Perinthus

later Heraclea (Marmaraereǧlisi, Ereǧli)

A city in Thrace (now European Turkey), on the coast of the Propontis (Sea of Marmara), founded by the hero Heracles (according to myth) and in fact by colonists from Samos in c 602 BC, who overcame attempts by Megarian settlers in the area to prevent this initiative. The colony lay along an elevated peninsula in the shape of an amphitheater, densely packed with high houses. It suffered harassment by Paeonians, a Thracian tribe from across the Strymon (Struma); Herodotus recounts legendary traditions relating to these attacks. Following the European expedition of King Darius I (513), Perinthus refused to accept Persian domination, but was nevertheless captured by Megabyzus, as a first step toward his conquest of Thrace.

After the Persian wars, the city became a member of the Delian League headed by Athens, but in 411, during the Peloponnesian War, it broke away, only to be recovered by Alcibiades in the following year; although this phase, too, proved only temporary, since the final defeat of the Athenians (404) brought the imposition of Spartan control. In the same period the Perinthians suffered from a serious epidemic, described by a medical writer of the school of Hippocrates. In 377 they adhered to the Second Athenian Confederacy, thus gaining support against threats from the Thracian king Cotys I (365), but joined Byzantium in its subsequent rebellion (357), securing autonomy. Both communities formed an alliance with Philip II of Macedonia (352), but failed to support his hostilities against Athens (341/340), during which Perinthus, though its walls were breached, successfully resisted a famous siege with Byzantine, Athenian and Persian help.

During the third century Perinthus and Byzantium formed a united federal union; but this came under the control of the Macedonian king Philip V (202), until his defeat at the hands of the Romans enabled the two cities to regain their freedom (196). Perinthus next became subject to the kingdom of Pergamum, and after its dissolution (133) was attached to the Roman province of Macedonia, retaining importance as a major communications center owing to its position on the Via Egnatia linking the Adriatic to Byzantium (c 130); and it was also the terminal of a highway leading inland. Perinthus subsequently became part of the new province of Thrace (AD 46).

During the civil war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger (193–94) the latter, after securing the allegiance of Byzantium, planned to capture Perinthus; but Severus' advance guard prevented him from occupying the city, in which Severus then proceeded to establish his headquarters, while one of his generals defeated Niger's commander-in-chief outside the walls. The victorious Severus later punished Byzantium by making it tributary to Perinthus (195/6).

Coins of Perinthus issued during the Principate honor Heracles as `founder of the Ionian Perinthians.’ Other pieces display Samian Hera (and the emperor Severus) standing in a ship's prow, offer a number of depictions of Egyptian deities and astrological types, and refer to Games described as the Actia, Pythia, Philadelphia and Severeia Prota.

The name of Perinthus was changed c 300 to Heraclea, after its mythical founder, and in honor of the emperor Maximian whose patron deity was Hercules. At the same time the place became the capital of Diocletian's province of Europa (eastern Thrace), and an imperial mint. During the civil war between Lucinius and Maximinus II Daia (312–13), Heraclea-Perinthus capitulated to the latter when he invaded Europe, but he was ejected soon afterward. The foundation of Constantinople by Constantine I the Great (324–30) caused a decline in the fortunes of the city, although it partially recovered in the Byzantine epoch.