Lappa (Crete)
Name
 | This section possibly contains original research. Potential concern that these names actually referred to different places, and the original author of this text might have taken Stephanus's claims at face value. (February 2024) |
Ancient sources alternatively spell the name Lappa (Ancient Greek: Λάππα), or Lampa (Λάμπα), or Lampae or Lampai (Λάμπαι), or Lampe (Λάμπη), On coins, the name is always rendered Λάππα. Stephanus of Byzantium claims that the names denote the same place.
Textual sources
Stephanus of Byzantium reports a mythic tradition that the city was founded by Agamemnon, and was named after a Tarrhaean man. Strabo claims that Lappa controlled the port of Phoenix.
Polybius reports that Lappa provided refuge to the population of Lyktos after their city was destroyed by Knossos. Dio Cassius claims that Lappa was almost entirely destroyed during the Roman conquest of Crete, but was later restored and granted special privileges by Augustus in return for the citizens' support against Marcus Antonius.
Lappa became a Christian episcopal see. The name of its bishop is recorded as present at the Council of Ephesus of 431, and the Council of Chalcedon of 451, as well as on many other subsequent occasions.
In the 19th century, the English travel writer Robert Pashley visited the site and reported considerable remains of a massive brick edifice, with buttresses 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and of 9 feet (2.7 m) projection; a circular building, 60 feet (18 m) diameter, with niches round it 11 feet (3.4 m) wide; a cistern, 76 by 20 feet (23.2 by 6.1 m); a Roman brick building, and several tombs cut in the rock. One of the inscriptions relating to this city mentions a certain Marcus Aurelius Clesippus, in whose honour the Lappaeans erected a statue.
Coinage
Lappa minted coins with the heads of emperors including its benefactor Augustus. One such coin bears the epigraph ΘΕΩΚΑΙΣΑΝΙ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΩ. Lappan coins also feature maritime symbols, perhaps reflecting the city's coastal territories.
References
- ^ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 60, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
- ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- ^ Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 3.17.10.
- ^ Hierocles. Synecdemus.
- ^ Hierocles. Synecdemus.
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
- ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. x. p. 475. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^ Polybius. The Histories. Vol. 4.53.
- ^ Dio Cassius 36.1, 51.2.
- ^ Cornelius, Creta Sacra, vol. i. pp. 251, 252.
- ^ Robert Pashley, Travels, vol. i. p. 83.
- ^ Gruter, p. 1091; Chishull, Antiq. Asiat. p. 122; Mabillon, Mus. Ital. p. 33; Böckh, Corp. Inscr. Gr. vol. ii. p. 428.
- ^ Hardouin, Num. Antiq. pp. 93, 94; Mionnet, vol. ii. p. 286; Supplém. vol. iv. p. 326; Rasche, vol. ii. pl. ii. p. 1493.
- ^
Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Lappa". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Lappa". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.