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Nicomedia (modern Izmit in Turkey)
was
founded
by
Nicomedes
I of
Bithynia
at
the
head
of
the
Gulf
of
Astacus
which
opens
to
the
Propontis.
The
city
was
founded
in
712/11
BC
as a
Megarian
colony
and,
in
early
Antiquity,
was
called
Astacus
(lobster).
After
being
destroyed
by
Lysimachus,
it
was
rebuilt
by
Nicomedes
I of
Bithynia
in
264
BC
under
the
name
of
Nicomedia,
and
has
ever
since
been
one
of
the
most
important
cities
in
northwestern
Asia
Minor.
Hannibal
came
to
Nicomedia
in
his
final
years
and
committed
suicide
in
nearby
Libyssa
(Diliskelesi,
Gebze).
The
historian
Arrian
was
born
there.
Nicomedia
was
the
metropolis
of
Bithynia
under
the
Roman
Empire,
and
Diocletian
made
it
the
eastern
capital
city
of
the
Roman
Empire
in
286
when
he
introduced
the
Tetrarchy
system.
Nicomedia
remained
as
the
eastern
(and
most
senior)
capital
of
the
Roman
Empire
until
co-emperor
Licinius
was
defeated
by
Constantine
the
Great
at
the
Battle
of
Chrysopolis
(Uskudar)
in
324.
Constantine
mainly resided
in
Nicomedia
as
his
interim
capital
city
for
the
next
six
years,
until
in
330
he
declared
the
nearby Byzantium (which
was
renamed
Constantinople
(present-day Istanbul)
the
new
capital.
Constantine
died
in a
royal
villa
at
the
vicinity
of
Nicomedia
in
337.
Owing
to
its
position
at
the
convergence
of
the
Asiatic
roads
leading
to
the
new
capital,
Nicomedia
retained
its
importance
even
after
the
foundation
of
Constantinople.
However,
a
major
earthquake
on
24
August
358
caused
extensive
devastation
to
Nicomedia
and
was
followed
by a
fire
which
completed
the
catastrophe.
Nicomedia
was
rebuilt,
but
on a
smaller
scale.
In
the
sixth
century
under
Emperor
Justinian
the
city
was
extended
with
new
public
buildings.
Situated
on
the
roads
leading
to
the
capital,
the
city
remained
a
major
military
center,
playing
an
important
role
in
the
Byzantine
campaigns
against
the
Caliphate.
From
the
840s
on,
Nicomedia
was
the
capital
of
the
thema
of
the
Optimatoi.
By
that
time,
most
of
the
old,
seawards
city
had
been
abandoned
and
is
described
by
the
Arab
geographer
Ibn
Khurdadhbeh
as
lying
in
ruins.
The
settlement
had
obviously
been
restricted
to
the
hilltop
citadel.
In
the
1080s,
the
city
served
as
the
main
military
base
for
Alexios
I
Komnenos
in
his
campaigns
against
the
Seljuk
Turks,
and
the
First
and
Second
Crusades
both
encamped
there.
The
city
was
held
by
the
Latin
Empire
between
1204
and
ca.
1240,
when
it
was
recovered
by
John
III
Vatatzes.
It
remained
in Byzantine control
for
a
further
century,
but
following
the Byzantine defeat
at
the
Battle
of
Bapheus
in
1302,
it
was
threatened
by
the
rising Ottoman beylik.
The
city
was
twice
blockaded
by
the Ottomans (in
1304
and
1330)
before
finally
succumbing
in
1337. |
