The City Walls of Nicaea

Abstract

The village of İznik, north-east of Brussa, and far from all traderoutes, is today the mere ghost of what was once an important city. It is quite hidden within the ancient circumvallation, and occupies scarcely a third of the former area of the town. The wall itself, one of -the most impressive and best-preserved Byzantine monuments of Asia Minor, forms an irregular polygon (plan, FIG. I). The lacus Ascanius washes it on the west, while the other sides are bordered by a green, well-wooded plain, gradually giving place on the north-east to the slopes of Elmali dagh. A charming view of the village and walls can be abtained from a small knoll about 300 metres east of the city, with the lake shimmering in the distance and the fields shaded with cypresses, planes, walnut and other fruit-trees. The description of Catullus still holds good (Nicaeaeque ager uber aestuosae, 46.5): nature here is inexhaustible, and gives in abundance of the finest fruits to anyone who tills the earth. From May to October the weather is nearly always good, and in the height of summer the heat can be unbearable. Certainly the air is no longer pure and healthy as it was in Byzantine days; neglected water-courses and pools of subterranean water have brought malaria in their train. Nor is the sea alive with boats, for there is no fishing. Yet within recent years an improvement has taken place in those conditions which gave older travellers reason for feeling melancholy or annoyance, and it begins to look as if the village were slowly awakening from its long sleep.