thynnus]]''.

== History ==
[[File:Miletus Bay silting evolution map-en.svg|thumb|300px|Map of Mycale, Lade, and [[Miletus]].]]

=== Earliest references ===

Mycale, [[Miletus]] and the [[Maeander]] appear in the [[Trojan Battle Order]] of the [[Iliad]], where they are populated by [[Caria]]ns. "The steep heights of Mycale" and Miletus are also in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Hymn to Apollo]]'', where [[Leto]], pregnant with [[Apollo]], an especially Ionian god, travels about the Aegean looking for a home for her son, and settles on [[Delos]], the major Ionian political, religious and cultural center of [[Classical Greece]]{{fact|date=April 2024}}.

A similar metaphor is to be found in the centuries-later ''Hymn to Delos'' of [[Callimachus]], in which [[Delos]], a swimming island, visits various places in the Aegean, including Parthenia, "Maiden's Isle" ([[Samos Island|Samos]]), where it is entertained by the nymphs of Mycalessos. Just as Parthenia is the previous name of Samos so the reader is to understand Mycalessos as the previous name of Mycale. On being chosen as the birthplace of Apollo, Delos becomes fixed in the sea.

[[History of the Hittites|Hittite]] records of the [[Bronze Age#Near East|Late Bronze Age]]. In Hitti language, Apasa ([[Ephesus]]), the capital of a state called [[Arzawa]], in which also was Karkisha in ([[Caria]]) and Millawanda ([[Miletus]]). In the [[Linear B]] script tablets the region is called A-swi-ja (Asia). Documents at [[Pylos]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and [[Knossos]] identify female textile workers and seamstresses (raptria) in servitude of Mi-ra-ti-ja, *Milātiai, "Milesians". The regions from which they came were centers of [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] civilization although the languages they spoke was an early Greek-Mycenaean language and written in Linear B, although some support that was an unknown.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Sarah |last=Morris |editor-last=Laffineur |editor-first=Robert |editor2-last=Hägg |editor2-first=Robin |contribution=Potnia Aswiya: Anatolian Contributions to Greek Religion |contribution-url=http://www.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum22(pdf)/49%20MORRIS%20S.pdf |title=Potnia: Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference Göteborg |year=2000 |pages=425–428 |publisher=Université de Liège: Aegeum 22 2001 |url=http://www.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/aegaeum22pdf.html#pdf |access-date=2008-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222125020/http://www.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/aegaeum22pdf.html#pdf |archive-date=2007-12-22 |url-status=dead}}.</ref>
{{details|Caria}}

=== The state of Melia ===<!--[[Amphictyonic League]] redirects here-->
After the Late Bronze Age the entire Aegean region entered a historical period termed the [[Greek Dark Ages]]. Archaeologically it was known as the [[Protogeometric period|Proto-geometric]] and [[Geometric Art|Geometric]] Periods, which did not belong to any one ethnic group. This is the time to which heavy Ionic migration from mainland Greece to the coast of Ionia and the emergence of [[Delos]] as an Ionian center is believed to apply. These events were over at the start of the brilliant renaissance of the [[Archaic period in Greece|Orientalizing Period]]{{fact|date=April 2024}} in which [[Ionia]] played a cardinal role.

During this rise to prominence twelve cities were settled or resettled and emerged as [[Ionia]] speaking varieties of [[Ionic Greek]]{{fact|date=April 2024}}. [[Vitruvius]], however, says there were thirteen, the extra state being Melite, which "... as a punishment of the arrogance of its citizens was detached from the other states in a war levied pursuant to the directions of a general council (''communi consilio''); and in its place ... the city of [[Smyrna]] was admitted into the number of Ionian states (''inter Ionas est recepta'')."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Marcus |last=Vitruvius |author-link=Vitruvius |editor-last=Thayer |editor-first=Bill |title=de Architectura: Book IV Chapter 1 Sections 4-5 |publisher=LacusCurtius |year=2008 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/4*.html}}.</ref> There is no other mention of Melite anywhere but two fragments of [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]] say that Melia was a city of [[Caria]] and an inscription from [[Priene]] confirms that there had been a "Meliac War"<ref>Often called a Melian War but the latter should not be confused with the later war of Athens against the island of [[Melos]].</ref> against a state located between Priene and [[Samos]]; i.e., on Mycale.

The inscription records the result of an arbitration between Priene and Samos by jurors from [[Rhodes]]. Both litigants claimed that Carium, the fortified settlement of Melia, and Dryussa, another settlement, had been distributed to them at the conclusion of the Meliac War, when the Carians were expelled.<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/docs/sig2/s599.html Syll. 599 - in English translation].</ref> Being on the Samian side of the crest Melia had been resettled mainly by Samians and for this reason they had won a similar case brought before [[Lysimachus]] of [[Macedon]] a century earlier. That case is mentioned in an earlier inscription from Priene.<ref>[http://www.attalus.org/docs/rc/s7.html RC. 7 - in English translation].</ref>

Priene had now reopened the case arguing that their sale of plots from the land demonstrated their continuous ownership of it except for a brief period when an invasion of the [[Cimmerians]] under [[Tugdamme|Lygdamis]] forced temporary Greek evacuation of the region (about 650 BC). The Samians used a passage from the now missing ''History'' of Maeandrius of Miletus to support their claim. The jury found that Maeandrius was not authentic and reversed the earlier decision.<ref>A discussion of the arbitration in English can be found at {{cite book |first=Marcus Niebuhr |last=Tod |title=International Arbitration Amongst the Greeks |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalar00todgoog |location=Oxford |year=1913 |publisher=The Clarendon Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/internationalar00todgoog/page/n151 135]–140}} Downloadable Google Books. Most of the inscription can be found in {{cite book |first=Carolus |last=Müller |authorlink=Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller |title=Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum: Volumen Secundum |location=Paris |publisher=Editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot |year=1848 |pages=336–337, Fragment 7, Maeandrii Milesii |language=Greek, Latin}} Downloadable Google Books.</ref>

=== Panionium ===
{{main|Panionium|Ionian League|Ionia}}
The Melians had named their capital Carium, "of Caria" as a Greek word{{Explain|date=July 2018|reason=What in Greek? Carium is a Latin form.}}. Considering that it was placed in Ionia, the choice of name suggests a political statement of some sort, although the word may have had a different meaning in the Carian language, now lost except for a few dozen words. The Ionians leagued together to defeat it and continued the league, building a capital they called [[Panionium]], "of all the Ionians" next to the former Carium. It rose to prominence while the Ionian confederacy was sovereign, became a memory when Ionia was incorporated into other states and empires and finally was lost altogether. The ancient writers remembered that it had been on the north side of the mountain, across the ridge from [[Priene]].

After a few false identifications in modern times, the ruins of Melia and the Panionium were discovered in 2004 on Dilek Daglari, a smaller peak of Mycale, {{cvt|15|km|mi|0}} to the north of Priene at an elevation of {{cvt|750|m|ft|0}}.<ref name="RFA">{{cite journal |title=Recent Finds in Archaeology: Panionion Sanctuary Discovered in Southwest Turkey |journal=Athena Review |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=10–11 |year=2005 |url=http://www.athenapub.com/panionion.htm |accessdate=2008-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323210115/http://www.athenapub.com/panionion.htm |archive-date=2012-03-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Carium must be the early 7th century BC town surrounded by a triangular wall in places as thick as {{cvt|3|m|ft|0}}.

The [[floruit]] was the early 7th, but sherds have been found there from as early as the [[Protogeometric period]]. Coldstream characterizes the burial structures as of "a considerable Carian substrate".<ref>{{cite book |first=John Nicolas |last=Coldstream |title=Geometric Greece: 900-700 BC: Second Edition |publisher=Routledge Taylor & Francis Group |year=2003 |isbn=0-415-29898-9 |location=London, New York |page=97}}</ref> The culture was not entirely Carian; the Ionians continued the worship of [[Poseidon]] Heliconius there, which [[Strabo]] says came from [[Helike]] in Peloponnesian Achaea.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pausanias |authorlink=Pausanias (geographer) |title=Description of Greece 7.24.5 |work=Theoi Greek Mythology: Poseidon Cult 2: II Helike Town in Akhaia |publisher=The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology |date=2000–2008 |url=http://www.theoi.com/Cult/PoseidonCult2.html |accessdate=2008-08-02}} Strabo's contention (8.7.2, quoted on same page) that the "Akhaians later gave the model of the temple to the Ionians" cannot be true, as the submersion did not occur until 373 BC.</ref> This event must have been during the Ionian colonization. Melia therefore was a renegade Ionian state.

The temple believed to the [[Panionium]] was constructed next to the Carium about 540 BC.<ref name="RFA" /> It took over the worship of Poseidon Heliconius, served as the meeting place of the [[Ionian League]], and was the site of the religious festival and games (''[[panegyris]]'') called the [[Panionia]]. The construction of this temple is a [[terminus post quem]] for the existence of the [[Ionian League]], which as a constituted body had a name, the ''koinon Iōnōn'' ("common thing of the Ionians"), a ''synedrion'' ("place to sit down together") and a ''boulē'' ("council").

Whether this body existed before the Meliac War is uncertain. Vitruvius' ''commune consilium'' seems to translate ''koinon.'' Some analysts have postulated an association as early as 800 BC but whether formally constituted remains unknown. There is no sign of it yet on Mycale unless Carium had in fact been it.

=== Battle of Mycale ===
{{main|Battle of Mycale}}
In 479 BC, Mycale was the site of one of the two major battles that ended the second [[Persian Empire|Persian]] invasion of [[Greece]], during the [[Greco-Persian Wars]]. Under the leadership of the [[Sparta]]n [[Leotychides]], the Greek fleet defeated the [[Persian Empire|Persian]] fleet and army.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.25.1 1.25.1], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+3.7.9 3.7.9], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.52.3 8.52.3]; Thucydides, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+1.89.1 1.89].</ref> According to [[Herodotus]], the battle occurred the same day as the Greek victory at [[battle of Plataea|Plataea]].<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+9.90.1 9.90], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+9.96.1 9.96].</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

== References ==

*[[Herodotus]], [[The Histories of Herodotus|''Histories'']], [[A. D. Godley]] (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; {{ISBN|0-674-99133-8}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+toc &nbsp;].
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', ([[Loeb Classical Library]]) translated by W. H. S. Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918)[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+1.1.1 &nbsp;]; Vol 2, Books III–V, {{ISBN|0-674-99207-5}}; Vol 3, Books VI–VIII.21, {{ISBN|0-674-99300-4}}.
*[[Thucydides]], ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War|The Peloponnesian War]]''. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+toc &nbsp;].

== Further reading ==
* Lohmann, Hans; Kalaitzoglou, Georg; Lüdorf, Gundula (eds) (2017). ''Survey in der Mykale (Dilek Daglan/Aydin) 2001–2009. Landeskunde eines westkleinasiatischen Gebirgszuges vom Chalkolithikum bis in spätosmanische Zeit'' [Survey in the Mycale region (Dilek Daglan/Aydin) 2001-2009. Regional studies on a mountain range in western Asia Minor from the Chalcolithic to the late Ottoman period]. 2 volumes. Bonn: Habelt, {{ISBN|978-3-7749-4016-1}}.

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Mount Mycale}}
*{{cite web |last=Lendering |first=Jona |authorlink=Jona Lendering |title=Mycale (Dilek Dagi) |publisher=Livius articles on ancient history |date=1996–2008 |url=https://www.livius.org/a/turkey/mycale/mycale.html |accessdate=2008-01-31 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101093748/https://www.livius.org/a/turkey/mycale/mycale.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate=2008-01-01}}
*{{WWF ecoregion|name=Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests|id=pa1201|accessdate=2008-01-31}}

{{National parks of Turkey}}
{{Mountains of Turkey}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Mountains of Turkey]]
[[Category:National parks of Turkey]]
[[Category:Ionia]]
[[Category:Iron Age Anatolia]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Aydın Province]]
[[Category:Geography of Aydın Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Aydın Province]]
[[Category:Ridges of Asia]]
[[Category:Former Christian monasteries in Turkey]]
[[Category:Byzantine monasteries in Turkey]]
[[Category:Mountains associated with Byzantine monasticism]]