Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "NIKOMIDIA Ancient city TURKEY" .
NIKOMIDIA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Nicomedeia (Nikomedeia: Eth. Nikomedeus: Isnikmid or Ismid), the capital
of Bithynia, situated on the north-eastern coast of the Sinus Astacenus, a part
of the Propontis. The town of Astacus, a little to the south-east of Nicomedeia,
was destroyed, or greatly damaged, by Lysimachus; and some time after, B.C. 264,
Nicomedes I. built the town of Nicomedeia, to which the inhabitants of Astacus
were transferred (Steph. B. s. v.; Strab. xii. p. 563; Paus. v. 12. §5; Euseb.
Ckron. Ol. 129. 1). The founder of the new city made it the capital of his kingdom,
and in a short time it became one of the largest and most flourishing cities,
and continued to prosper for more than six centuries. Pliny, in his letters to
the emperor Trajan, mentions several public buildings of the city, such as a senate-house,
an aqueduct, a forum, a temple of Cybele, &c., and speaks of a great fire, during
which the place suffered much (Epist. x. 42, 46). Respecting its rivalry with
Nicaea, see NICAEA. According to Pliny (v. 43), Nicomedeia was 62 1/2 miles to
the south-east of Chalcedon, while according to others it was only 60 or 61 miles
distant (It. Ant. pp. 124, 140; It. Hieros. p. 572; Tab. Peut.) Under the Roman
Empire Nicomedeia was often the residence of the emperors, such as Diocletian
and Constantine, especially when they were engaged in war against the Parthians
or Persians. (Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 39; Nicephor. vii. in fin.) The city often
suffered from earthquakes, but owing to the munificence of the emperors it was
always restored (Amm. Marc. xvii. 7; Philostorg. iv. p. 506). It also suffered
much from an invasion of the Scythians (Amm. Marc. xxii. 9, 12, 13). The orator
Libanius (Orat. 62, tom. iii. p. 337, ed. Reiske) mourns the loss of its thermae,
basilicae, temples, gymnasia, schools, public gardens, &c., some of which were
afterwards restored by Justinian (Procop. de Aed. v. 1; comp. Ptol. v. 1. § 3,
viii. 17. § 4; Hierocl. p. 691). From inscriptions we learn that in the later
period of the empire Nicomedeia enjoyed the honour of a Roman colony (Orelli,
Inscript. No. 1060). The city is also remarkable as being the native place of
Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great, and as the place where Hannibal
put an end to his chequered life. Constantine breathed his last at his villa Ancyron,
near Nicomedeia (Cassiod. Chron. Const.; Philostorg. ii. p. 484). The modern Ismid
still contains many interesting remains of antiquity, respecting which see Pococke,
vol. iii. p. 143, &c.; Description de l'Asie Mizneure, tom. i.; comp. Rasche,
Lexic. Rei Num. iii. 1. p. 1435, &c.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Nikomedeia). A celebrated city of Bithynia, built by King Nicomedes I. (B.C. 264), at the northeastern corner of the Sinus Astacenus. Under the Romans it was a colony, and a favourite residence of several of the later emperors, especially of Diocletian and Constantine the Great. It is memorable in history as the scene of Hannibal's death, and was the birthplace of the historian Arrian.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Total results on 28/3/2001: 30 for Nicomedia, 7 for Nicomedeia, 2 for Nikomedeia.
About 91 km E-SE of Istanbul at the head of the Gulf of Nicomedia;
the modern Ismit. Nicomedia was founded about 264 B.C. by Nicomedes I of Bithynia
(Strab. 12.4.2) on the site of the Greek colony of Olbia. First the capital of
the Bithynian kingdom (Memnon 20.1), and later of the Roman province of Bithynia,
Nicomedia was astride the great highroad connecting Europe and the East, and was
a port as well; Nicaea was its rival. It is mentioned frequently in the Letters
of the younger Pliny (esp. Book 10) and by Dio Cassius (esp. in Books 73, 78,
and 79). Sextus Pompeius, in flight, halted there in 36 B.C. (Dio Cass. 49.18.3);
a few years later Octavian allowed the Bithynians to consecrate a precinct to
his name in the town (Dio Cass. 51.20.7). Passages in Dio Chrysostom (Or. 38,
and 47.16) evoke a prosperous and growing metropolis, and the city's buildings
and water supply came repeatedly to the attention of Trajan and Pliny when the
latter was governor of Bithynia. Emperors visited and wintered there (Dio Cass.
78.18-19, and 79.8 and 35), a garrison existed (Plin. Ep. 10.74), and the city,
a major one in later antiquity, housed a statio of the imperial post and a fleet
headquarters. Sacked by the Goths in A.D. 256, Nicomedia became, in Diocletian's
time, the much adorned E capital of the Empire (Lactant. De mort. pers. 17.2-9),
but the foundation of Constantinople and severe earthquakes in the 4th and 5th
c. greatly reduced its importance (Amm. Marc. 22.9.3). Something of a renaissance
resulted from the care of Theodosius II (A.D. 408-50). There is a varied and important
coinage.
Little excavation has taken place, and much that could be seen in
the last century is no longer visible. Vestiges of a Hellenistic building of unknown
function have come to light. Along the contours of Nicomedia's hilly site exist
stretches of the Roman walls (with Byzantine and Turkish restorations and additions);
they are of late antique construction--rows of brick alternating with rows of
stone. At their NE limit are the remains of a high tower, and beside this is the
gate to the road leading N to the Euxine. Parts of the harbor wall, which could
be seen until a generation ago, were of typically Roman brickwork. Marble elements
of a very large nymphaeum of the 2d c. A.D. have been found (Istanbul street),
and E of the city there are the remains of two if not three aqueducts (Plin. Ep.
10.37), one of which appears to rest on foundations of Hellenistic date (Libanius,
Or. 61.7.18, speaks of the copious supply of water to Nicomedia in the 4th c.
A.D.). In the E district of the city, at the old Jewish cemetery, there are the
ruins of a late Roman cistern of considerable size, built of reduplicated bays
roofed with saucer domes of brick carried on piers. Major ancient drains were
in use in Ismit until 1933.
Inscriptions, coins, and texts record, among others: a Temple of Roma
(29 B.C., the meeting place of the provincial assembly); a Temple of Demeter,
and satellite structures, in a large rectangular precinct on the hill visible
from the harbor; a theater nearby; a colonnaded street (a few bits were once seen)
probably leading from Demeter's precinct to the harbor; a forum (Plin. Ep. 10.49);
a Temple of Isis and a hall for the Gerusia (10.33); a Temple of Commodus (Dio
Cass. 73.12.2); and, for Diocletian, a palace, an armory, a mint, and new shipyards
were built. Evidence of necropoleis abounds, and about 8 km N of the city are
tumuli which may be the tombs of the Bithynian kings. One coin hails Hadrian as
Restitutor Nicomedine.
Pliny (and Justinian and Suleiman the Magnificent after him) hoped
to finish the canal, long proposed, between the Propontis and the Euxine via Nicomedia,
the Sabanja Gol (Lake Sunonensis in Amm. Marc. 26.8.3) and the Sangarios system
(E p. 41 and 61); the project was never realized. There is a modest museum in
the town, and objects from Nicomedia can be seen in the archaeological museums
of Istanbul and Izmir.
W. L. Macdonald, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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