Kinship (συγγένεια) in Two Cities of the Troad

Abstract

The inscription honoring Hegesias of Lampsacos, ambassador to Rome in 196 BC, refers to «kinship» (syngeneia) between Lampsacos and Rome. This kinship is not due to Lampsacos’ membership of the league of Athena Ilias but rather to a tradition, which is preserved in Stephanus of Byzantium, that Laomedon king of Troy had founded Lampsacos under the name «Laomedonteia». An additional link was the tradition that both Ilion and Lampsacos had been settled by Aeolic-speaking emigrants from mainland Greece. A decree of Thessalian Larisa honoring a citizen of Alexandreia Troas named Bombos refers to the «kinship and friendship» between Alexandreia and Larisa because of the same belief in Aeolic settlement in the Troad.