BRIEF HISTORY OF SİNOP

First Foundation:

As early as 1200 BC, we read on Assyrian tablets of a people known as the Gashgains. These people were belived to have lived in the Sinop area.

After 1184 B.C., Greeks known as the Argonauts began to explore the Black Sea. It was know to someone as the Pontos, which means the open sea. Others called it the Exuine sea, or the “hospitable”, as if to pacify its treacherous waters. The Black Sea was a challenge to the young Grek seeking adventure and wealth. The tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece of the land of Colchia promised all these. The Odyssey of Homer, which eas today been misconceived, referred tot he Black Sea.

The straits of Dardanalles and the Bosphorus were the hazards of Scylla and Charybids. Our own subject, Sinop, could have been the home of the Cyclops. One of the followers of Heracles the Argonaut, Autolycus, fell victim to the Cyclops; but managed to save himself and was marooned for a time on the Sinop peninsula.

It was during this time that probably made friends with the natives and made it possible for future Grek colonists to establish a settlement there. He was later rescueed by Heracles. Since he is accredited with having founded Sinop, it is believed that he later returned with a group of colonists.

Autolycus found interested Greeks in Miletus, and between 780 and 756 B.C., the Milesians founded a settlement in the isthmus of the Sinop calling it Sinop. The name Sinop comes from the Grek, “sinomai”, which means to injure or destroy. Thus, Sinop was appropriately named the “Destroyer”. Some historians try to trace the name of Sinop to the “moon-god”, Sin, of the Assyrians, but this is highly unlikely since the Assyrians never established themselves in Sinop.

The early settlers experienced great hardships in this land, many of the Milesians backed out of this great task of colonization; for Sinop was still in the middle of the unknown world as far as they were concerned, and the likelihood of their survival was thin.

In 700 B.C., Phrygia under the King Midas, the fabled for his touch, established control of the new settlement of Sinop in hopes of stopping the barbaric Cimmerians, infiltrating from north through the Caucasus Mountains. Sinop reached a peak of prosperity under Phrygia. But the horse-equipped Cimmerians streamed through the Black Sea coastal area, and Sinop fell to their plunder and destruction in 677 B.C. they had been momentarily defeated already by the great Assyrian power under King Assarhaddob, who boasted his victory ever Teuspa the Cimmerian.

SECOND FOUNDATION

The Milesians, seeing that the Cimmerians were defeated and the Black Sea coasts safe again for colonization, once more began to establish their trade. They arrived in Sinop about 635 B.C., and the date for the second and permanent founding of Sinop is 73 B.C. From Sinop, the Milesians were thus able to trade their woolen goods for flax, steel, silver, and the slaves of Colchis.

The Milesians constructed two harbors for Sinop, one on each side of the city. The north harbor soon grew unsuitable and only the south harbor was protected enough for their fragile ships against the unpredictable Black Sea waters. As their commerce became greater, they established another harbor on a crescent shaped land-head with a small island in the harbor. They named this harbor, “Harmene”, from the Greek, “Armane”, which means “rigging of ships”. Here were located shipyards and refitters.

Sinop began to prosper overnight with its trade in the Black Sea area. It was so well located that it became the central point of local trade as well as the headquarters for all merchants from Greece and even far away Egypt, who were dealing with Colchis and Crimea.

Sinop was chiefly famous for its fish. Its catches of mullet were considered delicacies by the wealthy. Great schools of tunny on their way to the Bosporus from their spawning places would pass near Sinop. Great catches of these fish were taken, easily salted, and, exported to great distances.

As Sinop grew in trade, it began to establish colonies of its own. Amisus, Trapezus, Cotyora and Cerasus soon became important colonies of Sinop. From them, along with her produce, Sinop exported wheat, corn, barley, rice, figs, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, apples, nuts, and olives. From the colony of Cerasus and Sinop’s outlying districts came great abundances of cherries. In addition, Sinop mined iron in the mountains south of Cotyora and manufactured steel tools. From inland Cappadocia was brought a red dirt called Sinopic because, it was a chief export of Sinop for medical and color pigment purposes. The Greeks displayed their ships proudly with various colors and Sinop red was widely used. Lumber from the forests near Sinop which comprised of maple, walnut, and chestnut went into the making of furniture. Other woods such as pine were used in the construction of ships.

The Milesians also began to enhance the beauty of their city. Where a Turkish castle and prison are today, stood once the Greek acropolis of the time. Here was located the chief temple and treasury of the city. The Milesians also were famous for their physical culture and competitions are the Greek games.

Sinop youths were notable participating in games all over the Greek world. A gymnasium must have been one of the chief constructions of the Milesians. Temples to the favorite gods were built. They were dedicated to Poseidon and Apollo and later to Zeus, Athena, Hermes, Ceres, Demeter, Dionysus, Asceleplus, the Diocuri, Serapis and Isis.

By 560 B.C., Sinop businessmen enjoyed a higher standard of living which enabled them to use elaborate pottery imported from Corinth. Sculptures were also imported, and mnay tombs were highly decorated.

In 560 B.C., Croesus became king of Lydia and established his domain throughout Asian Turkey. The Sinop area was still isolated from the rest of Asian Turkey due to inadequate roads. But Sinop, since it was colonized by Milesians, and Miletus was not a part of Lydia, had to pay tribute to Lydia in order to enjoy her freedom, even though she was isolated.

Within a short time, in the 540 B.C., Cyrus of Persia conquered Lydia and Sinop’s tribute switched to Persia, and again her isolation discouraged invasion. Under this isolation period, Sinop enjoyed her freedom as before and continued to grow and prosper.

RISE OF PONTUS

When Pharnaces I became king of Pontus in 185 B.C., he inherited a powerful kingdom that had been strengthened by his predecessors. The first thing that came to his attention was the fact that one independent city existed within the precincts of his domain. Sinop had previously repulsed his grandfather’s attack, while other cities like Amisus and already been incorporated into the kingdom. He saw that attacking Sinop’s colonies of Cerasus and Cotyora would prepare

The city for battle, so he planned to surprise the city under pretenses of friendship.

With the use of intrigue and surprises, Pharnaces I was suddenly in possession of Sinop in 183 B.C. the annexation of the colonies followed. Rhodes immediately was aroused to the fact that her friend Sinop had last its independence. Rhodes leading citizen, Eumenes, made stirring protests to the Roman senate.

Not too interested in the East at this time Rome passed over the protests with promises of investigation. One of the senators however made a speech before the senate condemning Pharnace I and praising Eumenes and Rhodes for their faithful friendship with Sinop.

Sinop, however, remained a possession of Pontus, Pharnace I continued his war against Pergamum by seizing Paphlagonia and several other kingdoms. Rome soon intervened and warned the Pontic king that if he did not cease his aggression, they would take action. In 178 B.C., he made peace with Rome, giving up all his conquests, Sinop, the only exception again, remained part of Pontus.

Sinop became more important in the eyes of its new king. It soon became his favorite city and he began to conduct his administration of his kingdom from there. Sinop had the best harbor in Pontus and Pharnaces depended a great deal on this advantage. Since he was hindered by treaty from further aggression in Asian Turkey, he turned his eyes across the Black Sea to Crimea.

His greatest commercial relations were with this region. Before Pharnaces I died, he moved his capital from Amseia to Sinop. Sinop itself had already grown affection for the king who had shown it so much attention. Now he made it the capital of his kingdom. His son, Mithridates V, came to the throne and built his palace in Sinop. He also fortified the walls and constructed a harbor of which the jetty may still be seen today.

Mithridates V ignored the former treatments that his father had made with Rome and began his conquest of Phrygia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia and Galatia, and even annexed the island of Creta. His queen, Laodica, looking for an excuse to take the power for her, had her husband assassinated in 120 B.C. To secure the friendship of Rome, she withdrew the Pontic forces from their conquests and began to reduce the army. She then began a rich court file in the royal palace at Sinop.

A ROMAN COLONY

After having been given its freedom both by Lucullus and Pompey, and still breaking faith with Rome, Sinop should have suffered some consequences. However, Caesar met some Roman colonists in Nices and decided to send them to Sinop. In 45 B.C., the new Roman colony named Colonia Julia Felix Sinopensis was founded. The people on the colony continued to be Roman citizens and they had full rights, complete ownership of their land, and exemption from payment of taxes to Rome.

Under the Augustus, however, Bithynia and Pontus became a senate guardianship. The Roman senate appointed a proconsul once in a year. When Augustus returned to Rome in 19 B.C., he invested the husband of his daughter Julia, Marcus Agrippa, as his deputy and proconsul of the eastern provinces. In 16 B.C., Agrippa, his wife Julia, and their two sons, set out for a tour of the East, to the Greek cities of the Asia provinces, Agrippa was considerably favorable.

Agrippa was very interested at this time in Crimea, and when he heard that an insurgent calling himself Scribunius having overthrown Asander, was falsely asserting Roman recognition, he decided to intervene for the sake of Roman prestige. When Agrippa arrived in Sinop in 14 B.C., the Crimeans had already assassinated Scriboniue. Agrippa then selected Polemo to be their new king. But until Agrippa showed that he intended to install his candidate by force, the Crimeans did not accept him. While Agrippa was yet in Sinop, he was joined thee by King Herod of Judea who had arrived by ship. The two personages then set out on a grand tour of Crimean and rest of Asian Turkey. During the time of Augustus, the cult of emperor worship was instituted and was continued under the various emperors.

In 17 B.C., when Germanicus Caesar celebrated a triumph in Rome, his uncle and adopted father, Tiberius Caesar, conferred on him “Prince Extraordinary” and gave him surprise command of all the Asian provinces. His travels took him as far as the Black Sea, where he visited the colony of Sinop, and the community erected there a statue to his wife, Agrippina.

BYZANTIUM

In 315 A.D., Christianity was established by Constantine the Great as the official religion of the empire. And in 33 A.D. he founded the city of Constantinople to become his new capital. From that time on, Sinop was mashed with the rest of Byzantine history. Roman tradition persisted up through the sixth century. In 518 A.D., Justinian came to the throne. It was probably during this time that a monastery and chapel were built in Sinop.

Many Sinop youths enlisted in the Byzantine forces when Heracles held the Persians back in the 7^th century in the first crusade. In the 8^th century, Sinop witnessed the wave of Iconoclasm into empire made it possible for Theophobus, a local general, to declare himself King of Sinop. The greater inability of Constantinople to cope with the invasion led to many other splits.

In 863 A.D., Byzantine Amisus was sacked by the Arabs under Omar. However, the Byzantines under general Petronas from Sinop intercepted and destroyed the Arab army and Omar was killed.

When Basil II, the Byzantine Emperor, died in 1023, the empire was at its peak of prosperity; for its territory and wealth had doubled during his reign. However, in 1101, the Byzantine received blow, when Emperor Roamus IV was defeated by the Seljuk Turks at Mantzikert. The Commeni dynasty then took the throne until 1204. Before then, the Seljuk’s were halted at Iconium. But in 1204, when the Latin rule was established with the Palaeologi family, the Greeks split and formed two separated empires outside of Constantinople, one at Trabizond, and the other at Nicea.

With this division, the empire could not fight the Turks effectively. In 1205, Sinop was annexed by David Commenus for the Trabizond Empire. Theodore Lascaria the Emperor of Nicea, held Sinop for a short time, but it was retaken again by David Commenus. Finally, in 1213 A.D., Sinop witnessed a battle in which the Byzantine forces were destroyed and David Commenus killed. The city had fallen into Seljuk Turks.

Prepared By:

Mr. Oktay Kuru, BA

English Lecturer