Neandreia
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Neandreia (Νεάνδρεια) Ancient city in the Troad (Turkey) |
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 Neandreia (Νεάνδρεια)
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| Coordinates: 39°43′03″N 26°17′04″E / 39.71750°N 26.28444°ECoordinates: 39°43′03″N 26°17′04″E / 39.71750°N 26.28444°E |
Neandreia (Ancient Greek Νεάνδρεια) was a Greek city in the south-west of the Troad region of Anatolia. Its site has been located on Çığrı Dağ, about 9 km east of the remains of the ancient city of Alexandria Troas in the Ezine district of Çanakkale province, Turkey (based on the work of John Manuel Cook). The site was first identified as Neandreia by Frank Calvert in 1865 and Joseph Thacher Clarke in 1886 and was first excavated by the German architect Robert Koldewey when he excavated in 1889.
We do not know the circumstances of Neandreia's foundation in the Archaic period. A tradition known to the author of the 4th century CE work Dictys Cretensis Ephemeridos belli Trojani claimed that Neandreia had been the home of the legendary king Cycnus who was killed on the first day of the Trojan War by Achilles and his city sacked. However, there is no archaeological evidence for settlement in the second millennium BCE on Çığrı Dağ and Cycnus is likewise claimed by the neighbouring cities of Kolonai and Tenedos. The first settlers of Neandreia probably chose the site because it is highly defensible and commands impressive views over travel along two axes: north-south along the western coast of the Troad, and east-west from the coast into the middle Skamander valley. Çığrı Dağ, the granite mountain on which Neandreia is located, has a maximum height of 520 m and a circuit 1,400 m and up to 450 m wide. It has access to granite quarries which were used for its fortification and to springs which would help the inhabitants withstand sieges. The city's main area of agricultural cultivation was the Plain of Samonion, provisionally identified with an area in the middle Skamander valley to the east of Neandreia.
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