16,951
edits
Changes
Nicea
,image map
[[Image:Tetrarchy map3.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Nicomedia, Chalcedon, and Nicea in First tetrarchy, ca. 293 AD]]The city '''Nicea''', also '''Nicaea''', in Greek Νίκαια and now known as Iznik in Turkish, was the site of two [[Ecumenical Councils]] of the early Christian Church. During Latin rule of Constantinople after its capture in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade, Nicaea Nicea was the capital city of the Empire of NicaeaNicea, which was the strongest of the surviving Byzantine states.
==History==
Located near the eastern end of the Sea of Marmara on what is now Lake Iznik, Nicaea Nicea was built on the site that was originally called Ancore/ Helicore. A town called Antigoneia was built on this site late in the fourth century before [[Christ]] by the Macadonian Macedonian king Antigonus I Monophthalmus, who had been one of Alexander the Great’s generals. There are two version versions of how Nicaea Nicea received its name. In one story the town later came under the control of Lysimachus who rename renamed the town Nicaea Nicea after his wife. In another account it was founded by Alexander’s men from Nicaea Nicea near Thermopylae.
The first council was held in the “Senatus Palace” that now lays beneath the waters of Lake Iznik. The seventh council was held in the Church of Hagia Sophia that was built by [[Justinian]] in the sixth century, This [[church]] was modeled after the [[Hagia Sophia (Constantinople)|Hagia Sophia]] in Constantinople. Located in the center of the city, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque by the Turks and renamed Orhan Ghazi Mosque in 1331. Over the years this structure has been badly damaged by earthquakes and fires. Some mosaics and a fresco of Christ, however, remain. The Church of the Dormition, a major church in NicaeaNicea, was destroyed by the Turks in 1922. This church was decorated with many fine mosaics that dated from the ninth century.
In 1081, Nicaea Nicea was captured by the Seljuk Turks, but was recaptured in 1097 by Emperor Alexius I Comnenus. During the period that the Turks held NicaeaNicea, they renamed the city Iznik. When Constantinople was captured by the Latin Crusaders in 1204, the Byzantine Romans established separate realms in the parts of Anatolia that were not held by the Latins. Nicaea Nicea became the capital of the “Empire of Nicaea” Nicea” and served for 50 years as the political and cultural center of this the strongest of the Byzantine states until Michael VIII Palaeologus recaptured Constantinople from the Latins and restored Byzantium.
In 1331, the Ottoman Turks captured NicaeaNicea, again renamed the city Iznik. After the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, the prosperity of the city fell under the competition from Turkish Constantinople.
==Sources==
[[el:Μητρόπολις Νικαίας (της Βιθυνίας)]]
[[ro:Niceea]]