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Modern Description: Town in Aiolis 24 km SW of Bergama. Said to have been founded by the Athenian Menestheus at the time of the Trojan War (Strab. 622), but not a member of the Aiolian League. Assessed in the Delian Confederacy at one-sixth of a talent, Elaia acquired importance in the Hellenistic period as the port of the Pergamene kings. Coins are known from the 5th and 4th c. B.C., and from the time of Augustus to the 3d c. A.D. Later it was a bishopric under the metropolitan of Ephesos.
The ruins are scanty. Of the city wall, originally 3 m thick and built in 234 B.C., only a few stray blocks can now be seen. The acropolis hill is barely 20 m high. The sea has receded since antiquity; harbor works were formerly visible, but all that now remains is a solid wall some 200 m long runniflg out into the mudflats. Nothing survives above ground in the necropolis to the N. Some ancient stones turned up by the plough can be seen at the local coffee-house. (G. E. BEAN)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaias_Limen
Wikidata ID: Q5353065
DARE: 31538

Info: Princeton Encyclopedia

(Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, from Perseus Project)

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