To the south of the Propontis was Mysia and to the west of it was Troas, the site of Homeric battles and legends. East of the Troas was Mygdonia. On the shores of Mysia stretched Aeolis with its 12 cities. The southernmost part of Mysia was also called "Teuthrania", in which Pergamos flourished. These were mainly mountainous regions, with vasts forests watered by numerous rivers. The most famous are the historical Granikos and Scamander of Troy. The European travelers of the 19th century for the central part of Anatolia passed through these areas, coming from the via militaris and via Egnatia.
In Mysia there were numerous and flourishing cities: Adramyttio, Apollonia, Assos, Kyzikos, Lampsacus, Pergamos, Proconnisos, Stratoniceia, as well as the cities of Troy: Abydos, Alexandria Troas, Troy/ Ilion, Larissa, Scamandria, Skipsis and others. The Mysoi, a tribe related to the Phrygians and Thracians, are first mentioned by Homer as friends and allies of the Trojans and enemies of the Greeks. They are a different people from the Moesians, a people of Moesia, in the northern Balkans, although both were related to the Thracians.
Bithynia, although it has a long history, flourished in the Byzantine years, both because of its proximity to Constantinople, but also because of its strategic position on the way to the Holy Land and its good road network. Nicomedia, which almost became the second capital under Diocletian, Bursa with its famous baths loved by Empress Theodora and the fortress of Nicaea were the most important cities of Bithynia. Nicaea, where two of the Ecumenical Councils were held, became the Capital of the Greek Empire of Nicaea (1204-1259) after the fall of Constantinople by the Crusaders.
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