Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "VISII Ancient city TURKEY".
The home of the mythological king Tereus (Plin. HN 4.47; 10.70). It
was the capital city of the last Thracian dynasty of the Odrysian line, the center
of the client kingdom of the Astai, which lasted until A.D. 44 (Strab. 7. frag.
47[48]).
The ancient site, still occupied by the modern town, lies somewhat
N of a line between Adrianople and Constantinople, on the present N highway through
Turkish Thrace. Substantial remains of fortifications still rise along the W and
S sides of the acropolis. The earliest parts of the wall circuit have been dated
to the Hellenistic period. The appearance of the main gateway is known from a
coin of the time of the emperor Caligula (Syll. Num. Graec. IV; Fitzwilliam Museum,
No. 1662). It shows an arched opening between two round towers and suggests that
a freestanding model of a quadriga may have stood over the arch. Numerous curved
seat blocks in and around the acropolis are evidence of a nearby theater.
Reused blocks from Classical buildings can be seen in many houses
of the modern town, and traces of a large building of Roman date were found (1938)
in the quarter called Kaledibi, but no specific identifications can be made. At
some distance from the citadel, on Comlekci Tepe, a villa of the 2d-3d c. was
found. The discovery of numerous inscriptions has facilitated the reconstruction
of the complicated family relationships in the last generations of the dynasty
of Rhoemetalces.
Four km S of the town, along the banks of the river (Anadere or Bogazkoy
Deresi), a group of nine grave tumuli have been investigated. Tumulus A, the most
important of the group, contained the barrel-vaulted chamber tomb of a wealthy
and distinguished personage, quite probably one of the kings of Bizye. The tomb
is a rectangle (4.62 x 3.12 m). The side walls rise 1.18 m to the springing of
the vault, which at its center is 2.74 m above the floor. A large doorway (1.40
x 1.17 m) was sealed by an even larger stone slab, attached to the door frame
with heavy iron staples. The tomb had not been robbed. Inside the burial chamber,
a stone sarcophagus (more than 2 x 1 m) was fitted with a heavy stone lid, also
attached by iron staples. The sarcophagus contained the ashes of the deceased
and a rich assortment of articles in gold, silver, and bronze.
In the remainder of the tomb there were bronze vessels and lamp stands
and a large number of ceramic vessels. The walls of the chamber were covered with
painted stucco which had been seriously damaged by damp and earthquakes. Sufficient
evidence was preserved to permit a complete restoration of the tomb in the Istanbul
Archaeological Museum.
To the E of the city, a rock shrine sacred to the local Thracian
divinities was uncovered in 1963. It consists of a rock temple, an altar and a
sacred precinct, which can probably be dated to the 6th c. B.C.
T. S. MacKay, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Sep 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
(Bizue). A Thracian city on the Euxine Sea, northwest of Byzantium. The poets declare it to have been shunned by swallows because of the fate of Tereus
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