Excavations in the necropolis of Pitane revealed ceramic finds from the
Mycenaean,
protogeometric,
geometric,
orientalizing, and the
Archaic Greek periods. Pitane is believed to be the northernmost point of Mycenaean influence in Anatolia. A
kouros from Pitane, dated to the 6th century BCE, is now housed at the
Bergama Archeological Museum.
Classical Period In the fifth century BCE, Pitane was a member of the
Delian League and is recorded as paying a tribute of 1,000
drachmas. In 335 BCE,
Alexander the Great's general
Parmenion laid siege to the city as part of a campaign against the
Persian Empire, but the city was saved by the Persian general
Memnon of Rhodes.
Hellenistic Period In c. 319 BCE, its citizen Herakleitos, son of Lysistratos, was honoured by the people of
Delphi. In c. 325-c. 275 BCE, the people of
Abydos honoured another citizen, Charidemos, son of Antiphanes, with a dedication at Delphi, which included a statue by the famous Athenian sculptor
Praxiteles. In the reign of the
Seleucid king
Antiochus I Soter (r. 281-261 BCE), Pitane was able to expand its territory by paying the king 380
talents to purchase some territory. This territory was the subject of a dispute with the city of
Mytilene on nearby
Lesbos in the mid-second century BCE, which was arbitrated by
Pergamon. We also learn from this document that Pitane was a free city in the
Hellenistic period that was not subject to the
Attalid dynasty and that its public document no longer used the
Aeolic dialect. In 84 BCE,
Mithridates VI fled to Pitane while evading the Roman general
Gaius Flavius Fimbria, where he was besieged by Fimbria before escaping to Mytilene by sea.
Christian Era Under the Latin name Pitanae, the town was
Christianized and became the seat of a bishop; no longer a residential bishopric, it remains a
titular see of the
Roman Catholic Church. == Notable people ==