View source for Potidaea

{{Short description|Colony founded by the Corinthians around 600 BC}}
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[[File:Chalcidice.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Map of ancient Chalcidice, showing peninsula of Pallene and Potidaea]]
[[File:MACEDON, Potidaia. Circa 525-500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Coinage of Potidaia, circa 525-500 BC. '''''Obv:''''' Horseman holding trident; star below. '''''Rev:''''' Head of female right, with Archaic features, in linear square within incuse square.]]
[[File:Stadtmauer von Potidea 2.jpg|thumb|Remains of the city wall of Potidaea.]]
'''Potidaea''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|p|ɒ|t|ɪ|ˈ|d|iː|ə|}}; {{langx|grc|Ποτίδαια}}, ''Potidaia'', also Ποτείδαια, ''Poteidaia''<ref>{{Cite DARE|22703}}</ref>) was a [[colony]] founded by the [[Corinth]]ians around 600 BC in the narrowest point of the peninsula of [[Pallene, Chalcidice|Pallene]], the westernmost of three peninsulas at the southern end of [[Chalcidice]] in northern Greece.<ref name=princeton>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=poteidaia POTEIDAIA (Nea Poteidaia) Chalkidike, Greece], entry in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites.</ref>

==History==
{{See also|479 BC Potidaea earthquake}}
While besieged by the [[Persian Empire|Persians]] in 479 BC, the town may have been saved by a [[479 BC Potidaea earthquake|tsunami]] rather than a particularly high tide.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smid |first=T. C. |title='Tsunamis' in Greek Literature |journal=Greece & Rome |series=2nd Ser. |volume=17 |issue=1 |year=1970 |pages=100–104 (102f.) |doi=10.1017/S0017383500017393 |jstor=642332 }}</ref> [[Herodotus]] reports how the Persian attackers who tried to exploit an unusual retreat of the water were suddenly surprised by "a great flood-tide, higher, as the people of the place say, than any one of the many that had been before".<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D129%3Asection%3D2 ''The Histories'', 8.129]</ref> Several tsunamigenic layers have been identified along the Thracian Coast,<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Margret |last1=Mathes-Schmidt |first2=Jan |last2=Schwarzbauer |first3=Ioannis |last3=Papanikolaou |first4=Fabian |last4=Syberberg |first5=Annika |last5=Thiele |first6=Frederike |last6=Wittkopp |first7=Klaus |last7=Reicherter |display-authors=1 |title=Geochemical and micropaleontological investigations of tsunamigenic eochemical and micropaleontological investigations of tsunamigenic layers along the Thracian Coast (Northern Aegean Sea, Greece) ayers along the Thracian Coast (Northern Aegean Sea, Greece) |journal=Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie |volume=57 |year=2013 |issue=Suppl. 4 |pages=5–27 |doi=10.1127/0372-8854/2013/S-00153 }}</ref> indicating that the region is prone to tsunamis. While tsunami are generally associated with earthquakes, Herodotus, the source of this story, makes no mention of an earthquake at the time. This makes it more likely that the event was a [[meteotsunami]]. Not only are such events relatively common in the Mediterranean, but their effect is amplified in a long, narrow body of water, which is a good description for the situation of Potidaea, which lies at the head of Toroneos gulf.

During the time of the [[Delian League]], conflicts occurred between [[Athens]] and [[Corinth]]. However, the Corinthians still sent a supreme magistrate each year. Potidaea was inevitably involved in all of the conflicts between Athens and Corinth. The people revolted against the Athenians in 432 BC, and it was besieged at the beginning of the [[Peloponnesian War]] and taken in the [[Battle of Potidaea]] in 430 BC.<ref name=DGRG>{{cite DGRG|title=Cassandreia}}</ref>

The Athenians retook the city in 363 BC, but in 356 BC Potidaea fell into the hands of [[Philip II of Macedon]].  Potidaea was destroyed and its territory handed to the [[Olynthus|Olynthians]]. [[Cassander]] built a city on the same site which was named [[Cassandreia]]. It was probably at this time that the canal, which still exists today, was dug through the sandy soil at the narrowest part of the isthmus, perhaps with the aim of making the city a naval base. In 43 BC a Roman colony was settled by the proconsul of Macedonia, which in 30 BC was resettled by Octavian (the future [[Augustus]]) and took the official name Colonia Iulia Augusta Cassandrensis.<ref>{{cite journal |first=D. |last=Samsaris |title=La colonie romaine de Cassandréa en Macédoine. Colonia Iulia Augusta Cassandrensis |trans-title=The Roman Colony of Cassandreia in Macedonia (Colonia Iulia Augusta Cassandrensis) |journal=Dodona |volume=16 |issue=1 |year=1987 |pages=353–362 |language=fr }}</ref>

==Modern legacy==
The modern settlement of [[Nea Poteidaia]], built for refugees from Asia Minor after the [[World War I|First World War]], is situated near this ancient site.

In popular culture, the fictional character [[Gabrielle (Xena)|Gabrielle]] from the TV series [[Xena: Warrior Princess]] was described as being from Potidaea.

==See also==
*[[Delian League]]
*[[Peloponnesian Wars]]
*[[List of ancient Greek cities]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Archaeological site of Potidaia}}
*[http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0839904.html The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2012, Columbia University Press]
*[http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/macedonia/potidaea/i.html Greek Coinage of Potidaea]

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[[Category:Populated places established in the 6th century BC]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 4th century BC]]
[[Category:Corinthian colonies]]
[[Category:Greek colonies in Chalcidice]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Greece]]
[[Category:Members of the Delian League]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Macedonia]]