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SINOPE

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 149 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SINOPE , Turk. Sinub, a See also:

town on the N. See also:coast of See also:Asia See also:Minor in the vilayet of See also:Kastamuni, on a See also:low See also:isthmus which joins the promontory of Boz Tepe to the mainland. Though it possesses the only safe roadstead between the See also:Bosporus and See also:Batum, the difficulties of communication with the interior, and the rivalry of See also:Ineboli on the W_ and See also:Samsun on the E. have prevented Sinope from becoming a See also:great commercial centre. It is shut off from the See also:plateau by See also:forest-clad mountains; a See also:carriage road over the hills to Boiavad and thence by Vezir-Keupru to See also:Amasia was begun about 20 years ago, but has never been completed even as far as Boiavad. Consequently the See also:trade is small; the See also:annual exports are about £8o,000, and the imports £50,000. See also:Population, 5000 Moslems and 4000 Christians, chiefly Greeksand Armenians. On the isthmus, towards the mainland, stands a huge but for the most See also:part ruined See also:castle, originally See also:Byzantine and afterwards strengthened by the Seljuk sultans; and the See also:Mahommedan See also:quarter is surrounded by massive walls. Of See also:early See also:Roman or See also:Greek antiquities there are only the columns, architraves and inscribed stones built into the old walls; but the See also:ancient See also:local coinage furnishes a very beautiful and interesting See also:series of types. See M. Six's See also:paper in the Numismatic See also:Chronicle (1885), and MM. Babelon & See also:Reinach, Recueil See also:des monnaies grecques d'Asie Mineure (1904) Sinope (Ecvunrrl), whose origin was assigned by its ancient inhabitants to See also:Autolycus, a See also:companion of See also:Hercules, was founded 630 B.C. by the See also:Ionians of See also:Miletus, and ultimately became the most flourishing Greek See also:settlement on the Euxine, as it was the See also:terminus of a great See also:caravan route from the See also:Euphrates, through See also:Pteria, to the See also:Black See also:Sea, over which were brought the products of Central Asia and See also:Cappadocia (whence came the famous " Sinopic " red See also:earth). In the 5th See also:century B.C. it received a See also:colony of Athenians; and by the 4th it had extended its authority over a considerable See also:tract of See also:country.

Its See also:

fleet was dominant in the Euxine, except towards the W., where it shared the See also:field with See also:Byzantium. When in 220 B.C. Sinope was attacked by the See also:king of See also:Pontus, the Rhodians enabled it to maintain its See also:independence. But where See also:Mithradates IV. failed Pharnaces succeeded; and the See also:city, taken by surprise in 183 B.C., became the See also:capital of the Pontic See also:monarchy. Under Mithradates VI. the Great, who was See also:born in Sinope, it had just been raised to the highest degree 9f prosperity, with See also:fine buildings, See also:naval arsenals and well-built harbours, when it was captured by See also:Lucullus and nearly destroyed by See also:fire (70 B.C.). In 64 B.C. the See also:body of the murdered Mithradates was brought See also:home to the royal See also:mausoleum. Under See also:Julius See also:Caesar the city received a Roman colony, but was already declining with the diversion of See also:traffic to See also:Ephesus, the See also:port for See also:Rome, and in part to Amisos (Samsun). In the See also:middle ages it became subject to the Greek See also:Empire of See also:Trebizond, and passed into the hands of the Seljuk See also:Turks, and in 1461 was incorporated in the See also:Ottoman Empire. In See also:November 1853 the See also:Russian See also:vice-See also:admiral Nakhimov destroyed here a See also:division of the See also:Turkish fleet and reduced a See also:good part of the town to ashes. (J. G. C.

End of Article: SINOPE

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