- Thracian Chersonese
The Thracian Chersonese (in Greek Θρᾳκικὴ Χερσόνησoς) was the ancient name of the
Gallipoli peninsula, in the part of historicThrace that is now part of modernTurkey .The peninsula runs in a south-westerly direction into the
Aegean Sea , between theHellespont (now known as theDardanelles ) and the bay of Melas (today Saros bay). Near Agora it was protected by a wall running across its full breadth.rf|1|xen_3.2_diod_14.38_plin_4.18_agath_5_plut_19 The isthmus traversed by the wall was only 36stadia in breadthrf|2|herod_6.36_xen_3.2_scy_67 (about 6.5 km), but the length of the peninsula from this wall to its southern extremity, Cape Mastusia, was 420 stadiarf|3|herod_6.36 (about 77.5 km).History
The Thracian Chersonese was originally inhabited by
Thracians . Settlers fromAncient Greece , mainly ofIonia n andAeolian stock, founded about 12 cities on the peninsula in the7th century BC . rf|4|herod_6.34_nepos_1 The Athenian statesman Miltiades the Elder founded a major Athenian colony there around560 BC . He took authority over the entire peninsula, building up its defences against incursions from the mainland. It eventually passed to his nephew, the more famousMiltiades the Younger , around524 BC . The peninsula was abandoned to the Persians in493 BC after the outbreak of theGreco-Persian Wars (499–478 BC ).The Persians were eventually expelled, after which the peninsula was for a time ruled over by Athens, which enrolled it into the
Delian League in478 BC . The Athenians established a number of cleruchies on the Thracian Chersonese and sent an additional 1,000 settlers around448 BC . Sparta gained control between431 BC -404 BC , but the peninsula subsequently reverted to the Athenians. In the4th century BC , the Thracian Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens andMacedon , whose king Philip II sought possession. It was eventually ceded to Philip in338 BC .After the death of Philip's son
Alexander the Great in323 BC , the Thracian Chersonese became the object of contention among Alexander's successors.Lysimachus established his capital Lysimachia here. In196 BC , the Seleucid king Antiochus III seized the peninsula. This alarmed the Greeks and prompted them to seek the aid of the Romans, who conquered the Thracian Chersonese, which they gave to their allyEumenes II ofPergamon in188 BC . At the extinction of theAttalid dynasty in133 BC it passed again to the Romans, who from129 BC administered it in the Roman province of Asia. It was subsequently made a state-owned territory ("ager publicus") and during the reign of the emperorCaesar Augustus it was imperial property.The Thracian Chersonese subsequently passed to the
Byzantine Empire , which ruled it until the rise of theOttoman Empire in the14th century AD. In1356 the peninsula became the first part of Europe to fall to the Ottomans, who subsequently made it a major base for raids and incursions into territories further afield.Towns and economy
The principal towns of the Thracian Chersonese were Cardia,
Pactya , Callipolis (Gallipoli),Alopeconnesus ,Sestos ,Madytus , and Elaeus. The peninsula was renowned for itswheat . It also benefited from its strategic importance on the main route betweenEurope andAsia , as well as from its control of the shipping route fromCrimea . The city of Sestos was the main crossing-point on the Hellespont (Dardanelles).References
*Smith, William (editor); " [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography] ", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064&layout=&loc=chersonesus-thracica "Chersonesus Thracica"] ,
London , (1854)Notes
ent|1|xen_3.2_diod_14.38_plin_4.18_agath_5_plut_19
Xenophon , "Hellenica", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0206&query=3%3A2%3A10&chunk=section iii. 2] ;Diodorus Siculus , "Bibliotheca", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084&layout=&loc=14.38.1 xiv. 38] ; Pliny, "Natural History", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137&layout=&loc=4.18 iv. 18] ;Agathias , "Histories", v;Plutarch , "Parallel Lives ", "Pericles", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182&layout=&loc=Per.+19 19] ent|2|herod_6.36_xen_3.2_scy_67Herodotus , "The Histories", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.36 vi. 36] ; Xenophon, ibid.; Pseudo-Scylax, "Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax ", 67 ( [http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/gjs/skylax_for_www_02214.pdf PDF] ) ent|3|herod_6.36 Herodotus, ibid.ent|4|herod_6.34_nepos_1 Herodotus, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=6.34.1 vi. 34] ;Cornelius Nepos , "Lives of Eminent Commanders", "Miltiades", [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nepos.htm#Miltiades 1]
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