Sinop, Turkey

Template: Infobox city in Turkey / Maintenance / County

Sinop (Greek Σινώπη Sinope Sinope German ), harbor town and seaside resort on the Black Sea, is the capital of the Turkish province of Sinop in northern Anatolia. The city has about 35,000 inhabitants, in the summer months but up to 50,000. Sinop is located on the transition to the mainland upstream Peninsula and is at the narrowest point only 200 m wide.

History

Sinop has played a significant role as a cultural and commercial center on the Black Sea over several millennia. The oldest traces of human settlement date back to the Bronze Age.

Sinop was an early Black Sea colony located on the west coast of Asia Minor Greek city of Miletus. The earliest archaeological evidence of Greek colonization from the late 7th century BC, which fits well with the traditional founding date of Eusebius 631 BC. The authenticity of a still significantly earlier first founded before the middle of the 8th century BC, some ancient authors mention (pseudo Skymnos, indirectly Strabo ), is controversial in modern research. If that were this early date to Sinop would be the oldest Greek colony in the Black Sea region. In the 7th century BC, the Cimmerians, who had invaded around 700 BC in Asia Minor who, among other things, " In the area around Sinope " established. They should have expelled the early Greek colonists. A chime skills grave, proving the presence of the Cimmerians in this area, has been discovered a few years ago south of Sinop. After the expulsion of the Cimmerians by the Lydians in the last third of the 7th century it came to (re? ) Colonization by Milesians.

Sinop became one of the most important colonies, and there were many other colonies along the Black Sea coast, so (today Samsun), Cerausos ( Giresun ), and Trapezous (Trabzon ), founded eg Amisus of Sinop, which it itself brought to great importance.

183 BC conquered Pharnakes I. Sinop and made ​​it the capital of the kingdom of Pontus. After the defeat of the Pontic King Mithridates VI. 64 BC against the Roman general Pompey the Great verleibten the Romans Pontos in their kingdom, and the influence Sinops decreased. Julius Caesar founded in the year 46 BC a colony in Sinop.

After the Seljuks had taken the city in 1214, the city grew in importance again and belonged to the Ottoman Empire since 1458.

After the devastating battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Ottoman Sultan Selim II had in Sinop build several hundred ships for the fleet of the empire. For workers were brought from across the Ottoman Empire to Sinop, many of whom settled in the region. They wore, as well as Greeks, Circassians, Georgians, Bulgarians and Turks for cultural diversity.

On November 30, 1853, shortly after the outbreak of the Crimean War, attacked the Russian Black Sea Fleet, under Vice Admiral Nakhimov the Ottoman port of Sinope with explosive shells and shot all the ships lying there on fire. It burned much of the city down.

Importance for the history of art: Sinops chalk production was for the frescoes of Italian Renaissance painting of great importance. From Sinop the painters of the Italian Renaissance based a special reddish chalk with which they the preliminary drawings, named after the place of manufacture of chalk sinopie (see Sinopienmuseum in Pisa ) for which to be painted frescoes on the dry rough plaster, called Berapp, auftrugen.

Famous people

  • Diogenes (about 400-323 BC), philosopher
  • Mithridates VI. ( 132-63 BC ), King of Pontus
  • Marcion (before 100-160 AD), a Christian theologian
  • Phocas of Sinope († 117 or 303), Christian saint
  • Only Riza (1879-1942), politician
  • Necmettin Erbakan (1926-2011), former Prime Minister
  • Hakan Ünsal (born 1973 ), footballer
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