Adramyttium (Edremit)

Adramyttium was founded in the fourth century B.C. by Lydian kings as one of their points of defense. Behind the town rise the slopes of Kaz Dağı, the Mt. Ida, “many-fountained Ida” of Tennyson’s “Oenone” where Paris gave up his pastoral life for a romance with Helen. Adramyttium is mentioned in the New Testament only as the home port of the ship which Paul and the centurion Julius and some other prisoners took from Caesdrea to Sidon and then to Myra (Acts 27:2).

Edremit is a district in Balıkesir Province, Turkey, as well as the central city of that district, on the west coast of Turkey, not far from the Greek island Lesbos.

It is situated at the tip of the gulf with the same name (Gulf of Edremit), with its town center a few kilometers inland, and is an important center of trade, along with the other towns that are situated on the same gulf (namely Ayvalık, Gömeç, Burhaniye and Havran). It is also one of the largest district centers of Balıkesir Province. The district of Edremit, especially around Kazdağı, is largely covered with forests.

The Greek name for Edremit is Adramyttion (Άδραμύττιον)/ Adramytteion and the Latin name is Adramyttium, mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 27:2), as a city of Asia Minor on the coast of Mysia, which was called Aeolis in classical antiquity. The ship in which Apostle Paul embarked at Caesarea belonged to this city (Acts 27:2). He was conveyed in it only to Myra, in Lycia, whence he sailed in an Alexandrian ship to Italy. It was a rare thing for a ship to sail from any port of Judea direct for Italy.

In the 19th century, the name Adramyti was used. However the ancient city was not Edremit itself; it is in Ören, Burhaniye.

Edremit’s economy relies largely on the production of olives, as well as on tourism. Edremit is known as the capital of olive of Turkey. Kaz Dağı National Park, extending around the ancient Mount Ida (mentioned in Homer’s epic poems such as the Iliad), is situated within the boundaries of Edremit district and is an important tourist attraction with its natural scenery and a number of picturesque small villages around it.