View source for Scepsis

{{Short description|Ancient settlement in the Troad, Asia Minor}}
{{Redirect|Skepsis}}
{{For|the genus of flies|Scepsis (fly)}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name           = Scepsis
| native_name    = Σκῆψις or Σκέψις
| alternate_name =
| image          = Scepsis 2009.jpg
| alt   =
| caption        = View of the village of Kurşuntepe from the highest point of the site of ancient Scepsis.
| map_type       = Turkey
| map_alt        =
| map_size       = 275
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| coordinates    = {{coord|39|48|40|N|26|42|23|E|display=inline,title}}
| location       = Kurşuntepe, [[Çanakkale Province]], [[Turkey]]
| region         = [[Troad]]
| type           = Settlement
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'''Scepsis''' or '''Skepsis''' ({{langx|grc|Σκῆψις or Σκέψις}}) was an ancient settlement in the [[Troad]], [[Asia Minor]] that is at the present site of the village of Kurşunlutepe, near the town of [[Bayramiç]] in [[Turkey]]. The settlement is notable for being the location where the famous library of [[Aristotle]] was kept before being moved to [[Pergamum]] and [[Alexandria]].<ref name="brockmann">{{cite book | last =Brockmann | first =Heike  |author2=A. Uler |author3=N. Tavlas |author4=L. Stump |author5=J. Steinhardt |author6=W. Schuster |author7=E. Goltz |author8=T. Kelsey  | title =Turkey | publisher =Hunter Publishing | date =2000 | pages =82 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=8_6-1Lr1u0cC&q=skepsis&pg=PA82 |isbn=3-88618-911-2}}</ref> It was also home to [[Metrodorus of Scepsis]] and [[Demetrius of Scepsis]].
==History==
The city of Scepsis was situated in two different, non-contemporary sites on [[Mount Ida (Turkey)|Mount Ida]], Palea-Scepsis and the settlement of Scepsis proper. [[Strabo]] writes that Anaximenes of Lampsacus said that [[Miletus]] colonized the place.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:14.1.6 Strabo, Geography, § 14.1.6]</ref>
===Palea-Scepsis===
Palea-Scepsis (Old Scepsis) is notable for the native tradition that it was once the "capital of [[Aeneas]]'s dominions."<ref name="vaux">{{cite book | last =Vaux | first =William Sandys Wright | title =Ancient history from the monuments: Greek cities & islands of Asia Minor | publisher =Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge | date =1877 | location =[[London]] | pages =[https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryf01vauxgoog/page/n16 8]–9 | url =https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryf01vauxgoog| quote =scepsis. }}</ref> It was situated near the source of the [[Aesepus]], high up on Mount Ida. William Vaux was able to note in 1877 that a village in the neighborhood still bore the name of ''Eski Skisepje'', which in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] corresponds to "Palea-Scepsis."<ref name="vaux"/>
Dr. Andreas David Mordtmann, the discoverer of the settlement, is quoted on his discovery by Dr. Archibald Ross Colquhoun in a reference by Vaux.
<blockquote>{{cquote|I did discover a most ancient city with its [[acropolis]], towers and walls built of hewn stone, and furnished with four gates. The antiquity of the place was manifested by an [[oak]] having fixed its roots in the wall, and by its trunk having grown to a girth of 530 centimeters (about 17 feet). On reference to [[Strabo]], I first became aware that I had discovered, probably, the most ancient ruin in [[Asia Minor]], for I hold this can be no other than Palae-Scepsis.<ref name="vaux"/>}}</blockquote>
The city was given to [[Themistocles]] by [[Artaxerxes I]] of Persia in order to provide him with clothes.<ref>{{cite web|first1=na|last1=Plutarch|title=Themistocles, Part II|url=http://plutarch.classicauthors.net/PlutarchsLives/PlutarchsLives3.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001032753/http://plutarch.classicauthors.net/PlutarchsLives/PlutarchsLives3.html|archive-date=2015-10-01}}</ref>
===Scepsis===
[[File:Location of Skepsis, map excerpt from Leaf, Strabo on the Troad (1923).png|thumb|right|Location of the later Scepsis (just above center)]]
The later Scepsis was about sixty [[stadia (length)|stadia]] (7.5 miles) lower down [[Mount Ida (Turkey)|Mount Ida]] from Palae-Scepsis. Its acropolis occupied the hill north of the modern village of Kurşuntepe. This later town of Scepsis is memorable for the discovery there, during the time of [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]], of the works of [[Aristotle]] and [[Theophrastus]], which had been buried by the illiterate relations of one [[Neleus of Scepsis|Neleus]] (a pupil of Aristotle and friend of Theophrastus), so that they would not be carried off by [[Attalus I]], who was then founding the [[Library of Pergamum]].<ref name="vaux"/>
Several times in its history, the citizens of Scepsis were forced to move elsewhere. When citizens of surrounding cities were forced to migrate to [[Troy]], citizens of Scepsis were also forced to relocate. The city was again evacuated while the residents of surrounding cities were made to move to [[Alexandria Troas]].<ref name="canakkale">{{cite web | title =On Kazdağ: Bayramiç | publisher =Governorship of Çanakkale | url =http://www.canakkale.gov.tr/eng_bayramic.htm | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070124060636/http://www.canakkale.gov.tr/eng_bayramic.htm | url-status =dead | archive-date =2007-01-24 | access-date =2007-03-19 }}</ref>
Certain traditions hold that [[Cornelius the Centurion|Saint Cornelius the Centurion]], the first [[proselyte|Pagan convert]] to [[Christianity]], became the first [[bishop]] of Scepsis in the [[Early Church|early days of Christianity]]. Scepsis remains a [[titular see]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]].<ref>[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2s45.html Catholic Hierarchy]</ref>
===Notable people===
* [[Demetrius of Scepsis]], a Greek grammarian
* [[Metrodorus of Scepsis]], he was famous for the excellence of his memory.
* [[Neleus of Scepsis]], a disciple of [[Aristotle]] and [[Theophrastus]]
*  Meidias, tyrant of Scepsis<ref>[http://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg0616/tlg001/1st1K-grc1/2.6 Polyaenus, Strategems, 2.6.1]</ref>
==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commonscat-inline}}
{{Former settlements in Turkey}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Archaeological sites in the Marmara Region]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey]]
[[Category:Cities in ancient Troad]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Turkey]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Troad]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Mysia]]
[[Category:Geography of Çanakkale Province]]
[[Category:History of Çanakkale Province]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Çanakkale Province]]
[[Category:Catholic titular sees in Asia]]