Cebrene

Cebrene (Ancient Greek: Κεβρήνη), also spelled Cebren (Ancient Greek: Κεβρήν), was a ancient Greek city in the middle Skamander valley in the Troad region of Anatolia. According to some scholars, the city's name was changed to Antiocheia in the Troad (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Τρωάδος) for a period during the 3rd century BCE (see below). Its archaeological remains have been located on Çal Dağ in the forested foothills of Mount Ida (modern Kaz Dağı), approximately 7 km to the south of the course of the Skamander. The site was first identified by the English amateur archaeologist Frank Calvert in 1860.

History

Foundation

The earliest Greek archaeological remains found at Cebren date to the mid-7th and early 6th century BCE and were found together with indigenous pottery, suggesting that to begin with the city was a mixed Greco-Anatolian community. Writing in the early 4th century BCE, Xenophon implies that the population of Cebren ca. 400 BCE still consisted of both Greek and Anatolian elements, indicating that the two ethnic groups co-existed long after the period of Greek colonization. Sources dating to the mid-4th century BCE considered the city an Aeolian Greek foundation, and the historian Ephorus of Cyme claimed that its founders were in fact from his own city, although this statement needs to be treated with some caution, since Ephorus was notorious in antiquity for exaggerating his hometown's importance. While we cannot ascertain the truth of Ephorus' statement, we can be sure that the early settlers were Aeolians, since a grave inscription for a citizen of Kebren written in the Aeolic dialect has been found at nearby Gergis.