Strabo, Geography

Cyzicus is an island in the Propontis, being connected with the mainland by two bridges; and it is not only most excellent in the fertility of its soil, but in size has a perimeter of about five hundred stadia. It has a city of the same name near the bridges themselves, and two harbors that can be closed, and more than two hundred ship-sheds. One part of the city is on level ground and the other is near a mountain called "Arcton-oros."¹ Above this mountain lies another mountain, Dindymus; it rises into a single peak, and it has a temple of Dindymene, mother of the gods, which was founded by the Argonauts. This city rivals the foremost of the cities of Asia in size, in beauty, and in its excellent administration of affairs both in peace and in war. And its adornment appears to be of a type similar to that of Rhodes and Massalia and ancient Carthage. Now I am omitting most details, but I may say that there are three directors who take care of the public buildings and the engines of war, and three who have charge of the treasure-houses, one of which contains arms and another engines of war and another grain. They prevent the grain from spoiling by mixing Chalcidic earth² with it. They showed in the Mithridatic war the advantage resulting from this preparation of theirs; for when the king unexpectedly came over against them with one hundred and fifty thousand men and with a large cavalry, and took possession of the mountain opposite the city, the mountain called Adrasteia, and of the suburb, and then, when he transferred his army to the neck of land above the city and was fighting them, not only on land, but also by sea with four hundred ships, the Cyziceni held out against all attacks, and, by digging a counter-tunnel, all but captured the king alive in his own tunnel; but he forestalled this by taking precautions and by withdrawing outside his tunnel: Leucullus, the Roman general, was able, though late, to send an auxiliary force to the city by night; and, too, as an aid to the Cyziceni, famine fell upon that multitudinous army, a thing which the king did not foresee, because he suffered a great loss of men before he left the island. But the Romans honored the city; and it is free to this day, and holds a large territory, not only that which it has held from ancient times, but also other territory presented to it by the Romans; for, of the Troad, they possess the parts round Zeleia on the far side of the Aesepus, as also the plain of Adrasteia, and, of Lake Dascylitis, they possess some parts, while the Byzantians possess the others. And in addition to Dolionis and Mygdonis they occupy a considerable territory extending as far as lake Miletopolitis and Lake Apolloniatis itself. It is through this region that the Rhyndacus River flows; this river has its sources in Azanitis, and then, receiving from Mysia Abrettene, among other rivers, the Macestus, which flows from Ancyra in Abäeitis, empties into the Propontis opposite the island Besbicos. In this island of the Cyziceni is a well-wooded mountain called Artace; and in front of this mountain lies an isle bearing the same name; and near by is a promontory called Melanus, which one passes on a coasting-voyage from Cyzicus to Priapus.