Kefken Adası
| Kefken Adası | ||
|---|---|---|
| Waters | Black Sea | |
| Geographical location | 41 ° 12 '58 " N , 30 ° 15' 40" E | |
|
||
| length | 200 m | |
| width | 500 m | |
Kefken Adası is a small Turkish island (21 hectares) in the Black Sea , less than a kilometer off the coast near Cebeci in the province of Kocaeli , around 100 km east of Istanbul .
history
The location in front of the cape of a peninsula reaching into the Black Sea gave the island strategic importance. In Greek times it is attested by Claudius Ptolemy (as Thynias (Θυνιάς) and Daphnusia (Δαφνουσία)), Pliny the Elder and Strabo (each as Thynias) and the Periplus of Appian (as Thyni, Thynis and Thyniis). The name is possibly derived from a Thracian tribe of the Thynians who settled in Bithynia . Although there was no urban settlement on the island, it became the seat of the diocese of Daphnusia , which was first mentioned in the Notitiae Episcopatuum of Emperor Leo VI at the beginning of the 10th century . mentioned.
In 1261 the Latin Empire tried to conquer the island by means of a naval expedition. Since this meant that the capital Constantinople remained largely without military protection, Alexios Melissenos Strategopulos , general of Emperor Michael II Agelos of Nikaia , took advantage of the situation to recapture the city in a stroke of a hand . The diocese, which belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Nicomedia , subsequently went under and was then continued as a pure titular diocese . In 1915 a sea battle broke out near the island between the Russian and Ottoman empires.
The island today
The island measures a good 500 (east-west) by 200 meters (north-south) with two piers in the south that form a harbor. There is a pier light at each end of the pier, and there has also been a lighthouse on the island since 1879 with a range of 14 nautical miles. There are also remains of fortifications from the Hellenistic and Genoese times, as well as some wells and cisterns on the island.