Bithynia and Hellespont

In this volume the Byzantine provinces of Bithynia and Hellspont are treated. They comprise the northwest of Asia Minor and stretch along the Asiatic coasts of the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles and the northern part of the Egean Sea, but they also extend far into the inland. The region is especially important because of ist position across from the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The main roads, which lead into Asia Minor, start from Chrysopolis or Chalkedon, sites opposite Constantinople, which can be reached by a short passage on ship. Emperors and the aristocracy built palaces and villas on the shores across from Constantinople. Here, they also founded monasteries and churches. Products of agriculture and forestry from Bithynia, to a lesser part also from Hellespont, contributed considerably to the provision of the capital with food, but also with timbers and firewood. The close relations between Bithynia and Hellespont with Constantinople result in a great number of written sources, which mention these provinces and the settlements (also rivers, mountains, churches and monasteries) wihin their borders. The present volume aims to draw a picture of the area in question during the Byzantine period from the point of view of the Historical Geography. For this purpose, written sources of the Byzantine, if necessary also of the Roman and Early Ottoman period, are used as well as travel reports from the Early Modern Period onwards, archaeological documantation and observations of the author in the country. Special attention is given to the change of the landscapes under consideration from antiquity to the Eary Modern Period. In the introductory chapters, the borders of the area, its geography, history, church history, lines of communication and economical conditions are treated by way of an overview. In the main part, the history and/or the archaeological remains of all Byzantine settlements, fortresses, churches and monasteries as well as of mountains and and rivers are presented in an alphabetical catalogue. A choice of characteristic landscapes and of ruins and other remains are shown on photographical tables at the end of the volume. Added to the volume is a map (scale 1:800.000), which shows not only the area comprised in this volume, but also the region north of the Sea of Marmara (treated as Ostthrakien by A. Külzer, volume 12 of the TIB), so that the entire Region the the Sea of Marmara with its centre Constantinople is displayed. Densely inhabited areas are also shown on three maps with larger scales.