View source for Heraclea Pontica

{{Short description|Ancient city on the coast of Bithynia}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Heraclea Pontica
| native_name = Ἡράκλεια Ποντική
| alternate_name = 
| image = Heraclea-Pontica.png
| alt = 
| caption = Map indicating Heraclea Pontica (underlined in red) during the Roman expansion in 133 BC
| map_type = Turkey
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| map_size = 285
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| coordinates = {{coord|41|17|5|N|31|24|53|E|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Karadeniz Ereğli]], [[Zonguldak Province]], [[Turkey]]
| region = [[Bithynia]]
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| builder = Colonists from [[Megara]]
| material = 
| built = Between 560–558 BC
| abandoned = 
| epochs = [[Archaic Greece]]
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}}

'''Heraclea Pontica''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|ɛ|r|ə|ˈ|k|l|iː|ə|_|ˈ|p|ɒ|n|t|ᵻ|k|ə}}; {{langx|grc|Ἡράκλεια Ποντική|Hērákleia Pontikḗ}}; {{IPA|grc-x-attic|hɛːrákleːa pontikɛ́ː|lang|link=yes}}, {{IPA|grc-x-koine|(h)e̝ˈraklia pontiˈke̝|lang|link=yes}}), known in [[Byzantine]] and later times as '''Pontoheraclea''' ({{langx|el|Ποντοηράκλεια|Pontohērakleia}}), was an ancient city on the coast of [[Bithynia]] in [[Asia Minor]], at the mouth of the river [[Lycus (river of Bithynia)|Lycus]]. The site is now the location of the modern city [[Karadeniz Ereğli]], in the [[Zonguldak Province]] of [[Turkey]].

== History ==
Heraclea Pontica was [[Colonies in antiquity#Relations of colony and metropolis|founded by]] the Greek city-state of [[Megara]]<ref>For report of Boeotian involvement see [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus%2e+5%2e26%2e7 Pausanias 5.26.7]</ref> in approximately 560–558 BC and was named after [[Heracles]] who the Greeks believed [[Katabasis|entered the underworld]] at a cave on the adjoining [[Acherusia]]n cape.

The colonists soon subjugated the native [[Mariandyni]]ans{{sfn|Hogarth|1911}} but agreed to terms that none of the latter, now [[Helots|helot]]-like serfs, be sold into slavery outside their homeland. Prospering from the rich, fertile adjacent lands and the sea-fisheries of its natural harbor, Heraclea soon extended its control along the coast as far east as Cytorus (Gideros, near [[Cide]]), eventually establishing Black Sea colonies of its own ([[Cytorus (ancient settlement)|Cytorus]], [[Callatis]] and [[Chersonesos Taurica|Chersonesus]]). It was the birthplace of the philosopher [[Heraclides Ponticus]].

The prosperity of the city, rudely shaken by the [[Galatia]]ns and the [[Bithynia]]ns, was utterly destroyed in the [[Mithridatic Wars]].{{sfn|Hogarth|1911}}

The Greek historical author [[Memnon of Heraclea]] (fl. 1st century AD) wrote a local history of Heraclea Pontica in at least sixteen books. The work has perished, but [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]]'s ''Bibliotheca'' preserves a compressed account of books 9–16, seemingly the only ones extant in his day. These books run from the rule of the tyrant [[Clearchus of Heraclea|Clearchus]] (c. 364–353 BC) to the later years of [[Julius Caesar]] (c. 40 BC) and contain many colorful accounts including the Bithynian introduction of the barbarian [[Gauls]] into Asia where they first allied themselves with the Heracleans and later turned violently against them.

Then, Heraclea Pontica was part of the (Eastern) Roman Empire for more than 1000 years. The Turks ravaged the area after the [[Battle of Mantzikert]] in 1071. [[David Komnenos]], brother of the ruler of Trebizond [[Alexios I of Trebizond]], took Heraclea Pontica in 1205 and made it capital of his domain, called Paphlagonia; he lost it in 1214 to Theodore I Laskaris, who made it a major frontier bulwark. The Genoese had a colony there after 1261. When the Turks conquered Paphlagonia in 1360, Genoa bought the city from the weakening Byzantine Empire. Heraclea developed as a trading centre of the Genoese, who settled there in large numbers. A ruined citadel on a height overlooking the town is a remnant of this period. The Italian name of the city was Pontarachia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Genoese portolan nautical chart. The oldest original cartographic artifact in the Library of Congress. Second quarter of the 14th century.|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Mediterranean_chart_fourteenth_century2.jpg}}</ref> The Genoese held the city until the Ottomans captured it after 1453.<ref>Kazhdan, Alexander P. - The [[Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]] - Volume 2 (1991, Oxford University Press), entry "Herakleia Pontike"</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Encyclopedia Britannica - entry 'Ereğli'|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Eregli-Zonguldak-province-Turkey}}</ref>

==Notable people==
* [[Herodorus]], [[mythographer]], born in Heraclea.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Heracles the Philosopher (Herodorus, Fr. 14) |first=Christopher |last=Moore |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/S0009838817000404 |journal=[[The Classical Quarterly]] |volume=67 |issue=1 |date=May 2017 |pages=27–48|s2cid=171782488 }}</ref>
* [[Heraclides Ponticus]], philosopher and astronomer, born in Heraclea<ref>{{Cite DGRG|title=Heraclea}}</ref>
* [[Evagrius Ponticus]], philosopher, monk, and ascetic
* [[Xenagoras (historian)]], historian<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/nu/598 Suda Encyclopedia, nu.598]</ref>
* [[Memnon of Heraclea]], historian
* [[Bryson of Heraclea]], mathematician and sophist
* [[Clearchus of Heraclea]], tyrant of Heraclea
* [[Timotheus of Heraclea]], son of Clearchus and succeeded him after his death
* [[Chion of Heraclea]], a disciple of [[Plato]] who helped assassinate the tyrant Clearchus
* [[Oxyathres of Heraclea]], tyrant of Heraclea
* [[Chamaeleon (philosopher)|Chamaeleon]], philosopher
* [[Promathidas of Heraclea]], historian<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001.perseus-grc2:11.77 Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, §11.77]</ref><ref>[http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/athenee/livre7gr.htm#295a Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, §7.2957]</ref>
* [[Marcian of Heraclea]], geographer
* [[Nicetas of Heraclea]], [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] of Heraclea
* [[Dionysius of Heraclea]], tyrant of Heraclea
* [[Amastris (daughter of Oxyathres)|Amastris]], tyrant of Heraclea, niece to [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian King]] [[Darius III]]
* [[Diogenianus]], a Greek grammarian
* [[Theodore Stratelates]], Christian martyr saint

== See also ==
* [[List of ancient Greek cities]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Heraclea|display=Heraclea ''s.v.'' Heraclea Pontia|volume=13|page=308|first=David George|last=Hogarth|author-link=David George Hogarth}}
*"Outpost of Hellenism: The Emergence of Heraclea on the Black Sea", Stanley Mayer Burstein, University of California Publications:  Classical Studies, 14 (Berkeley, 1976).

== Further reading ==
* Bittner, Angela (1998). ''Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft in Herakleia Pontike. Eine Polis zwischen Tyrannis und Selbstverwaltung'' [Society and economy in Heraclea Pontica. A polis between tyranny and self-government]. Bonn: Habelt, {{ISBN|3-7749-2824-X}}.
* [[Wolfram Hoepfner|Hoepfner, Wolfram]] (1966). ''Herakleia Pontike – Ereğli. Eine baugeschichtliche Untersuchung'' [Heraclea Pontica - Ereğli. An architectural study]. [[Tituli Asiae Minoris]], supplementary volume 1. Vienna: Böhlau.
* Saprykin, Sergei J. (1997). ''Heracleia Pontica and Tauric Chersonesus before Roman domination. VI–I centuries B.C.'' Amsterdam: Hakkert, {{ISBN|90-256-1109-5}}.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080506125920/http://www.stoa.org/gallery/Roman-Imperial/EGE_13_Lysimachean_AE_18 Coin minted in Heraclea Pontica 3rd–2nd century BC.]
* [http://www.attalus.org/translate/memnon1.html Photius's Bibliotheca 224, Memnon of Heraclea, History of Heraclea]

{{Ancient settlements in Turkey}}
{{Pontic colonies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Heraclea Pontica| ]]
[[Category:History of Karadeniz Ereğli]]
[[Category:Greek colonies in Bithynia]]
[[Category:Populated places in Bithynia]]
[[Category:Megarian colonies]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 6th century BC]]
[[Category:Members of the Delian League]]
[[Category:Populated places of the Byzantine Empire]]