Adramyttium

ADRAMYTTIUM (ăd'ra-mĭt'ĭ-ŭm). An old port city of Mysia, in the Roman province of Asia, near Edremit. Paul sailed in a ship of Adramyttium along the coast from Caesarea in Palestine to Myra in Lycia, where an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy took him on board (Acts.27.2-Acts.27.6).

The city was located at the head of the Gulf of Adramyttium facing the island of Lesbos. The ancient name is now preserved in the inland town Edremid while the original site is known as Karatash.

Some think Adramyttium may have been Homer’s Pedasus. A different and attractive explanation is that the city was founded by Adramys, brother of Croesus, in 6 b.c. An Athenian colony may have existed there prior to this, though Rendel Harris has suggested an Arabian origin for the original settlement (“Adramyttium,” Contemporary Review, CXXVIII [1925], 194-202). In any case, the city gained considerable importance when Pergamum (Pergamus) became the capital of an important Hel. kingdom under the so-called Attalid dynasty in 3 b.c. Assizes were held there and numismatic evidence points to the city as a center for the worship of Pollux and Castor. The city boasted a good harbor and its importance as a maritime city is attested by commercial coinage from the E found there and belonging to 2 and 1 b.c. The city also was noted for the preparation of a special ointment (Pliny, NH, xiii. 2. 5).

Only one reference is made to the city in the Bible (Acts 27:2) and then in the form ̓Αδραμυτηνός (“of Adramyttium”). It was an Adramyttian ship prob. bound for home which carried Paul and his centurion escort from Caesarea and along the coast of Asia and enabled them to make connections for Rome.

Bibliography

Strabo, xiii. 1. 51, 65, 66; W. Leaf, Strabo on the Trood (1923), 318ff.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

An ancient city of Mysia in the Roman Province of Asia. The only reference in the New Testament to it is in Ac 27:2 which says that Paul, while being taken a prisoner from Caesarea to Rome, embarked upon a ship belonging to Adramyttium.

The city, with a good harbor, stood at the head of the Gulf of Adramyttium facing the island of Lesbos, and at the base of Mt. Ida. Its early history is obscure. While some authors fancy that it was the Pedasus of Homer, others suppose that it was founded by Adramys, the brother of the wealthy Croesus; probably a small Athenian colony existed there long before the time of Adramys. When Pergamus became the capital of Asia, Adramyttium grew to be a city of considerable importance, and the metropolis of the Northwest part of the province. There the assizes were held. The coins which the peasants pick up in the surrounding fields, and which are frequently aids in determining the location and history of the cities of Asia Minor, were struck at Adramyttium as late as the 3rd century AD, and sometimes in connection with Ephesus. Upon them the effigies of Castor and Pollux appear, showing that Adramyttium was the seat of worship of these deities.

The ancient city with its harbor has entirely disappeared, but on a hill, somewhat farther inland, is a village of about one thousand houses bearing the name Edremid, a corruption of the ancient name Adramys. The miserable wooden huts occupied by Greek fishermen and by Turks are surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, hence the chief trade is in olive oil, raisins and timber. In ancient times Adramyttium was noted for a special ointment which was prepared there (Pliny, NH, xiii.2.5).