Pylai (Bithynia)
Pylai or Pylae (Greek: Πύλαι) was an ancient city in Bithynia, on the coast of Asia Minor. It was situated in the Astacus Gulf, between Helenopolis and the Poseidion akron, in modern day Yalova.[1]
History
[edit]Antiquity
[edit]
Pylai is mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder,[2] and is included in the Tabula Peutingeriana.[1] A series of funerary inscriptions have also been found in the area.[3]
Early Middle Ages
[edit]
The town gained notability in the Byzantine period, as emperors would disembark at Pylai for their journeys and expeditions from Constantinople to Anatolia, while ceremonies were held for their arrival.[4] It possessed imperial estates, hotels for the merchants and "specialized in the export of swine, cattle, horses, and donkeys to Constantinople".[5] The town was also part of the imperial beacon system.[1][6] During the reign of Justin II, the monastery of the Katharoi was founded by the Cubicularius Narses near Pylai.[7]
The Magister Militum and future Emperor Zeno fled to the town before reaching Chalcedon in 469/70.[8] Heraclius passed from the town in 620/1 during his campaign against Persia.[9] A group of Arabs under Mardasan raided Pylai in 716/7, during the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, but they were defeated and repulsed by the Byzantines.[10] On 17 July 797, Constantine VI passed from Pylai while unsuccessfully attempting to flee from the officers of his mother Irene.[11]
High and Late Middle Ages
[edit]During the Seljuk invasions of Anatolia, Nikephoros Botaneiates let the soldiers of Suleiman enter multiple coastal settlements, including Pylai, in exchange for assistance in his rebellion.[12] This led to the capture of the city by the Seljuks, until they were repulsed from the Anatolian coastlines during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. In 1146 Manuel I Komnenos transported the population of Philomelion to Pylai, which he rebuilt and made into a fortress.[13][14]
After the Fourth Crusade, in the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae, the town was given to the Latin Emperor Baldwin I.[15] It became an important port for the Empire of Nicaea and remained a fortified Byzantine town until the 1300s, when Ottoman attacks intensified, threatening and forcing much of the population (anachronistically referred to as Bebryces by George Pachymeres)[16] to abandon Pylai and seek refuge in the Princes' Islands.[17]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Ramsay 1890, p. 187.
- ↑ Rackham 1967, p. 132.
- ↑ Mersin 2013.
- ↑ Moffatt & Tall 2017, p. 474-477.
- ↑ Vryonis 1971, p. 13.
- ↑ Moffatt & Tall 2017, p. 493.
- ↑ Mango & Scott 1997, p. 647.
- ↑ Mango & Scott 1997, p. 117.
- ↑ Mango & Scott 1997, p. 303.
- ↑ Mango & Scott 1997, p. 546.
- ↑ Mango & Scott 1997, p. 648.
- ↑ Vryonis 1971, p. 106, 113.
- ↑ Ramsay 1890, p. 187, 201.
- ↑ Vryonis 1971, p. 121, 217.
- ↑ Tafel & Thomas 1856, p. 478.
- ↑ Vitalien & Failler 1984.
- ↑ Foss 1991, p. 1760.
Bibliography
[edit]- Corsten, Thomas (1987). Die Inschriften von Apameia (Bithynien) und Pylai. Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien. Vol. 32. ISBN 3-7749-2261-6.
- Foss, Clive (1991). "Pylai". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern History AD 284-813 (PDF). Translated by Mango, Cyril; Scott, Roger. Clarendon Press. 1997. ISBN 0-19-822568-7.
- "Olba XXI". Mersin University Publications of the Research Center of Cilician Archaeology. Vol. XXI. Kaam. 2013. ISSN 1301-7667.
- Constantine Porphyrogennetos: The Book Of Ceremonies. Translated by Moffatt, Ann; Tall, Maxeme. Brill. 2017. ISBN 978-9004344921.
- Pliny Natural History II Libri III-VII. Translated by Rackham. Harvard University Press. 1967.
- Ramsay, William (1890). The Historical Geography of Asia Minor. Royal Geographical Society.
- Tafel, Gottlieb Lukas Friedrich; Thomas, Georg Martin (1856). Urkunden zur älteren Handels- und Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig, mit besonderer Beziehung auf Byzanz und die Levante: Vom neunten bis zum Ausgang des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts. 1. Theil (814–1205). Vienna: Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof-und Staatsdruckerei.
- Gorges Pachymérès Relations Historiques. Translated by Vitalien, Laurent; Failler, Albert. 1984. ISBN 2-251-32230-2.
- Vryonis, Speros (1971). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01597-5.