Hamaxia
HAMA´XIA (Ἁμαξία), a small town in the western part of Cilicia Aspera. (Strab. 14. p. 669.) It had a good roadstead for ships, and excellent cedars for ship-building. (Lucan (Luc. 8.259.) Hamaxia is perhaps the same place as Anaxium (Stadiasm. Mar. Magni, § 188), which, however, is placed west of Coracesium, so that it would belong to Pamphylia. (Comp. Leake, Asia Minor, p. 197.)
[L.S]Town in Pamphylia, 6 km W-NW of Alânya. Hamaxia is mentioned only by Strabo (668) and in the Stadiasmus (208: Anaxion); Strabo calls it a katoikia and the Stadiasmus a chorion, and it appears from the inscriptions that the place did not attain city status before the early 3d c. B.C. Strabo places it E of Korakesion (Alânya), the Stadiasmus to the W; it is generally agreed that the latter is in this case the better authority.
The site is on a high hill above the village of Elikesik and is heavily overgrown. The circuit wall, of respectable ashlar masonry but not of early date, is preserved in large part. In the interior some remains of two temples, one of Hermes, have been identified, also two exedras facing one another, presumably across a street. A church has also been noted. Inscriptions are numerous, almost without exception of the 1st-2d c. A.D. The personal names are mostly epichoric, and Roman names are rare. The principal necropolis was on the N slope outside the wall, and contained many built tombs.
According to Strabo Hamaxia had an anchorage on the coast, “where the shipbuilding timber is brought down.” This is perhaps to be identified with the Aunesis recorded in the Stadiasmus, but it has not been located with certainty.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. Heberdey & A. Wilhelm, Reisen in Kilikien (1896) 137-40; Wilhelm & J. Keil, ÖJh 18 (1915) 9; H. Rott, Kleinasiatische Denkmäler (1908) 71; G. E. Bean & T. B. Mitford, AnatSt 12 (1962) 185-91; id., Journeys in Rough Cilicia 1964-1968 (1970) 78-94.
G. E. BEAN