Ichnae

For the town of ancient Thessaly, see Ichnae (Thessaly).

Ichnae or Ichnai (Greek: Ἴχναι) an ancient town of Bottiaea, Macedonia on the Thermaic Gulf, above the mouth of Loudias river, near modern Koufalia ; built by the Macedonians according to Hazlitt, although Ichnaeans appear independently in epigraphy. It is mentioned by Herodotus, coupled with Pella.^[1]

Ichnae

Ἴχναι
Coin of Ichnae, dated between 479-465 BCE.
Macedonia and the Chalcidice
Coordinates	40°46′52″N 22°34′34″E

Ichnai is called a polis in the urban sense in Herodotus 7.123.3 and in the political sense in a fragmentary and undated treaty between the city and Dicaea.^[2] Coins of Ichnaeans, dated to 520-480 BC, carry a bull and wheel with crescentic lateral bars^[3] and are categorized to the Thraco-Macedonian type. According to Mogens Herman Hansen, Ichnae may have been an originally South Paeonian settlement,^[4] which already in Archaic times received an influx of Southern Greek colonists. After the Macedonian conquest, settlers from the Old kingdom were added and Ichnaeans may have participated in the Macedonian colonization of Amphipolis.^[5] Two 3rd century BC reported Ichnaeans are: Antigonos son of Asandros, Delphian proxenos^[6] Δίης Dies son of Alketas, Pythian theorodokos.^[7] There is also an undated epitaph in Athens of Eurydike daughter of Dadas, Ichnaian.

Ichnae's site is within the boundaries of the modern municipal unit of Koufalia.^[8][9]

References

1. Herodotus. Histories. Vol. 7.123.
2. MDAI(A) 27 (1902) 309,14/15
3. Ancient Coinage of Thraco Macedonian Tribes, Ichnae. See also http://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/UQGFAUYDE7K3U7XV5PZBOHTD6BGHHYTW%5B%5D.
4. (cf. the mythological Amydon)
5. Meletemata 22, Epig. App. 91, 10 . witness named, Neon son of Ichnaios,
6. FD III 3:207 252/1 BC?
7. BCH 1921:1 line 63 230-220 BC
8. Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
9. Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 50, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.

Sources

• Hazlitt, The Classical Gazetteer, page 181
• An inventory of archaic and classical poleis By Mogens Herman Hansen, Thomas Heine Nielsen Page 802 ISBN 978-0-19-814099-3 (2004)

External links

Media related to Ichnae at Wikimedia Commons