Cardia (Thrace)

Cardia or Kardia (Ancient Greek: Kαρδία), anciently the chief town of the Thracian Chersonese (today Gallipoli peninsula), was situated at the head of the Gulf of Melas (today the Gulf of Saros). It was originally a colony of the Milesians and Clazomenians; but subsequently, in the time of Miltiades (late 6th century BC), the place also received Athenian colonists, as proved by Miltiades tyranny (515–493 BC). But this didn't make Cardia necessarily always pro-Athenian.

Name

According to local tradition, the name Kardia was derived from the Greek word kardía (“heart”). It was said that when the city's founder, Hermochares (Ἑρμοχάρης), was performing a sacrifice, a raven seized the heart of the sacrificial animal and carried it away, eventually dropping it at the site where the city was founded. Another tradition suggests that the name may have originated from a pre-existing name for the area in the language of the Scythians. Another explanation is given by Gaius Julius Solinus, who states that Kardia was so called because the city was built in the shape of a heart, while Pliny the Elder similarly explains that the name came from the heart-like shape of the land.

History

In 410 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians withdrew from Sestus to Cardia at night after learning that the Spartan admiral Mindarus was preparing to attack them with many ships. There, Alcibiades rejoined the fleet after escaping imprisonment in Persia, and the Athenians regrouped before launching the campaign that culminated in their decisive victory at the Battle of Cyzicus.

In 357 BC, when Athens took control of the Chersonese, Cardia under the rule of a Thracian prince, was the only city to remain neutral; but the decisive year was 352 BC, when the city concluded a treaty of amity with king Philip II of Macedonia.