Originally known as Pityusa or Pityussa[2] (Ancient Greek: Πιτυούσ(σ)α), it was colonized from Phocaea and Miletus.

In the 6th century BC Lampsacus was attacked by Miltiades the Elder and Stesagoras, the Athenian tyrants of the nearby Thracian Chersonese.

[4] Artaxerxes I assigned it to Themistocles with the expectation that the city supply the Persian king with its famous wine.

When Lampsacus joined the Delian League after the battle of Mycale (479 BC), it paid a tribute of twelve talents, a testimony to its wealth; it had a gold coinage in the 4th century, an activity only available to the more prosperous cities.

In 196 BC, the Romans defended the town against Antiochus the Great, and it became an ally of Rome; Cicero (2 Verr.

The citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his honor, and observed the anniversary of his death for many years.

The people of Lampsacus were pro-Persian, or were suspected of doing so and Alexander the Great was furiously angry, and threatened to do them massive harm.

Alexander knew why he had come, and swore by the gods that he would do the opposite of what he would ask, so Anaximenes said, 'Please do this for me, your majesty: enslave the women and children of Lampsacus, burn their temples, and raze the city to the ground.'

Charon of Lampsacus (c. 500 BC) composed histories of Persia, Libya, and Ethiopia, and annals of his native town.