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Nicomedia
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Ancient Nicomedia A Graeco-Roman metropolis in Bithynia (Northwest Asia Minor) and capital of Bithynia during Roman Empire times. Later it became a naval headquarters. Diocletian made it the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire. The famous Hannibal came to Nicomedia in his final years and committed suicide in the nearby city of Libyssa. Nicomedia was also the birthplace of the historian Arrian, and it was at Nicomedia that Constantine died. Modern name is Izmit.

Nicomedia. A celebrated city of Bithynia, built by King Nicomedes I. (B.C. 264), at the northeastern corner of the Sinus Astacenus. Under the Romans it was a colony, and a favourite residence of several of the later emperors, especially of Diocletian and Constantine the Great. It is memorable in history as the scene of Hannibal's death, and was the birthplace of the historian Arrian. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

Nicomedia (Greek: Νικομήδεια, modern İzmit in Turkey) was founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and, in early Antiquity, was called Astacus (lobster).[1] After being destroyed by Lysimachus,[2] it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most important cities in northwestern Asia Minor. Hannibal came to Nicomedia in his final years and committed suicide in nearby Libyssa (Diliskelesi, Gebze). The historian Arrian was born there. Nicomedia was the metropolis of Bithynia under the Roman Empire, and Diocletian made it the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire in 286 when he introduced the Tetrarchy system. Nicomedia remained as the eastern (and most senior) capital of the Roman Empire until co-emperor Licinius was defeated by Constantine the Great at the Battle of Chrysopolis (�sk�dar) in 324. Constantine mainly resided in Nicomedia as his interim capital city for the next six years, until in 330 he declared the nearby Byzantium (which was renamed Constantinople (present-day Istanbul)) the new capital. Constantine died in a royal villa in the vicinity of Nicomedia in 337. Owing to its position at the convergence of the Asiatic roads leading to the new capital, Nicomedia retained its importance even after the foundation of Constantinople. However, a major earthquake on 24 August 358 caused extensive devastation to Nicomedia and was followed by a fire which completed the catastrophe. - Wikipedia

Nicomedia NICOMEDEIA
NICOMEDEIA  (Isnikmid or Ismid), the capital of Bithynia, situated on the north-eastern coast of the Sinus Astacenus, a part of the Propontis. The town of Astacus, a little to the south-east of Nicomedeia, was destroyed, or greatly damaged, by Lysimachus; and some time after, B.C. 264, Nicomedes I. built the town of Nicomedeia, to which the inhabitants of Astacus were transferred (Steph. B. sub voce Strab. xii. p.563; Paus. 5.12.5; Euseb. Ckron. Ol. 129. 1). The founder of the new city made it the capital of his kingdom, and in a short time it became one of the largest and most flourishing cities, and continued to prosper for more than six centuries. Pliny, in his letters to the emperor Trajan, mentions several public buildings of the city, such as a senate-house, an aqueduct, a forum, a temple of Cybele, &c., and speaks of a great fire, during which the place suffered much (Epist. 10.42, 46). Respecting its rivalry with Nicaea, see NICAEA. According to Pliny (5.43), Nicomedeia was 62 1/2 miles to the south-east of Chalcedon, while according to others it was only 60 or 61 miles distant (It. Ant. pp. 124, 140; It. Hieros. p. 572; Tab. Peut.) Under the Roman Empire Nicomedeia was often the residence of the emperors, such as Diocletian and Constantine, especially when they were engaged in war against the Parthians or Persians. (Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 39; Nicephor. vii. in fin.) The city often suffered from earthquakes, but owing to the munificence of the emperors it was always restored (Ammian. 17.7; Philostorg. iv. p. 506). It also suffered much from an invasion of the Scythians (Ammian. 22.9, 12, 13). The orator Libanius (Orat. 62, tom. iii. p. 337, ed. Reiske) mourns the loss of its thermae, basilicae, temples, gymnasia, schools, public gardens, &c., some of which were afterwards restored by Justinian (Procop. de Aed. 5.1; comp. Ptol. 5.1.3, 8.17.4; Hierocl. p. 691). From inscriptions we learn that in the later period of the empire Nicomedeia enjoyed the honour of a Roman colony (Orelli, Inscript. No. 1060). The city is also remarkable as being the native place of Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great, and as the place where Hannibal put an end to his chequered life. Constantine breathed his last at his villa Ancyron, near Nicomedeia (Cassiod. Chron. Const.; Philostorg. ii. p. 484). The modern Ismid still contains many interesting remains of antiquity, respecting which see Pococke, vol. iii. p. 143, &c.; Description de l'Asie Mizneure, tom. i.; comp. Rasche, Lexic. Rei Num. 3.1. p. 1435, &c.  - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.