Chalcedon

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Byzantine Constantinople-de.svg
History of Istanbul
Constantinople about 550 years ago

Chalcedon (also Chalcedon , Kalchedon , Calcedon , ancient Greek Χαλκηδών Chalkēdṓn ; today Turkish : Kadıköy , district of Istanbul ) was an ancient port city in Bithynia in Asia Minor .

The small church of Saint Euphemia that serves as the Cathedral of Chalcedon.

location

Chalkedon is located at the southern exit of the Bosporus into the Sea of ​​Marmara, directly opposite Byzantium, south of Skutari (formerly Chrysopolis , now Istanbul's district of Üsküdar ). The Greek historian Polybios (2nd century BC) noted in his historical work that Chalcedon was primarily economically disadvantaged due to its location on the Asian coast due to the currents in the Sea of ​​Marmara, which drove the ships towards Byzantion to the European coast .

history

Chalcedon was established as a Megarian colony in 685 BC. Founded. The advantages of building a city on the opposite bank - where the city of Byzantion was later founded - had apparently not been noticed so that the oracle gave the city the name "city of the blind" ( caecorum oppidum ).

In its early history, the city shared the fate of Byzantium , which the people of Chalcedon themselves helped to colonize. Like Byzantion, the city was conquered by the Persian general Otanes . As a result of the Ionian uprising , the population was forced to die in 493 BC. Flee from the advancing Persians on ships to Mesembria .

Chalcedon was torn between the interests of Sparta and Athens for a long time , although it was a member of the Delisch-Attic League from its inception . Chalcedon was able to fight for times of independence against Athenians, Spartans and Persians, but was allied with Persia during the Alexanderzug . The city's independence policy brought her into contact with Rome early on , at whose side it stood in the third Macedonian-Roman war and provided ships. By Mithridates VI. (* approx. 134 BC, † 63 BC) the city was partially destroyed, but later recaptured.

The decisive battle of Constantine against Licinius took place near Chalcedon, which was plundered several times by the Goths , in 324 AD . The city was therefore shortlisted for the re-establishment of a capital in the east of the Roman Empire by Constantine, who then elevated Byzantium to Roma Nova . The Roman Emperor Valens had the city destroyed in 365 AD, as it had openly admitted to opposing Emperor Procopius . The rubble was used to build the Valens Aqueduct in Constantinople .

In 451 the ecumenical council of Chalcedon took place in the city , which led to the break with the so-called Monophysites and the separation of the Syrian Orthodox Church from Antioch , the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Coptic Church . The previous diocese of Chalkedon was later elevated to an archbishopric and is still the seat of a metropolitan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and a titular archbishopric of the Roman Catholic Church .

Chalcedon was repeatedly affected by the various attacks on Byzantium and served as a supply 616-626 square Sassanids under Khosrow II. The Turks took the city centuries later as a quarry for the expansion of Istanbul.

Attractions

To the south are the ruins of Panteichion ( Pendik ), which are considered the former residence of the Belisarius .

Famous citizens

Others

Chalcedon is the namesake of the mineral chalcedony .

literature

Web links

Commons : Chalcedony  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Polybios 4: 43-44.
  2. ↑ Herodotus , Historien 4, 144; Pliny , Naturalis historia 5, 149.
  3. ^ Herodotus, Histories 6, 33.
  4. ↑ Arrian , Alexanderzug 3, 24, 5.
  5. ↑ Livy 42, 56.
  6. ↑ Lexicon of the Old World . Vol. 2. Artemis Verlag, Zurich and Munich 1990, ISBN 3-89350-960-7 , p. 1463

Coordinates: 40 ° 59 '  N , 29 ° 2'  E