Editing Nicaea (section)

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Istanbul_Gate,_Iznik,_Turkey_(37659560615).jpg|thumb|250px|The Constantinople Gate]]
[[File:Lefke Kapisi Iznik 932a.jpg|thumb|250px|The Lefke Gate, part of Nicaea's city walls]]

The place is said to have been colonized by [[Bottiaeans]], and to have originally borne the name of '''Ancore''' (Ἀγκόρη) or '''Helicore''' (Ἑλικόρη), or by soldiers of [[Alexander the Great]]'s army who hailed from [[Nicaea (Locris)|Nicaea]] in [[Locris]], near [[Thermopylae]]. The later version, however, was not widespread, even in Antiquity.{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_2 2. Foundation, other names]}} Whatever the truth, the first Greek colony on the site was probably destroyed by the [[Mysians]], and it fell to [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus]], one of Alexander's successors (''[[Diadochi]]'') to refound the city {{circa|315 BC}} as '''Antigoneia''' (Ἀντιγονεία) after himself.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Nicaea |volume=19 |page=640}}</ref> Antigonus is also known to have established Bottiaean soldiers in the vicinity, lending credence to the tradition about the city's founding by Bottiaeans. Following Antigonus' defeat and death at the [[Battle of Ipsus]] in 301 BC, the city was captured by [[Lysimachus]], who renamed it '''Nicaea''' ({{lang|grc|[[wikt:Νίκαια|Νίκαια]]}}, also [[Transliteration|transliterated]] as '''Nikaia''' or '''Nicæa'''; see also [[List of traditional Greek place names]]), in tribute to his wife [[Nicaea of Macedon|Nicaea]], who had recently died.{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_2 2. Foundation, other names]}}

Sometime before 280 BC, the city came under the control of the [[List of rulers of Bithynia|local dynasty]] of the kings of [[Bithynia]]. This marks the beginning of its rise to prominence as a seat of the royal court, as well as of its rivalry with [[Nicomedia]]. The two cities' dispute over which one was the pre-eminent city (signified by the appellation ''[[metropolis]]'') of Bithynia continued for centuries, and the 38th oration of [[Dio Chrysostom]] was expressly composed to settle the dispute.{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_3 3. History]}}<ref name="DGRG">''DGRG'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aentry%3Dnicaea-geo Nicaea]</ref>

[[Plutarch]] mentioned that Menecrates (Μενεκράτης) wrote about the history of the city.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg001.perseus-grc1:26 Plutarch, Life of Theseus, 26]</ref> In [[Greek mythology]], Nicaea supposedly took its name from [[Nicaea (mythology)|Nicaea]], a nymph whom the god [[Dionysus]] got drunk and raped; he later named the city after her.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca02nonnuoft/page/20/mode/2up?view=theater 16.244–280]; [[Memnon of Heraclea]], ''History of Heraclea'' book 15, as epitomized by [[Photius I of Constantinople|Photius of Constantinople]] in his ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Myriobiblon]]'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_06bibliotheca.htm 223.28]</ref>

=== Roman period ===
[[File:Iznik_Theatre_1644.jpg|thumb|250px|The theatre, restored by [[Pliny the Younger]]]]
Along with the rest of Bithynia, Nicaea came under the rule of the [[Roman Republic]] in 72 BC. The city remained one of the most important urban centres of [[Asia Minor]] throughout the Roman period, and continued its old competition with Nicomedia over pre-eminence and the location of the seat of the [[Roman governor]] of [[Bithynia et Pontus]].{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_3 3. History]}} The geographer [[Strabo]] (XII.565 ff.) described the city as built in the typical [[Hellenistic]] fashion with great regularity, in the form of a square, measuring 16 [[stadion (unit of length)|stadia]] in circumference, i.e. approx. {{convert|700x700|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} or {{convert|0.7x0.7|km|mi|2|abbr=on}} covering an area of some {{convert|50|ha|acre|0|abbr=on}} or {{convert|0.5|km2|sqmi|1|abbr=on}}; it had four gates, and all its streets intersected one another at right angles in accordance with the [[Hippodamian plan]], so that from a monument in the centre all the four gates could be seen.<ref name="DGRG"/>{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_5 5. Culture - architecture]}} This monument stood in the [[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasium]], which was destroyed by fire but was restored with increased magnificence by [[Pliny the Younger]], when he was governor there in the early 2nd century AD. In his writings Pliny makes frequent mention of Nicaea and its public buildings.<ref name="DGRG"/>

Emperor [[Hadrian]] visited the city in 123 AD after it had been severely damaged by an earthquake and began to rebuild it. The new city was enclosed by a polygonal wall of some 5 kilometres in length. Reconstruction was not completed until the 3rd century, and the new set of walls failed to save Nicaea from being sacked by the [[Goths]] in 258 AD.{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_3 3. History]}}{{sfn|Stefanidou|2003|loc=[http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaid=8503&boithimata_State=&kefalaia_State=#chapter_5 5. Culture - architecture]}} The numerous coins of Nicaea which still exist attest the interest taken in the city by the [[Roman emperors]], as well as its attachment to the rulers; many of them commemorate great festivals celebrated there in honor of gods and emperors, as [[Ancient Greek Olympic festivals|Olympia]], [[Isthmia (ancient city)|Isthmia]], [[Dionysia]], [[Pythian Games|Pythia]], [[Commodus|Commodia]], [[Severan dynasty|Severia]], Philadelphia, etc.<ref name="DGRG"/>

=== Christian Councils ===
{{main|First Council of Nicaea|Second Council of Nicaea|l1=First}}
[[Christianity in the Roman Empire|Christianity]] became a legal religion of the Roman Empire in the reign of [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]] (also known as Constantine the Great) by the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia |last=Ermatinger |first=James W. |publisher=ABC-CILO |year=2018 |isbn=9781440838095 |pages=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onlUDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA31}}</ref> Constantine [[Constantine the Great and Christianity|patronized]] Christianity and supported it by granting privileges, and became the first [[Roman emperor|Roman Emperor]] to adopt Christianity, but he did not get [[Baptism|baptised]] until [[Constantine the Great#Illness and death|just before he died]] in [[Nicomedia]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge |last=Van Dam |first=Raymond |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9781139499729 |pages=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JS468l8Rnu0C&pg=PA20}}</ref> Constantine laid the groundwork for the majority of the population to become Christians, predominantly, the [[State church of the Roman Empire|empire's formal religion]] in 380.

The [[Nicene Creed]], ({{langx|grc|Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας|Sýmbolon tês Nikaías}}; {{langx|la|Symbolum Nicaenum}}; {{lit|lk=no|Symbol of Nicaea}}) which declared [[Jesus]] to be [[Roman god|God]], and became the foundation of church doctrine,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=9781134625529 |pages=285 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXH4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA285 |editor-last=Orlin |editor-first=Eric}}</ref> was adopted at the first Roman Ecumenical Christian council in this city in 325.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ray |first=J. David |date=2007 |title=Nicea and its Aftermath: A Historical Survey of the First Ecumenical Council and the Ensuing Conflicts |url=https://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/ashland_theological_journal/39-1_019.pdf |journal=Ashland Theological Journal |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=20–21}}</ref> This council also condemned [[Goths|Gothic]] Christian [[Arianism]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Blind Faith: How Christianity Abandoned God: Part One: the Trinity Doctrine |last=Nelson |first=Daniel N. |publisher=BookCountry |year=2016 |isbn=9781463007645 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PRXOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT42}}</ref> which was later adopted by many [[barbarian kingdoms]], and led to the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|destruction]] of the [[Western Roman Empire|Western Empire]] for the century to come.

After shifting the council for four centuries, the [[Second Council of Nicaea|Ecumenical Council was held]] in Nicaea again in 787. This council was called by the [[List of Byzantine emperors|Emperor]] of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Empire]], [[Constantine VI]], [[Irene of Athens|Empress Irene]], who later became the first female emperor, and attended by [[Pope Adrian I|Pope Hadrian I]]. It addressed the [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|iconoclastic controversy]] and recognized the veneration of Christian images of Jesus and the saints as legitimate.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Roots of the Reformation: Tradition, Emergence and Rupture |last=Evans |first=G. R. |publisher=InterVarsity Press |year=2012 |isbn=9780830839476 |pages=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLF-F4jsljQC&pg=PA99}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Relations Between Religions and Cultures in Southeast Asia |publisher=CRVP |year=2009 |isbn=9781565182509 |pages=115–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udYfoEqlbKQC&pg=PA115 |editor-last=Adrian |editor-first=Donny Gahral |editor-last2=Arivia |editor-first2=Gadis}}</ref> The council also forbade the secular appointment of [[bishop]]s, thus solidifying the independent authority of the church against that of the state.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Evangelical Dictionary of World Religions |publisher=Baker Books |year=2019 |isbn=9781493415908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sw9YDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT604 |editor-last=House |editor-first=H. Wayne}}</ref>

=== Byzantine period ===
By the 4th century, Nicaea was a large and prosperous city, and a major military and administrative centre. Emperor [[Constantine the Great]] convened the [[First Ecumenical Council]] there, and the city gave its name to the [[Nicene Creed]].<ref name="DGRG"/>{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1463}} The city remained important in the 4th century, seeing the proclamation of Emperor [[Valens]] (364) and the failed rebellion of [[Procopius (usurper)|Procopius]] (365). During the same period, the [[See of Nicaea]] became independent of Nicomedia and was raised to the status of a [[metropolitan bishop]]ric. However, the city was hit by two major earthquakes in 363 and 368, and coupled with competition from the newly established capital of the [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Empire]], [[Constantinople]], it began to decline thereafter. Many of its grand civic buildings began to fall into ruin, and had to be restored in the 6th century by Emperor [[Justinian I]], among them the aqueduct built by Hadrian.{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1463}}

[[File:The Beştaş Obelisk, an obelisk-like funeral monument of Gaius Cassius Philieus located outside Nicaea, 1st century AD, Iznik, Turkey (38605773032).jpg|200px|thumb|The Beştaş Obelisk, an obelisk-like funeral monument of Gaius Cassius Philieus located outside Nicaea, 1st century AD, Iznik, Turkey .]]

The city disappears from sources thereafter and is mentioned again in the early 8th century: in 715, the deposed emperor [[Anastasios II]] fled there, and the city successfully resisted attacks by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] in [[Second Arab Siege of Constantinople|716]] and [[Siege of Nicaea (727)|727]].{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1463}} The city was again damaged by the [[740 Constantinople earthquake]], served as the base of the rebellion of [[Artabasdos]] in 741/2, and served as the meeting-place of the [[Second Ecumenical Council]], which condemned [[Byzantine Iconoclasm]], in 787 (the council probably met in the [[basilica]] of [[Hagia Sophia, Iznik|Hagia Sophia]]).{{sfn|Foss|1991|pp=1463–1464}} Nicaea became the capital of the [[Opsician Theme]] in the 8th century and remained a center of administration and trade. A [[Jews|Jewish]] community is attested in the city in the 10th century. Due to its proximity to Constantinople, the city was contested in the rebellions of the 10th and 11th centuries as a base from which to threaten the capital. It was in the wake of such a rebellion, that of [[Nikephoros Melissenos]], that it fell into the hands of Melissenos' Turkish allies in 1081.{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1464}} The [[Seljuk Turks]] made Nicaea the capital of their [[Sultanate of Rum|possessions]] in Asia Minor until 1097, when it returned to Byzantine control with the aid of the [[First Crusade]] after a [[Siege of Nicaea|one month siege]].{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1464}}

The 12th century saw a period of relative stability and prosperity at Nicaea. The [[Komnenos dynasty|Komnenian]] emperors Alexios, John and Manuel campaigned extensively to strengthen the Byzantine presence in Asia Minor. Alexios seems to have repaired the aqueduct after the reconquest<ref name="Aqueduct">{{cite journal |last1=Benjelloun |first1=Yacine |last2=de Sigoyer |first2=Julia |last3=Dessales |first3=Hélène |last4=Garambois |first4=Stéphane |last5=Şahin |first5=Mustafa |title=Construction history of the aqueduct of Nicaea (Iznik, NW Turkey) and its on-fault deformation viewed from archaeological and geophysical investigations |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=1 October 2018 |volume=21 |pages=389–400 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.010|bibcode=2018JArSR..21..389B |s2cid=133680295 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02958450v2/file/Benjelloun_et_al_2018_HAL2.pdf }}</ref> and major fortifications were constructed across the region, especially by John and Manuel, which helped to protect the city and its fertile hinterland. There were also several military bases and colonies in the area, for example the one at [[Rhyndakos]] in Bithynia, where the emperor John spent a year training his troops in preparation for campaigns in southern Asia Minor.

After the [[siege of Constantinople|fall]] of Constantinople to the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204, and the establishment of the [[Latin Empire]], Nicaea escaped [[Latin occupation]] and maintained an autonomous stance. From 1206 on, it became the base of [[Theodore I Laskaris|Theodore Laskaris]], who in 1208 was crowned emperor there and founded the [[Empire of Nicaea]]. The [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], exiled from Constantinople, also took up residence in the city until the [[recapture of Constantinople]] in 1261. Although Nicaea was soon abandoned as the primary residence of the Nicene emperors, who favoured [[Nymphaion (Ionia)|Nymphaion]] and [[Magnesia on the Maeander]], the period was a lively one in the city's history, with "frequent synods, embassies, and imperial weddings and funerals", while the influx of scholars from other parts of the Eastern Roman world made it a centre of learning as well.{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1464}}

After the restoration of the Byzantine Empire in 1261, the city once again declined in importance. The neglect of the Asian frontier by [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]] provoked a major uprising in 1262, and in 1265, panic broke out when rumours circulated of an imminent [[Mongols|Mongol]] attack.{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1464}} Emperor [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]] visited the city in 1290 and took care to restore its defences, but Byzantium proved unable to halt the rise of the nascent [[Ottoman emirate]] in the region.{{sfn|Foss|1991|p=1464}} After Emperor [[Andronikos III Palaiologos]] and [[John VI Kantakouzenos|John Kantakouzenos]] were defeated at [[Battle of Pelekanon|Pelekanon]] on 11 June 1329, the Byzantine government could no longer defend Nicaea. Nicaea finally surrendered to the Ottomans after a [[Siege of Nicaea (1328–31)|long siege]] 2 March 1331.<ref>Donald M. Nicol, ''The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453'', second edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), pp. 169f</ref>

===Ottoman Empire===
{{main|İznik}}
In 1331, [[Orhan]] [[Siege of Nicaea (1328–31)|captured the city]] from the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] and for a short period the town became the capital of the expanding Ottoman emirate.{{sfn|Raby|1989|p=19–20}} Many of its public buildings were destroyed, and the materials were used by the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] in erecting their mosques and other edifices. The large church of Hagia Sophia in the centre of the town was converted into a mosque and became known as the Orhan Mosque.<ref>{{citation| last=Tsivikis | first= Nikolaos | date=23 March 2007 | title=Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor | contribution= Nicaea, Church of Hagia Sophia | publisher= Foundation of the Hellenic World | url=http://asiaminor.ehw.gr/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaID=8506| access-date=20 September 2014}}.</ref> A madrasa and baths were built nearby.<ref>{{citation | title= St. Sophia Museum | url= http://archnet.org/sites/2035 | publisher=ArchNet | access-date=20 September 2014}}.</ref> In 1334 Orhan built a mosque and an ''[[imaret]]'' (soup kitchen) just outside the Yenişehir gate (Yenişehir Kapısı) on the south side of the town.{{sfn|Raby|1989|p=20}} With the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, the town lost a great degree of its importance, but later became a major centre with the creation of a local [[Faience|faïence]] pottery industry in the 17th century.  Thereafter, it slowly faded away as it lost population.  In 1779, the Italian archaeologist Domenico Sestini wrote that it was nothing but an abandoned town with no life, no noise and no movement.{{sfn|Raby|1989|p=20}}{{sfn|Sestini|1789 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YfsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA219 219–220]}}