Colophon

/kol"euh fon'/, n.

an ancient city in Asia Minor: one of the 12 Ionian cities banded together in the 8th century B.C.: largely depopulated in 286 B.C.

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Ancient Ionian Greek city, western Anatolia.

Located 15 mi (25 km) northwest of the ancient city of Ephesus, it was a flourishing commercial city in the 8th–5th centuries BC, famous for its cavalry, its luxury, and its production of rosin. A member of the Delian League, during the Peloponnesian War it was controlled first by the Persian Achaemenian dynasty and then by Athens, and it was conquered in 302 BC by Macedonia under Alexander the Great. Only a few foundations of the old walled city are now visible.

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▪ ancient city, Turkey

      ancient Ionian Greek city, located about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Ephesus, in modern Turkey. It was a flourishing commercial city from the 8th to the 5th century BC with its harbour at Notium. Colophon was ruled by a timocracy (government based on wealth) and was famous for its cavalry, its luxury, and its production of rosin (colophonium). It was the birthplace of the philosopher Xenophanes and the home of the poet Antimachus. Seized by Gyges of Lydia in 665 BC, it was later brought into the Delian League. During the Peloponnesian War it was controlled first by the Persians and then by Athens. Colophon was conquered in 302 BC by Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great's generals, who transferred its population to his new city of Ephesus. The Colophonians returned to their old city after Lysimachus' death in 281, however. The old city subsequently declined in favour of Notium (New Colophon), and both centres were overshadowed by Ephesus. Only a few 4th–3rd century foundations are visible of the old walled city, which rose in terraced segments from a fertile valley.

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