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BITHYNIA (BtOvpta)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 13 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BITHYNIA (BtOvpta) , an See also:ancient See also:district in the N.W. of See also:Asia See also:Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian See also:Bosporus and the Euxine. According to See also:Strabo it was bounded on the E. by the See also:river Sangarius; but the more commonly received See also:division extended it to the See also:Parthenius, which separated it from See also:Paphlagonia, thus comprising the district inhabited by the Mariandyni. On the W. and S.W. it was separated from See also:Mysia by the river Rhyndacus; and on the S. it adjoined See also:Phrygia See also:Epictetus and See also:Galatia. It is in See also:great See also:part occupied by mountains and forests, but has valleys and districts near the See also:sea-See also:coast of great fertility. The most important See also:mountain range is the (so-called) " Mysian " See also:Olympus (7600 ft.), which towers above See also:Brusa and is clearly visible as far away as See also:Constantinople (70 m.). Its summits are covered with See also:snow for a great part of the See also:year. See also:East of this the range now called See also:Ala-Dagh extends for above too m. from the Sangarius to Paphlagonia. Both of these ranges belong to that border of mountains which See also:bounds the great table-See also:land of Asia Minor. The See also:country between them and the coast, covered with forests and traversed by few lines of route, is still imperfectly known. But the broad See also:tract which projects towards the See also:west as far as the shores of the Bosporus, though hilly and covered with forests—the See also:Turkish Aghatch Denizi, or "The Ocean of Trees "—is not traversed by any mountain See also:chain. The west coast is indented by two deep inlets, (I) the northernmost, the Gulf of See also:Ismid (anc. Gulf of Astacus), penetrating between 40 and 50 M. into the interior as far as Ismid (anc.

See also:

Nicomedia), separated by an See also:isthmus of only about 25 M. from the See also:Black Sea; (2) the Gulf of See also:Mudania or Gemlik (Gulf of Cius), about 25 M. See also:long. At its extremity is situated the small See also:town of Gemlik (anc. Cius) at the mouth of a valley, communicating with the See also:lake of Isnik, on which was situated See also:Nicaea. The See also:principal See also:rivers are the Sangarius (mod. Sakaria), which traverses the See also:province from See also:south to See also:north; the Rhyndacus, which separated it from Mysia; and the Billaeus (Filiyas), which rises in the Ala-Dagh, about 5o in. from the sea, and after flowing by See also:Boll (anc. Claudiopolis) falls into the Euxine, See also:close to the ruins of the ancient Tium, about 40 M. north-east of See also:Heraclea, having a course of more than See also:loo m. The Parthenius (mod. See also:Bartan), the boundary of the province towards the east, is a much less considerable stream. The natural resources of B i thynia are still imperf ectly See also:developed. Its vast forests would furnish an almost inexhaustible See also:supply of See also:timber, if rendered accessible by roads. See also:Coal also is known to exist near Eregli (Heraclea). The valleys towards the Black Sea,abound in See also:fruit trees of all kinds, while the valley of the Sangarius and the plains near Brusa and Isnik (Nicaea) are fertile and well cultivated.

Extensive plantations of mulberry trees supply the See also:

silk for which Brusa has long been celebrated, and which is manufactured there on a large See also:scale. According to ancient authors (See also:Herodotus, See also:Xenophon, Strabo, &c.), the Bithynians were an immigrant Thracian tribe. The existence of a tribe called Thyni in See also:Thrace is well attested, and the two cognate tribes of the Thyni and Bithyni appear to have settled simultaneously in the adjoining parts of Asia, where they expelled or subdued the Mysians, Caucones, and other See also:petty tribes, the Mariandyni alone maintaining themselves in the north-east. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as existing See also:side by side; but ultimately the latter must have become the more important, as they gave their name to the country. They were incorporated by See also:Croesus with the Lydian See also:monarchy, with which they See also:fell under the dominion of See also:Persia (546 B.C.), and were included in the satrapy of Phrygia, which comprised all the countries up to the See also:Hellespont and Bosporus. But even before the See also:conquest by See also:Alexander the Bithynians appear to have asserted their See also:independence, and successfully maintained it under two native princes, Bas and Zipoetes, the last of whom transmitted his See also:power to his son Nicomedes I., the first to assume the See also:title of See also:king. This monarch founded Nicomedia, which soon See also:rose to great prosperity, and during his long reign (278–250 B.C.), as well as those of his successors, Prusias I., Prusias H. and Nicomedes II. (149—91 B.C.), the See also:kingdom of Bithynia held a considerable See also:place among the minor monarchies of Asia. But the last king, Nicomedes III., was unable to maintain himself against See also:Mithradates of See also:Pontus, and, after being restored to his See also:throne by the See also:Roman See also:senate, he bequeathed his kingdom by will to the See also:Romans (74 B.C.). Bithynia now became a Roman province. Its limits were frequently varied, and it was commonly See also:united for administrative purposes with the province of Pontus. This was the See also:state of things in the See also:time of See also:Trajan, when . the younger See also:Pliny was appointed See also:governor of the combined provinces (ro3—r05 A.D.), a circumstance to which we are indebted for valuable See also:information concerning the Roman provincial See also:administration.

Under the See also:

Byzantine See also:empire Bithynia was again divided into two provinces, separated by the Sangarius, to the west of which the name of Bithynia was restricted. The most important cities were Nicomedia and Nicaea, which disputed with one another the See also:rank of See also:capital. Both of these were founded after Alexander the Great; but at a much earlier See also:period the Greeks had established on the coast the colonies of Cius (afterwards Prusias, mod. Gemlik); See also:Chalcedon, at the entrance of the'Bosporus, nearly opposite Constantinople; and Heraclea Pontica, on the Euxine, about 120 M. east of the Bosporus. All these rose to be flourishing places of See also:trade, as also Prusa at the See also:foot of M. Olympus (see BRUSA). The only other places of importance at the See also:present See also:day are Ismid (Nicomedia) and See also:Scutari. See C. Texier, Asie Mineure (See also:Paris, 1839) ; G. See also:Perrot, Galatie et Bithynie (Paris, 1862) ; W. von Diest in Petermanns Mittheilungen, Erganzungsheft, 116 (See also:Gotha, 1895). (E. H.

B.; F. W.

End of Article: BITHYNIA (BtOvpta)

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