PRIENE, pri-o'ni% (Let.. from (:k. Ifpri1r>!). A Greek city of Asia situated on the north shore of the Latmic Gulf on a projecting spur of Mount Mycale. The Acropolis and earliest settlement were on a plateau inaccessible except by rock-cut steps, while the later city covered a series of lower terraces. Priene was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League, and claimed as its founder _Epytus, son of Nelens, though tradition told of a second body of settlers from theotia, who gave the place in early times the name Cadme. At that time the city was close to the shore and possessed a small but good harbor, which has now been com pletely destroyed by the alluvial deposits of the Meander, which have filled the greater part of the ancient gulf. Even in Strabo's time the city was over four miles from the coast, and the distance is now much greater. The city was from an early period involved in a quarrel with Samos about the ownership of lands on Mount Alyeale, and inscriptions show that the dispute was not settled until Boman times. It was con quered in the second half of the seventh century B. c. by the Lydian King .Ardys, and later, for its support of a Lydian revolt, it was severely treat ed by the Persians. Its prosperity was renewed by the wise councils of Bias (q.v.), but it again suffered for its participation in the Ionic revolt. Later it came under the rule of the Athenians, and was about ac. 442 placed by them under the protection of lliletus. During the fifth and fourth centuries it seems to have been of small im portance, and its real development took place after Alexander's conquest of Asia. Under his patronage was erected the beautiful temple of Athena Polias, the work of the architect Pythias, who seems also to have laid out the new city on the lower terraces. This temple was excavated by Pullan and Newton for the Society of Di lettanti in 1868, and found to be a masterpiece of Tonic architecture, rivaling in its proportions and finish the Erechtheum at Athens. though
with interesting variations in details. The grad ual silting up of the bay must have made the place unhealthy, and under the Byzantine em perors the city was deserted. Fortunately, no later settlers were attracted to the site, and thus the ancient houses and buildings fell into ruin, or were destroyed by earthquake and buried in debris.
From 1895 to 1900 excavations were under taken by the Berlin Museum, and as a result the ancient city has been recovered, and for the Greek town life of the Hellenistic age Priene must take a place similar to that occupied by Pompeii (q.v.) for the life of Italy under the early Empire. The city was planned with great care. East and west, parallel to the mountain side, ran a series of straight streets, connected at regular intervals by narrow lanes, which ascend the hill. The rectangles thus formed were normally 35 X 47 meters, and contained four houses, whose entrances were on the side streets, so that on the thoroughfares were only blank walls, unbroken save perhaps by windows in the upper stories. The theatre. council house, mar ket-place, temple of _Escu lapius. and other pub lic buildings were also laid bare, and a wealth of inscriptions and smaller objects recovered. No complete publication of the results has yet (1903) appeared. but preliminary reports may Le found in the Archoologischer .1 nzeigcr pub lished in the Jahrbuell des arrhaologi.shdu Ivsd tuts (Berlin. 1900). A popular account by A. L. Frothingham was published in the Century Ma yaz'ine, vol. lxii. (New York, 1901). For the temple of Athena Polias, see Pullan and Newton, Antiquities of Ionia, published by the So ciety of Dilettanti (London, 1881). For the ancient history, see Lenschau, "De Rebus Pri enensibus," in Leilniger ,Studien, vol. xii., 1890.