Editing Gallipoli (section)

===Antiquity and Middle Ages===
[[File:Thracian Chersonese.svg|thumb|left|Map of the Thracian Chersonese]]
In ancient times, the Gallipoli Peninsula was known as the [[Thracian Chersonese]] (from [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|χερσόνησος}}, 'peninsula'<ref name="lid" />) to the Greeks and later the Romans. It was the location of several prominent towns, including [[Cardia (Thrace)|Cardia]], [[Pactya]], Callipolis (Gallipoli), Alopeconnesus ({{lang|grc|Ἀλωπεκόννησος}}), [[Sestos]], [[Madytos (Thrace)|Madytos]], and [[Elaeus]]. The peninsula was renowned for its [[wheat]]. It also benefited from its strategic importance on the main route between [[Europe]] and [[Asia]], as well as from its control of the shipping route from [[Crimea]]. The city of Sestos was the main crossing-point on the [[Hellespont]].

According to [[Herodotus]], the Thracian tribe of [[Dolonci]] ({{lang|grc|Δόλογκοι}}) (or 'barbarians' according to [[Cornelius Nepos]]) held possession of the peninsula before Greek colonizers arrived. Then, settlers from [[Ancient Greece]], mainly of [[Ionia]]n and [[Aeolians|Aeolian]] stock, founded about 12 cities on the peninsula in the 7th century BC.<ref name="herod_6.34_nepos_1">Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.34.1 vi. 34] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425062722/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&redirect=true |date=25 April 2023 }}; [[Cornelius Nepos|Nepos, Cornelius]], ''Lives of Eminent Commanders'', "Miltiades", [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nepos.htm#Miltiades 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107233658/http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nepos.htm#Miltiades |date=7 November 2017 }}</ref> The [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] statesman [[Miltiades the Elder]] founded a major Athenian colony there around 560 BC. He took authority over the entire peninsula, augmenting its defences against incursions from the mainland. It eventually passed to his nephew, the more famous [[Miltiades the Younger]], about 524 BC. The peninsula was abandoned to the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] in 493 BC after the beginning of the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] (499–478 BC).

The Persians were eventually expelled, after which the peninsula was for a time ruled by Athens, which enrolled it into the [[Delian League]] in 478 BC. The Athenians established a number of [[cleruchy|cleruchies]] on the Thracian Chersonese and sent an additional 1,000 settlers around 448 BC. [[Sparta]] gained control after the decisive [[Battle of Aegospotami]] in 404 BC, but the peninsula subsequently reverted to the Athenians. During the 4th century BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens and [[Macedon]], whose king [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] sought its possession. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC.

After the death of Philip's son [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the object of contention among [[Diadochi|Alexander's successors]]. [[Lysimachus]] established his capital [[Lysimachia (Thrace)|Lysimachia]] here. In 278 BC, [[List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes|Celtic tribes]] from [[Galatia]] in Asia Minor settled in the area. In 196 BC, the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus III]] seized the peninsula. This alarmed the Greeks and prompted them to seek the aid of the [[Roman Republic|Romans]], who conquered the Thracian Chersonese, which they gave to their ally [[Eumenes II]] of [[Pergamon]] in 188 BC. At the extinction of the [[Attalid dynasty]] in 133 BC it passed again to the Romans, who from 129 BC administered it in the [[Roman province]] of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]]. It was subsequently made a state-owned territory ({{lang|la|[[ager publicus]]}}) and during the reign of the emperor [[Augustus]] it was imperial property.
[[File:Gallipolimap2.png|thumb|Map of the peninsula and its surroundings]]

The Thracian Chersonese was part of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] from its foundation in 395 AD. In 443 AD, [[Attila the Hun]] invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula during one of the last stages of his grand campaign that year. He captured both Callipolis and Sestus.<ref>{{cite book |title=Attila the Hun: Barbarian Terror and the Fall of the Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-YN6NwHqq4C |publisher=Vintage |page=105 |isbn=978-1844139156 |date=2011 |access-date=3 May 2020 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425062720/https://books.google.com/books?id=f-YN6NwHqq4C |url-status=live }}</ref> Aside from a brief period from 1204 to 1235, when it was controlled by the [[Republic of Venice]], the [[Byzantine Empire]] ruled the territory until 1356. During the night between 1 and 2 March 1354, a strong earthquake destroyed the city of Gallipoli and its city walls, weakening its defenses.