Editing Cyzicus (section)

==Monuments==
The site amid the marshes of Balkiz Serai is known as Bal-Kiz and entirely uninhabited, though under cultivation. The principal extant ruins are the walls, dating from the fourth century, which are traceable for nearly their whole extent, and the substructures of the temple of [[Hadrian]],{{sfn|Hasluck|1911}} the ruins of a Roman aqueduct and a theatre.

The picturesque [[Roman amphitheatre|amphitheatre]], intersected by a stream, was one of the largest in the world. Construction for the amphitheatre began in the middle of the first century until the end of the third. Its diameter was nearly {{convert|500|ft|m}} and it is located at these coordinates {{coord|40|23|54|N|27|53|5|E|type:landmark_region:TR|name=Cyzicus amphitheatre}}, north of the main part of Cyzicus.

The colossal foundations of the temple dedicated to the Emperor [[Hadrian]] are still visible: the columns were 21.35 metres high (about 70 feet), while the highest known elsewhere, those at [[Baalbek]] in Lebanon are only 19.35 metres (about 63 feet). The structure was the largest Greco-Roman temple ever built.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vermeule |first1=Cornelius C. |title=A Greek Theme and its Survivals: The Ruler's Shield (Tondo Image) in Tomb and Temple |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1965 |volume=109 |issue=6 |page=376 |jstor=986138 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/986138.pdf |issn=0003-049X }}</ref> Of this magnificent building, sometimes ranked among the seven wonders of the ancient world, thirty-one immense columns still stood erect in 1444. These have since been carried away piecemeal for building purposes.{{sfn|Hasluck|1911}}

The monuments of Cyzicus were used by the Byzantine emperor Justinian as a quarry for the building of his Saint Sophia cathedral, and were still exploited by the Ottomans.