 Atarneus flowered in the 4th century BCE, when it was the seat of government of Hermias of Atarneus, a friend of Aristotle, ruling over the area from Atarneus to Assos.The city was deserted by inhabitants in the 1st century BCE, possibly following an outbreak of an unknown epidemic.Pausanias says that the same calamity befel the Atarneitae which drove the Myusii from their city; but as the position, of the two cities was not similar, it is not quite clear what he means.