Cerasus
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Cerasus or Kerasous was a town of ancient Pontus, on the Black Sea coast, a little to the west of Trapezus.[1] Its site is tentatively located near Gelida Kale in Asiatic Turkey.[2][3]
Variants
- Cerasus (Pliny.vi.4)
- Kerasous (Ancient Greek: Κερασοῦς)
- Kheresoun
- Kerasunda
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Kera = Cerasus (Pliny.vi.4)
- Kerah = Cerasus (Pliny.vi.4)
- Khershya = Kheresoun = Cerasus (Pliny.vi.4)
History
The Ten Thousand, in their retreat, came to Trapezus, and leaving Trapezus, "they arrive on the third day at Cerasus, an Hellenic city on the sea, a colony of the Sinopeis, in Colchis."[4]The Anonymous geographer of Ravenna places Cerasus 60 stadia east of Coralla, and 90 west of Hieron Oros, and on a river of the same name. The name, and possibly the population, of the town were translated to Pharnacia in the Hellenistic era.[5]
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[6] mentions ....We next come to the rivers Iasonius17 on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus and Melanthius18 and at a distance of eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea19, the fortress and river of Tripolis20; the fortress and river of Philocalia, the fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and at a distance of one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus21, shut in by a mountain of vast size.
17 Probably near the promontory of Jasonium, 130 stadia to the northeast of Polemonium. It was believed to have received its name from Jason the Argonaut having landed there. It still bears the name of Jasoon, though more commonly called Bona or Vona.
18 Sixty stadia, according to arrian, from the town of cotyora
19 Supposed to have stood on almost the same site as the modern Kheresoun or Kerasunda. It was built near, or, as some think, on the site of Cerasus.
20 Still known by the name of Tireboli, on a river of the same name, the Tireboli Su.
21 Now called Tarabosan, Trabezun, or Trebizond. This place was originally a colony of Sinope, after the loss of whose independence Trapezus belonged, first to Lesser Armenia, and afterwards to the kingdom of Pontus. In the middle ages it was the seat of the so-called empire of Trebizond. It is now the second commercial port of the Black Sea, ranking next after Odessa.
References
- ↑ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 87, and directory notes accompanying.
- ↑ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 87, and directory notes accompanying.
- ↑ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- ↑ Xenophon. Anabasis. Vol. 5.3.2.
- ↑ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. p. 548. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 4
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