bgr_493960 - THRACIA - SESTOS Unité

THRACIA - SESTOS

(3rd - 1st century BC)

The city of Sestos is with Abydos the setting of a myth which associates Hero and Léandre. The city was founded in the 6th century BC. Sestos played an important role in supplying grain to Athens on the road to the Straits and the Black Sea. The city fell under Persian domination around 513 BC. During the Persian Wars, Sestos was under Persian domination, Xerxes had a pontoon bridge built there in order to invade Greece. After the Persian defeat, the city joined the Attico-Delian alliance and remained in the Athenian orbit until 405 BC when the Spartan Lysander seized the city. The city was then disputed between Greeks and Persians. The city was besieged by the Athenians in 353 BC After crossing the Hellespont in 334 BC under the leadership of Alexander of Macedonia. After the death of the conqueror, Sestos became part of the lot of Lysimachus. The location of the city made it a strategic issue disputed between Diadoques and Epigones and often changed masters before finally falling under Roman domination at the very end of the 2nd century BC..