Nicaea (ancient Greek city)
Nicaea, an ancient Greek city located in Bithynia (northwestern Asia Minor), was established on fertile plains near Lake Ascania and the river Sagaris. According to mythology, it was founded by the god Dionysus and the nymph Nicaea. Initially known as Ankore or Elikore, it underwent several name changes and refoundings, notably by Antigonus I and Lysimachus, who named it Nicaea around 301 BC. The city became a significant communications hub and royal residence under the Bithynian kings, particularly after it came under Roman control in 74 BC.
Nicaea is historically renowned for hosting the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, where the Nicene Creed was established, marking its importance in early Christian history. The city thrived in the Roman era, showcased by its local coinage and the construction of notable architectural features, including a gymnasium, theater, and a series of impressive fortifications. Despite suffering damage, particularly from the Goths in the 3rd century, Nicaea's infrastructure, including monumental gates and aqueducts, was rebuilt and expanded. The remains of this once-vibrant city, including its fortifications and the early Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, continue to be of archaeological interest today.
Subject Terms
Nicaea (ancient Greek city)
(İznik)
A Greek city in Bithynia (northwestern Asia Minor), situated on level and fertile ground beside the eastern shore of Lake Ascania (İznik Gölü) and the small river Sagaris (Deli Çay). According to mythology, the founders were the god Dionysus and the nymph Nicaea. The original, pre-Greek name of the place is recorded as Ankore or Elikore.
During the Succession Wars after the death of Alexander the Great, it was refounded as Antigoneia by Antigonus I Monophthalmos (316) and again by Lysimachus (301) who gave it his wife's name Nicaea, (although Dio Chrysostom and Nonnus preserved alternative traditions that it owed this name to colonists from a small town named Nicaea near the Sinus Maliacus [Gulf of Lamia] in northeastern Greece). In 282/1 (the inaugural date of a new civic era), it came under the monarchs of Bithynia, whom it often served as a royal residence, profiting from its position as a major communications center. The astronomer Hipparchus was born at Nicaea (c 190).
In 75/74, when Nicomedes IV bequeathed Bithynia to Rome, the city passed with the rest of his state into Roman hands. Pompey the Great, organizing the province of Bithynia—Pontus in c 63, assigned Nicaea an extensive territory, and it competed with the provincial capital Nicomedia (İzmit) as the principal city of the country. In 29 Octavian (soon to be known as Augustus) authorized the Romans in Bithynia to dedicate a shrine at Nicaea to Rome and the deified Julius Caesar. Pliny the Younger, as Trajan's special representative in Bithynia (cAD 110–12), consulted the emperor about expenses incurred in connection with the city's gymnasium and theater. Hadrian came on a visit in 123; a triumphal arch and monumental gateway commemorate the occasion. The Goths inflicted severe damage in 256/8. At the first of two Church Councils at Nicaea (425; the second was in 787) under Constantine I the Great, the Nicene Creed was formulated by an assemblage of three hundred bishops. Ammianus Marcellinus tells how, in 364, Valentinian I was acclaimed emperor at Nicaea, `the metropolis of Bithynian cities.’
Its local coinage under the Principate, extending from Augustus to Quietus (260/61), is notable for the large number of honorific titles on which the city prided itself, and for the vigorous celebration of its Games, often named after emperors (Commodus, Severus, Valerian, Gallienus); another piece declares that `under the rulership of Commodus (180–92) the world is happy.’ Further types depict the nymph Nicaea, Homer, Theseus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar (on his supposedly human-footed horse, hippon brotopoda!), the river-god Sagaris, and Caracalla (211–217) accompanied by the Egyptian deity Serapis on a ship. There is also a rich series of coins depicting local architectural features, including a two-storeyed arcade or colonnaded gate (first under Claudius, 41–54), and at least four different temples (including shrines of Asclepius, Dionysus and Agathe Tyche). On a further issue, the entrance court of what looks like another sanctuary is depicted, containing figures of Septimius Severus (193–211) and his sons Caracalla and Geta, the former as the New Dionysus.
Nicaea was famous for the regularity of its plan. The remains of the gymnasium and theater (with which Pliny the Younger was concerned) can still be seen; the excavation of the latter building, which was frequently modified, has continued during a number of seasons. An aqueduct and the twin moles of the lake harbor are also traceable. Massive remains of the city's double concentric fortifications, of various dates, are still standing. Gates were built under Vespasian and Hadrian, and figure imposingly on coins of Gallienus (253–68). The destruction of the walls by the Goths necessitated a rebuilding program, recorded by an inscription celebrating the erection of a monumental gate by Claudius II Gothicus (268–70). New superstructures were added to the fortifications shortly before or after 400. During the fifth century the first Cathedral of Holy Wisdom (Aya Sophia) was erected, in the form of a three-aisled basilica. Recent discoveries at Nicaea have included twenty male skeletons, all exhibiting signs of wounds; they apparently belong to two distinct ethnic groups, which have been classified as north European and Anatolian.