Oesyme

File:Macedonian Kingdom.jpg

Oesyme or Oisyme ({{langx|grc-x-attic|Οἰσύμη}}, {{langx|grc-x-doric|Οἰσύμα}}) and Aisyme or Aesyme ({{langx|grc|Αἰσύμη}}) was an ancient Greek polis (city-state){{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|url= https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans |url-access= limited |year= 2004|publisher= Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|chapter= Thrace from Strymon to Nestos |page= [https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans/page/n880 864] }} located in ancient Thrace and later in Macedonia. It was within the region of Pieras or Edonis between the river Strymon and the river Nestos.

Thucydides mentions it with Galepsus and notes that both were colonies of Thasos that sided with the Spartan army of Brasidas after it had taken Amphipolis in 424 BCE.{{Cite Thucydides|4.107}}

Stephanus of Byzantium identifies it as the same Aesyme or Aisyme (Αίσύμη) named by Homer in the Iliad as the place of origin of Castianeira, mother of Gorgythion, who was fathered by Priam, king of Troy.{{Cite Iliad|8.304}}

The town is mentioned by several ancient geographers including Ptolemy{{Cite Ptolemy|3.13.9}} and Pliny the Elder.{{Cite Pliny|4.18}} Diodorus notes the town under the misspelling Σύμη - Syme (omitting the initial vowels).{{Cite Diodorus|12.68}}{{Cite DGRG|title=Oesyme}} The town also appears in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax as Σιούμη - Sioume.Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, 67. It is also mentioned in the Delphic Theorodochoi inscription.[https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/237934 Delphic Theorodochoi Inscription, 81]

It was later renamed to Emathia (Ἠμαθία) after its occupation by Philip II of Macedon. According to Pseudo-Scymnus, it was named Emathia after the daughter of Makesse.[https://topostext.org/work/130#646 Pseudo Scymnus or Pausanias of Damascus, Circuit of the Earth, 646]

It was considered a polis and an emporion at the same time.

Athenaeus quotes a passage from Armenidas where Oesyme is mentioned among the places of Thrace famous for the quality of their wines.Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae I, 31a.

It is also mentioned in the Lexicon of the Ten Orators[https://topostext.org/work/537#o12Harpokration, Lexicon of the Ten Orators, o12] and the Suda.[https://topostext.org/work/240#oi.184 Suda, oi.184]

The location of the ancient city is identified with the fortified citadel on Cape Vrasidas south of the village of Nea Peramos in the southern part of the bay of Eleutherai.{{Cite Barrington|51}}{{Cite DARE|32370}}