Originally known as
Pityusa or
Pityussa (), it was colonized from
Phocaea and
Miletus. In the 6th century BC Lampsacus was attacked by
Miltiades the Elder and Stesagoras, the Athenian tyrants of the nearby
Thracian Chersonese. During the 6th and 5th centuries BC, Lampsacus was successively dominated by
Lydia,
Persia,
Athens, and
Sparta. The Greek tyrants Hippoclus and later his son Acantides ruled under
Darius I.
Artaxerxes I assigned it to
Themistocles with the expectation that the city supply the Persian king with its famous
wine. When Lampsacus joined the
Delian League after the
battle of Mycale (479 BC), it paid a tribute of twelve
talents, a testimony to its wealth; it had a
gold coinage in the 4th century, an activity only available to the more prosperous cities. /
Priapus, c. 360–340 BC A revolt against the Athenians in 411 BC was put down by force. In 196 BC, the
Romans defended the town against
Antiochus the Great, and it became an ally of Rome;
Cicero (
2 Verr. i. 24. 63) and
Strabo (13. 1. 15) attest its continuing prosperity under Roman rule. Lampsacus was also notable for its worship of
Priapus, who was said to have been born there. The philosopher
Anaxagoras was forced to retire to Lampsacus after a trial in Athens around 434–433 BC. The citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his honor, and observed the anniversary of his death for many years. Additionally, in his honor, the annual celebration known as the
Anaxagoreia was established. The people of Lampsacus were pro-Persian, or were suspected of being so and
Alexander the Great was furiously angry, and threatened to do them massive harm. They sent
Anaximenes of Lampsacus to intercede for them. Alexander knew why he had come, and swore by the gods that he would do the opposite of what he would ask, so Anaximenes said, 'Please do this for me, your majesty: enslave the women and children of Lampsacus, burn their temples, and raze the city to the ground.' Alexander had no way round this clever trick, and since he was bound by his oath he reluctantly pardoned the people of Lampsacus. Lampsacus produced a series of notable historians and philosophers.
Charon of Lampsacus () composed histories of Persia, Libya, and Ethiopia, and annals of his native town.
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the elder) (5th century BC) was a philosopher from the school of
Anaxagoras.
Strato of Lampsacus () was a Peripatetic philosopher and the third director of Aristotle's
Lyceum at Athens.
Euaeon of Lampsacus was one of
Plato's students. A group of Lampsacenes were in the circle of
Epicurus; they included
Polyaenus of Lampsacus (c. 340 – 278 BC) a mathematician, the philosophers
Idomeneus of Lampsacus,
Colotes the satirist and
Leonteus of Lampsacus;
Batis of Lampsacus the wife of Idomeneus, was the sister of
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger), whose elder brother, also a friend of Epicurus, was
Timocrates of Lampsacus.
Anaximenes of Lampsacus, a rhetorician and historian. His nephew (son of his sister), was also named Anaximenes and was a historian. Aristocles (Ἀριστοκλῆς) of Lampsacus was a stoic philosopher.
Xenophon of Lampsacus was a geographer. The people of Lampsacus dedicated a statue of Anaximenes of Lampsacus at
Olympia, Greece. ==Christian history==