Skepsis
| Σκέψις | |
View of the village of Kurşuntepe from the highest point of the site of ancient Skepsis.
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 Shown within Turkey
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| Location | Kurşuntepe, Çanakkale Province, Turkey |
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| Region | Troad |
| Coordinates | 39°48′40″N 26°42′23″E / 39.81111°N 26.70639°ECoordinates: 39°48′40″N 26°42′23″E / 39.81111°N 26.70639°E |
| Type | Settlement |
Skepsis or Scepsis (Ancient Greek: 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. It was also home to Metrodorus of Scepsis and Demetrius of Scepsis.
The city of Skepsis was situated in two different, non-contemporary sites on Mount Ida, Palae-Skepsis and the settlement of Skepsis proper.
Palea-Skepsis (Old Skepsis) is notable for the native tradition that it was once the "capital of Aeneas's dominions." 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 corresponds to "Palea-Skepsis."
Dr. Andreas David Mordtmann, the discoverer of the settlement, is quoted on his discovery by Dr. Archibald Ross Colquhoun in a reference by Vaux.
The city was given to by Artaxerxes I of Persia in order to provide him with clothes.
The later Skepsis was about sixty stadia (7.5 miles) lower down Mount Ida from Palae-Skepsis. This later town of Scepsis is memorable for the discovery there, during the time of Sulla, of the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, which had been buried by the illiterate relations of one 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.
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