Bible Encyclopedias
Adramyttium

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Ἀδραμύττιον or Ἀδραμύττειον [also Ἀτραμύττιον , see Poppo’ s Thucyd. 2, 441 sq.; and Adramytteos, Pliny 5:32], in the N.T. only in the adj. Ἀδραμυττηνός, Adramyttene), a city of Asia Minor, on the coast of Mysia, (A Eolis, according to Mela, 1, 18), and at the head of an extensive bay (Sinus Adramyttenus) facing the island of Lesbos and at the foot of Mount Ida. (See MITYLENE). Strabo (13, p. 606) and Herodotus (7, 42) make it an Athenian colony (comp. Pausan. 4, 27,5; Xenoph. Anab. 7:8, 8; Livy, 37:19). Stephanus Byzantinus follows Aristotle, and mentions Adramys, the brother of Croesus, as its founder (hence the name). This last is more probably the true account, especially as an adjacent district bore the name of Lydia. According, however, to Eustathius and other commentators, the place existed before the Trojan war, and was no other than the Pedasus of Homer (Pliny 5:33). Thucydides (5:1; 8:108) also mentions a settlement made here by those inhabitants of Delos who had been expelled by the Athenians, B.C. 422. The city became a place of importance under the kings of Pergamus, and continued so in the time of the Roman power, although it suffered severely during the war with Mithridates (Strabo, 605). Under the Romans it was the seat of the Conventus Juridicus for the province of Asia (q.v.), i.e. the court-town of the district (Pliny, 5:32). It is mentioned in Scripture only (Acts 27:2) from the fact that the ship in which Paul embarked at Caesarea as a prisoner on his way to Italy, belonged to Adramyttium (πλο ‹ ον Ἀδραμυττηνόν v. r. Ἀτραμυτηνόν, see Wetstein in loc.). It was rare to find a vessel going direct from Palestine to Italy. The usual course, therefore, was to embark in some ship bound to one of the ports of Asia Minor, and there go on board a vessel sailing for Italy. This was the course taken by the centurion who had charge of Paul. Ships of Adramyttium must have been frequent on this coast, for it was a place of considerable traffic. It lay on the great Roman road between Assos, Troas, and the Hellespont on one side, and Pergamus, Ephesus, and Miletus on the other, and was connected by similar roads with the interior of the country. The ship of Adramyttium took them to Myra, in Lycia, and here they embarked in an Alexandrian vessel bound for Italy (see Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, 2, 310). Some commentators (Hammond, Grotius, Witsius, etc.) strangely suppose that Adrametum (see Tzchucke, ad Mel. 1, 7, 2) in Africa (Pliny 5:3; Ptolmy 4:3; Appian, Syr. 33:47; comp. Shaw, Trav. p. 96 sq.) was the port to which the ship belonged. Adramyttium is still called Edramit or Adramiti (Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 39; comp. Pococke, Trav. II, 2, 16). It is built on a hill, contains about 1000 houses, and is still a place of some commerce (Turner, Tour, 3, 265). The general appearance of the place, however, is poor, the houses being meanly built, and inhabited principally by Greek fishermen (Buisching, Erdbesch. 5, 1, 91). From medals struck in this town, it appears that it celebrated the worship of Castor and Pollux (Acts 28:11), as also that of Jupiter and Minerva (whose effigies appear in the preceding cut).