Amasra
Encyclopedia
Amasra is a small Black Sea
port town in the Bartın Province
, Turkey
. The town is today much appreciated for its beaches and natural setting, which has made tourism the most important activity for its inhabitants. The mayor is Emin Timur (CHP
).
Amasra has two islands: the bigger one is called Büyük ada (Great Island) while the smaller one is called Tavşan adası (Rabbit Island).
, the original city seems to have been called Sesamus (Greek: Σήσαμος), and it is mentioned by Homer
in conjunction with Cytorus
. Stephanus
says that it was originally called Cromna; but in another place, where he repeats the statement, he adds, as it is said; but some say that Cromna is a small place in the territory of Amastris, which is the true account. The place derived its name Amastris from Amastris
, the niece of the last Persian king Darius III
, who was the wife of Dionysius
, tyrant
of Heraclea
, and after his death the wife of Lysimachus
. Four small Ionian colonies, Sesamus, Cytorus, Cromna, also mentioned in the Iliad
, and Tium, were combined by Amastris, after her separation from Lysimachus, to form the new community of Amastris, placed on a small river of the same name and occupying a peninsula. Tium, says Strabo
, soon detached itself from the community, but the rest kept together, and Sesamus was the acropolis
of Amastris. From this it appears that Amastris was really a confederation or union of three places, and that Sesamus was the name of the city on the peninsula. This may explain the fact that Mela
mentions Sesamus and Cromna as cities of Paphlagonia, and does not mention Amastris.
The territory of Amastris produced a great quantity of boxwood
, which grew on Mount Cytorus. Its tyrant Eumenes presented the city of Amastris to Ariobarzanes of Pontus
in c. 265–260 BC rather than submit it to domination by Heraclea, and it remained in the Pontic
kingdom until its capture by Lucius Lucullus in 70 BC in the second Mithridatic War
. The younger Pliny
, when he was governor of Bithynia
and Pontus
, describes Amastris, in a letter to Trajan
, as a handsome city, with a very long open place (platea), on one side of which extended what was called a river, but in fact was a filthy, pestilent, open drain. Pliny obtained the emperor's permission to cover over this sewer. On a coin of the time of Trajan, Amastris has the title Metropolis
. It continued to be a town of some note to the seventh century of our era.
The city was not abandoned in Byzantine
Era, when the acropolis was transformed into a fortress and the still surviving church was built. It was sacked by the Rus during the First Russo-Byzantine War in the 830s. But it was in 1261 that Amastris regained part of its former importance; in that year the town was taken by the Italian city-state
of Genoa
in its bid to obtain sole control of the Black Sea trade. Genoese domination ended in 1460 when the Ottoman
Sultan
Mehmed II
conquered the whole Anatolia
n shores of the Black Sea.
-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions
http://www.historic-towns.org/documents/members/turkey.doc.
section consists of three parts. After Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Amasra in 1460, it was converted to a mosque. The church mosque was closed to prayer in 1930.
Road Monument was created between 41-54AD by order of Gaius Julius Aguilla. It was a resting place and monument. At the time when Tiberius Germanicus Claudius was Rome's emperor, Aguilla was the commander of the building army in the eastern provinces. It is located a little outside Amasra on the road in, it is easily accessed by steps leading from the roadside.
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
port town in the Bartın Province
Bartin Province
Bartın Province is a small province in northern Turkey on the Black Sea, surrounding the city of Bartın. It is to the east from Zonguldak Province.The town of Bartın contains a number of very old wooden houses which are no longer extant in other places....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The town is today much appreciated for its beaches and natural setting, which has made tourism the most important activity for its inhabitants. The mayor is Emin Timur (CHP
Republican People's Party (Turkey)
The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...
).
Amasra has two islands: the bigger one is called Büyük ada (Great Island) while the smaller one is called Tavşan adası (Rabbit Island).
History
Situated in the ancient region of PaphlagoniaPaphlagonia
Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus...
, the original city seems to have been called Sesamus (Greek: Σήσαμος), and it is mentioned by Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
in conjunction with Cytorus
Cytorus
Cytorus is a genus of moth in the family Arctiidae.-References:*...
. Stephanus
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus , was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
says that it was originally called Cromna; but in another place, where he repeats the statement, he adds, as it is said; but some say that Cromna is a small place in the territory of Amastris, which is the true account. The place derived its name Amastris from Amastris
Amastris
Amastris also called Amastrine, was a Persian Princess. She was the daughter of Oxyathres, the brother of the Persian King Darius III.-Marriages:...
, the niece of the last Persian king Darius III
Darius III of Persia
Darius III , also known by his given name of Codomannus, was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from 336 BC to 330 BC....
, who was the wife of Dionysius
Dionysius of Heraclea
Dionysius was a tyrant of Heraclea on the Euxine . He was a son of Clearchus, who had assumed the tyranny in his native place. When Clearchus died , he was first succeeded by his brother Satyrus, who was reigning as guardian for Clearchus' sons Timotheus and Dionysius...
, tyrant
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
of Heraclea
Heraclea Pontica
Heraclea Pontica , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara c.560-558 and was named after Heracles who the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory .The...
, and after his death the wife of Lysimachus
Lysimachus
Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.-Early Life & Career:...
. Four small Ionian colonies, Sesamus, Cytorus, Cromna, also mentioned in the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, and Tium, were combined by Amastris, after her separation from Lysimachus, to form the new community of Amastris, placed on a small river of the same name and occupying a peninsula. Tium, says Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, soon detached itself from the community, but the rest kept together, and Sesamus was the acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...
of Amastris. From this it appears that Amastris was really a confederation or union of three places, and that Sesamus was the name of the city on the peninsula. This may explain the fact that Mela
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera and died c. AD 45.His short work occupies less than one hundred pages of ordinary print. It is laconic in style and deficient in method, but of pure Latinity, and occasionally relieved by pleasing...
mentions Sesamus and Cromna as cities of Paphlagonia, and does not mention Amastris.
The territory of Amastris produced a great quantity of boxwood
Buxus
Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood ....
, which grew on Mount Cytorus. Its tyrant Eumenes presented the city of Amastris to Ariobarzanes of Pontus
Ariobarzanes of Pontus
Ariobarzanes was the second king of Pontus, succeeding his father Mithridates I Ctistes in 266 BC and died in an uncertain date between 258 and 240. He obtained possession of the city of Amastris in Paphlagonia, which was surrendered to him...
in c. 265–260 BC rather than submit it to domination by Heraclea, and it remained in the Pontic
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
kingdom until its capture by Lucius Lucullus in 70 BC in the second Mithridatic War
Second Mithridatic War
The Second Mithridatic War was one of three wars fought between Pontus and the Roman Republic. The second Mithridatic war was fought between King Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman general Lucius Licinius Murena....
. The younger Pliny
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...
, when he was governor of Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
and Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
, describes Amastris, in a letter to Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
, as a handsome city, with a very long open place (platea), on one side of which extended what was called a river, but in fact was a filthy, pestilent, open drain. Pliny obtained the emperor's permission to cover over this sewer. On a coin of the time of Trajan, Amastris has the title Metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
. It continued to be a town of some note to the seventh century of our era.
The city was not abandoned in Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
Era, when the acropolis was transformed into a fortress and the still surviving church was built. It was sacked by the Rus during the First Russo-Byzantine War in the 830s. But it was in 1261 that Amastris regained part of its former importance; in that year the town was taken by the Italian city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
of Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in its bid to obtain sole control of the Black Sea trade. Genoese domination ended in 1460 when the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Mehmed II
Mehmed II
Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...
conquered the whole Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n shores of the Black Sea.
Features
With its rich architectural heritage, Amasra is a member of the NorwichNorwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions
European Association of Historic Towns and Regions
The European Association of Historic Towns and Regions , founded by the Congress of the Council of Europe in October 1999, is a self-governing organisation which groups together twelve associations, such as the Historic Towns Forum of Great Britain, from eleven states, namely the Czech Republic,...
http://www.historic-towns.org/documents/members/turkey.doc.
Amasra Castle
Amasra Castle was built during the Roman period. The walls of the castle were built by the Byzantines. The front walls and gates were built by the Genoese in the 14th and 15th centuries. Though located on a narrow peninsula, a tunnel under the castle leads to a fresh water pool.Church Mosque
Built as a Byzantine church in the 9th century AD. The church is a small chapel and its narthexNarthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
section consists of three parts. After Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Amasra in 1460, it was converted to a mosque. The church mosque was closed to prayer in 1930.
Bird's Rock Road Monument
Bird's RockKuşkayası Monument
Kuşkayası is a roadside monument in Bartın Province, Turkey created in the Ancient Roman period.- Geography :Kuşkayası at is just at the north of the road connecting Amasra to Bartın. Part of Amasra, as well as Black Sea is in the view and road distance to Amasra is about . The altitude of the...
Road Monument was created between 41-54AD by order of Gaius Julius Aguilla. It was a resting place and monument. At the time when Tiberius Germanicus Claudius was Rome's emperor, Aguilla was the commander of the building army in the eastern provinces. It is located a little outside Amasra on the road in, it is easily accessed by steps leading from the roadside.