Hamaxitus is believed to have first been settled by Mytilenaeans in the 8th or 7th centuries BC; however, insufficient excavation has been done at the site to prove this definitively. It was one of the Actaean cities in the Troad which Athens took from Mytilene following the end of the Mytilenean revolt in 427 BC and appears in tribute assessments for 425/4 and 422/1 BC. In 425/4 BC it had an assessment of 4 talents, a relatively high figure compared to other cities in the Troad; a large part of this wealth would have been derived from the salt pans at nearby Tragasai, which records from the Ottoman period indicate could be highly productive. A fragment of the so-called Standards Decree, which dates to the 420s BC and imposed the use of Athenian weights, measures, and coins on members of the Delian League, was found at the nearby village of Gülpınar.