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Tenedos (Troas),
Tetradrachm (silver coin replica) 2nd cent. BC.
OBV: Janiform heads of Zeus and Hera.
R: ΤΕΝΕΔΙΩΝ above double-axe
bunch of grapes, monogram and small human figure either side of shaft.
Original worth c. £750.
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia:
The Troas (Troad;
see also List
of traditional Greek place names) is an ancient region in the
northwestern part of Anatolia,
bounded by the Hellespont
to the northwest, the Aegean
Sea to the west, and separated from the rest of Anatolia by the
massif that forms Mount
Ida. It is drained by two rivers, the Scamander
(modern Karamenderes)
and the Simois,
which join at the area containing the ruins of Troy.
Grenikos, Kebren, Simoeis, Rhesos, Rhodios, Heptaporos, and Aisepos were
seven rivers of the Troad and the names of the river gods that inhabited
each river.
The region later known as
the Troad was called Wilusa by the Hittites.
This identification was first put forth by Emil
Forrer, but largely disputed by most Hittite experts until 1983 when
Houwink ten Cate showed that two fragments were from the same original cuneiform
tablet, and in his discussion of the restored letter showed that Wilusa
was correctly placed in northwestern Anatolia. According to Trevor
Bryce, Hittite texts indicate a number of Ahhiyawan
raids on Wilusa during the 13th
century BC, which may have resulted with the overthrow of king Walmu.
Bryce also reports that
archeological surveys conducted by John Bintliff in the 1970s show that
a powerful kingdom that held sway over northwestern Anatolia was based
at Troy.
The kings of Pergamum
later ceded the territory of the Troad to the Roman
Republic. Under the Empire,
the territory of the Troad became part of the province of Asia;
under the later Byzantine
Empire, it was included in the Thema
of the Aegean Islands. Following its conquest by the Ottoman
Empire, the Troad formed part of the sanjak
of Bigha.
As
of 2005, Troas is part of the Turkish
province of Canakkale. |