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Greek city of
Kyzikos
in
Mysia
Silver
Tetartemorion 11mm (0.37 grams) Struck circa
480-450 B.C.
Reference: Sear 3849; B.M.C. 15.35,116
Forepart of
boar
left; tunny to right.
Head of roaring
lion
left; star above; all within incuse square.
A colony of Miletos, founded mid-8th century B.C., Kyzikos was
situated on the island of Arktonnesos, just off the southern coastline of the Propontis. It occupied a position of great commercial importance and its
electrum staters, called “Kyzikenes’, circulated widely in international trade
throughout the 5th and most of the 4th century B.C. In Hellenistic times Kyzikos
preserved its prosperity by maintaining friendly relations with Pergamene kings
and, later, with Rome.
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Cyzicus (Greek:
Κύζικος, Kyzikos, Medieval
Ottoman Turkish
: آیدینجق Aydıncıḳ)
was an ancient town of
Mysia
in
Anatolia
,
situated in
Balıkesir Province
on the shoreward side of the present peninsula of
Kapu-Dagh (Arctonnesus), which is said to have been originally an island in the
Sea of Marmara
,
and to have been artificially connected with the mainland in historic times.
Now, Cyzicus is protected by the
Turkey
‘s
Ministry of Culture, and located on the
Erdek
and
Bandırma
roads in Turkey.
//
History
The city was probably founded by
Pelasgians
from Thessaly
,
according to tradition at the coming of the
Argonauts
;
later it received many colonies from
Miletus
,
allegedly in 756 BC, but its importance began only after the Peloponnesian war,
when the decay of Athens and Miletus set in.
Alcibiades
defeated the Lacedaemonians there (410 BC). The era of its Olympiads was
reckoned from 135 or 139.
Owing to its advantageous position it speedily acquired commercial
importance, and the gold
staters
of
Cyzicus were a staple currency in the ancient world till they were superseded by
those of
Philip of Macedon
.
Its unique and characteristic coin, the Cyzicenus, was worth 28 drachmae.
During the
Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BC) Cyzicus was subject to the
Athenians
and
Lacedaemonians
alternately. In the naval
Battle of Cyzicus
in 410 during the
Peloponnesian War
, an Athenian fleet routed and completely destroyed a
Spartan fleet. At the peace of
Antalcidas
(387 BC), like the other Greek cities in Asia, it was made over to
Persia
.
Alexander
the Great
later captured it from the Persians in 334 BC.
The history of the town in Hellenistic times is closely connected with that
of the
Attalids
of Pergamon
, with whose extinction it came into direct relations with Rome.
Cyzicus was held for the Romans against king
Mithridates VI of Pontus
who besieged it with 300,000 men in 74 BC, but it
withstood him stoutly, and the siege was raised by
Lucullus
:
the loyalty of the city was rewarded by an extension of territory and other
privileges. The Romans favoured it and recognized its municipal independence.
Cyzicus was the leading city of Northern
Mysia
as far as
Troas
.
Bas-relief of a charioteer, late 6th century B.C., shows Hittite
influence at Cyzicus.
Under
Roman
Emperor
Tiberius
it was incorporated with the empire, but remained the capital of
Mysia
, afterwards
of Hellespontus, and became one of the greatest cities in the ancient world.
Cyzicus was captured temporarily by the Arabs in 675. It appears to have been
ruined by a series of earthquakes since 443 — the last in AD 1063; it began to
be deserted as early as the eleventh century and the population was transferred
to Artaki at least as early as the 13th century, when the peninsula was occupied
by the Crusades
.
In the
Ottoman era
it was part of the
caza
of Erdek
,
in the Anatolian vilayet of
Brusa
.
Ecclesiastical history
A titular see of Asia
Minor, metropolitan of the ancient ecclesiastical province of Hellespontus. As
ecclesiastical metropolis of the Roman Hellespontus province, Cyzicus had a
catalogue of bishops beginning with the first century;
Michel Le Quien
(I, 747) mentions fifty-nine. A more complete list is found in Nicodemos, in the
Greek “Office of St. Emilian” (Constantinople, 1876), 34-36, which has
eighty-five names. Of particular importance are the famous
Arian
;
Eunomius of Cyzicus
;
Saint Dalmatius
;
Proclus of Constantinople
and
Germanus of
Auxerre
, who became Patriarchs of Constantinople; and Saint Emilian, a
martyr in the eighth century. Another Saint who came from Cyzicus is Saint
Tryphaena of Cyzicus
. Tryphaena is the patron saint of the city.
Gelasius
,
a historian of Arianism, who wrote about 475, was born at Cyzicus.
Lequien
(III, 941) mentions a Latin bishop in 1477.
Cyzicus is still a
metropolitan title
for the Greek Orthodox, the metropolitan residing at
Artake (Erdek), a little port on the western shore of the peninsula. Opposite to
Artake is another port, Peramos (Perama), where an Assumptionist Father founded
a Greek parish. At Panormos (Panderma), another more important port nine miles
(14 km) south-east of the ruins of Cyzicus (10,000 inhabitants), there is a
Catholic Armenian parish. At the Dardanelles there is also a Latin parish. It
remains a Catholic titular see.
Monuments
The site amid the marshes of Balkiz Serai is known as Bal-Kiz and
entirely uninhabited, though under cultivation. The principal extant ruins are
the walls, dating from the fourth century, which are traceable for nearly their
whole extent, and the substructures of the temple of
Hadrian
, the
ruins of a Roman aqueduct and a theatre.
The picturesque amphitheatre, intersected by a stream, built in the third
century B.C., was one of the largest in the world; its diameter was nearly
500 feet (150 m). Of this magnificent building, sometimes ranked among the seven
wonders of the ancient world, thirty-one immense columns still stood erect in
1444. These have since been carried away piecemeal for building purposes.
Colossal foundations of a temple dedicated to the Emperor
Hadrian
are
still visible: the columns were 21.35 metres high (about 70 feet), while the
highest known elsewhere, those at
Baalbek
in
Syria are only 19.35 metres (about 63 feet).
The monuments of Cyzicus were used by the Byzantine emperor Justinian as a
quarry for the building of his Saint Sophia cathedral, and were still exploited
by the Ottomans.
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