Map of the Roman Empire - Trapezus
Trapezus
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Ancient Trapezus - Important city on the coast of Pontus. In ancient times it was a Greek colony, founded by Miletus, 756 B.C. Under the Romans, Trapezus was a free city, and made the capital of Pontus Cappadocius. A new harbour was constructed at Trapezus and the city became a place of commercial importance. Modern Trebizond, Trabzon
Trapezūs (Τραπεζοῦς). Now Tarabosan, Trabezun, or Trebizond); a colony of Sinopé, at almost the extreme east of the northern shore of Asia Minor. The city derived its name either from the table-like plateau on which it was built, or because emigrants from the Arcadian Trapezus took some part in its settlement (Paus.xiii.27.4). The former is the more likely statement, since there is no reason why the main body of colonists from Sinopé should have given it the name of another town. After Sinopé lost its independence, Trapezus belonged, first to Armenia Minor, and afterwards to the kingdom of Pontus. Under the Romans, it was made a free city, probably by Pompey, and, by Trajan, the capital of Pontus Cappadocius. Hadrian constructed a new harbour; and the city became a place of first-rate commercial importance. It was also strongly fortified. It was taken by the Goths in the reign of Valerian; but it had recovered, and was in a flourishing state at the time of Justinian, who repaired its fortifications (Procop. Aed. iii. 7). In the Middle Ages it was for some time the seat of a fragment of the Greek Empire, called the Empire of Trebizond. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.
Trabzon (Ottoman Turkish: طربزون), historically known as Trapezus and
Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the
capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road,
became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a
trade gateway to Iran in the southeast, Russia and the Caucasus to the
northeast.
Roman History of Trapezus. When the kingdom was annexed to the Roman
province of Galatia in 64–65, the fleet passed to new commanders, becoming the
Classis Pontica. Trebizond gained importance under Roman rule in the 1st century
for its access to roads leading over the Zigana Pass to the Armenian frontier or
the upper Euphrates valley. New roads were constructed from Persia and
Mesopotamia under the rule of Vespasian, and Hadrian commissioned improvements
to give the city a more structured harbor. - Wikipedia
Trapezus, "table shape," A maritime city of the Macrones, in Pontus, 7 1/2 m. from Hermonassa. A Sinopian colony. In the Lower Age, the seat of a petty empire. About it the people made a sort of honey from the rhododendron, of a peculiarly intoxicating quality. Trebizond. - Classical Gazetteer
Trapezus
TRA´PEZUS (Τραπεζοῦς: Eth. Τραπεζούντιος: now Tarabosan or Trebizond), an
important city on the coast of Pontus, on the slope of a hill, 60 stadia to the
east of Hermonassa, in the territory of the Macrones (Anon. Peripl. P. E. p.
13), was a colony founded by the Sinopians, who formed many establishments on
this coast. (Xenoph. Anab. 4.8.22; Arrian, Peripl. P. E. pp. 1, 3, 6; Scylax, p.
33.) It derived its name probably from its form, being situated on an elevated
platform, as it were a table above the sea; though the town of Trapezus in
Arcadia pretended to be the mother-city of Trapezus in Pontus (Paus. 8.27. ˇě
4). Trapezus was already a flourishing town when Xenophon arrived there on his
memorable retreat; and he and his men were most hospitably treated by the
Trapezuntians. (Xen. Anab. 5.5. 10) At that time the Colchians were still in
possession of the territory, but it afterwards was occupied by the Macrones. The
real greatness of Trapezus, however, seems to have commenced under the dominion
of the Romans. Pliny (6.4) calls it a free city, a distinction which it had
probably obtained front Pompey during his war against Mithridates. In the reign
of Hadrian, when Arrian visited it, it was the most important city on the south
coast of the Euxine, and Trajan had before made it the capital of Pontus
Cappadocicus, and provided it with a larger and better harbour. (Arrian, Peripl.
P. E. p. 17; comp. Tac. Ann. 13.39, Hist. 3.47; Pomp. Mela, 1.19; Strab. vii.
pp. 309, 320, xi. p. 499, xii. p. 548; Steph. B. sub voce Henceforth it was a
strongly fortified commercial town; and although in the reign of Gallienus it
was sacked and burnt by the Goths (Zosim. 1.33; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 687), it
continued to be in such excellent condition, that in the reign of Justinian it
required but few repairs. (Procop. de Aed. 3.7.) From the Notitia Imperil
(100.27) we learn that Trapezus was the station of the first Pontian legion and
its staff. Some centuries later a branch of the imperial house of the Comneni
declared themselves independent of the Greek Empire, and made Trapezus the seat
of their principality. This small principality maintained its independence even
for some time after the fall of Constantinople; but being too weak to resist the
overwhelming power of the Turks, it was obliged, in A.D. 1460, to submit to
Mohammed II., and has ever since that time been a Turkish town. (Chalcond. ix.
p. 263, foll.; Due. 45; comp. Gibbon, Decline, c. xlviii. foll.) The port of
Trapezus, called Daphnus, was formed by the acropolis, which was built on a rock
running out into the sea. (Anon. Peripl. P. E. p. 13.) The city of Trebizond is
still one of the most flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, but it
contains no ancient remains of any interest, as most of them belong to the
period of the Lower Empire. (Tournefort, Voyage au Levant, iii., lettre 17, p.
79, foll; Fontanier, Voyages dans l'Orient, p. 17--23; Hamilton's Researches, i.
p. 240.) The coins of Trapezus all belong to the imperial period, and extend
from the reign of Trajan to that of Philip. (Eckhel, 1.2. p. 358; Sestini, p.
60.)
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.