Bathonea

Bathonea was an ancient and early medieval city, which is known only from the sources, so do not let bring a particular archaeological site in conjunction. Pliny the Elder mentions a Thracian river called " Bathynias " ( Naturalis historia 4, 47), Theophanes ( V, p 340, ed Bonn) is called the river " Bathyrsos " Appian calls him " Bithyas " ( Mithridatius 1), also it appears in Claudius Ptolemy ( Tetrabiblos, 3, 11, 6). In August 2009, however, were on the Marmara Sea, about 20 km west of Istanbul, bring ruins of a city of the working there since 2007 excavators with Bathonea in conjunction.

The site is located on the lagoon of Küçükçekmece, where there is also one of the oldest sites of Turkey, the caves of Yarımburgaz ( Yarımburgaz Mağarası ). Bathonea included according to previous findings, an area of ​​almost 8 km ², its Seemauern were half as long as the Opel of Constantinople. The wealthy capital built villas and palaces here. In the middle of the lagoon underwater archaeologists found the remains of a lighthouse, one of the few Roman, except those of Alexandria and Patara in Lycia, as well as a port. In addition, hundreds of bricks were found with the stamp " Constans ", which can also be demonstrated in all urban structures like the Hagia Sophia. The long-distance trade shows based on pottery that originated in Syria and Palestine.

Bathonea was a tribe in the sense of of Byzantium, the predecessor of Constantinople, dependent settlement. The main findings are from the period between the 2nd century BC and the 6th century AD, including the harbor with docks, wharves and surrounding buildings, harbor walls, a huge cistern of 120 × 30 m area, a Byzantine church from the 5th or 6th century and remains of roads, and a cemetery with the remains of 20 individuals. The church was badly damaged by an earthquake in the year 557, however, was to collapse in the year 1037 in use. The remains of three men who had been killed there by collapsing walls, could be salvaged. It seems like the city has never recovered from the earthquake that may had a magnitude of 8.0.

Possibly, the city represented a side port of Constantinople Opel, but is underwater archaeological research very difficult because the lagoon is heavily impacted by industrial effluents. Only after the establishment of a proposed sewage treatment plant the underwater work can be intensified.

Although the ruins were visited already in the 1920s by the Swiss artist Ernest Mamboury, but he identified them with the equally well-known from the sources Rhegium, known since the 2nd century BC. Today's Prospector is Şengül Aydıngün, lecturer (associate professor ) at the Kocaeli University. Participants include scientists from eight universities.