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Ainos |
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Type:
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City | |||||
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Altitude:
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Region:
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Marmara | |||||
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Province:
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Edirne | |||||
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District:
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Enez | |||||
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Village:
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Merkez | |||||
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Registration State:
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For detailed registration information please refer to Turkish pages. | |||||
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| Location: Presently called Enez, the ancient city of Ainos is located to the south of the mouth of the Meriç River (Hebrus) where it spills into the sea following the Cape Sarpedon to the west of the Gulf of Saros (Melas). It is known that "bria" in Thracian meant "polis", and the city was formerly called Poltyobria, being named after Poltys, the legendary king of Thrace. The settlement was located on the land of the local Apsinthii tribe [Sevin 2001a:25]. However, Pliny states that the region was formerly held by the tribe of Cicones [Pliny, N.H. IV, 43]. The foundation and status of Ainos were accounted in detail in ancient sources [Homer, Iliad IV, 520; Herodotus, VII, 58]. |
| Geography and Environment: Although it was founded on a peninsula, which was formed during the Mid-Miocene, 25 m high above the sea level, it already remains 3500 m far from the sea shore [Başaran (S) 1996:106]. To the south and west of the peninsula, which was easily accessible from the sea, were two harbors. Being detached from the shore as a result of the alluvial deposits filled by the Meriç River, today the remains of the harbors are the Lake Dalyan and the Lake Taşalti. Herodotus states that Ainos, an Aiolian city and the Lake Stentoris (Gala) are reached passing by Melas (Kavak Suyu) and leading to westward [Herodotus, VII, 58]. Ainos was inhabited during the 7th century BC, first by the Alopekonnessians from the Thracian Chersonese, and then by the Mytilenians and Cymians [Strabo, VII, 51]. |
| Destruction Details: |
