The Çarşamba Plain, the ancient Themiscyra Plain ( /ˌθɛmɪˈskɪrə/ ; Ancient Greek : ΘεμίσκυραThemiskyra), is a plain on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, formed largely of the delta of the Yeşilırmak river (ancient Iris), but also traversed by the much smaller Terme (ancient Thermodon) river. It is the largest delta plain on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. It lies within the districts of Tekkeköy, Çarşamba, Terme, and Salıpazarı on the eastern part of the province of Samsun. [1]
The town of Tekkeköy lies on the west end of the plain. Çarşamba lies in the middle, and is traversed by the Yeşilırmak. Terme (the ancient Themiscyra [2] ), on the east, is traversed by the Terme, as is Salıpazarı in the south.
The ancient plain has been described as:
a rich and beautiful district, ever verdant... [that] suppl[ied] food for numberless herds of oxen and horses... produced great abundance of grain, especially pannick and millet... [and that] the southern parts near the mountains furnished a variety of fruits, such as grapes, apples, pears, and nuts in such quantities that they were suffered to waste on the trees.... [m]ythology describes [it] as the native country of the Amazons. [2]
During the Middle Ages, the Yeşilırmak delta was known as Limnia . [3] The area was originally controlled by the Empire of Trebizond, which appointed an official called a kephale ("head") here to collect taxes. [3] Itt was ceded to the Turkish emirate of the Taceddinoğulları in 1379 when the emir Tadj ed-Din married Eudokia, daughter of the Trapezuntine emperor Alexios III. [3] The emirate also controlled the coast east of Çam Burnu, passing Perşembe and Bozuk Kale, which was separated from Limnia by the separate emirate of Chalybia (based at Ünye). [3]
Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta and Amisos, is a city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. Over 700,000 people live in the city. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of over 1,350,000. The city is home to Ondokuz Mayıs University, several hospitals, three large shopping malls, Samsunspor football club, an opera house and a large and modern manufacturing district. The city is best known as the place where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk began the Turkish War of Independence in 1919.
The Terme River is a short river in Samsun Province, Turkey draining into the Black Sea. Its sources are in the Pontic Mountains. It runs through the fertile Çarşamba plain to Salıpazarı, where it splits into three tributaries. The city of Terme is on the river, about 5 km from its mouth.
Samsun Province is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its area is 9,725 km2, and its population is 1,368,488 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Sinop on the northwest, Çorum on the west, Amasya on the south, Tokat on the southeast on the east. Its traffic code is 55. The provincial capital is Samsun, one of the most populated cities in Turkey.
Tekkeköy is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 326 km2, and its population is 56,318 (2022). It covers the easternmost part of the city of Samsun.
The Yeşilırmak, known as the Iris in antiquity, is a river in northern Turkey. From its source northeast of Sivas, it flows past Tokat and Amasya, crosses the Pontic Mountains and the Çarşamba Plain, reaching the Black Sea east of Samsun after 418 km (260 mi).
Larissa or Larisa (Λάρισα) Phrikonis, also known as Larisa on the Hermos, was a city in the region of Aeolis in western Asia Minor. It has been identified with an archaeological site excavated in the early 20th century on a hilltop next to the village of Buruncuk, in the vicinity of Menemen, ca. 30 km north of İzmir, although the identification has sometimes been challenged. The hill overlooks the Gediz River, known in antiquity as the Hermos, which here passes through a fertile plain formed by alluvial soil carried from the Anatolian inland.
Terme is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 548 km2, and its population is 71,092 (2022). Terme is located on Terme River, about 5 km from its mouth, on the eastern end of the Çarşamba Plain.
Themiscyra was an ancient Greek town in northeastern Anatolia; it was situated on the southern coast of the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Thermodon, probably at or near modern Terme.
Pactya or Paktye was an ancient Greek city located in ancient Thrace, on the Thracian Chersonesus. It is cited in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, in its recitation of the towns of the Thracian Chersonesus, along with Aegospotami, Cressa, Crithote and then Pactya, situated 36 stadia from Cardia. It is said that Miltiades founded it. Strabo places it on the Propontis between Crithote and Macron Teichos. According to Herodotus, Miltiades the Elder ordered a wall built between Cardia, which was on the coast of Gulf of Melas and Pactya, which was on the Propontis side, to prevent invasion of the Chersonesus by the Apsinthii. Alcibiades retired here the Athenians had for the second time deprived him of the command. It was a member of the Delian League. Pliny the Elder points out that both Cardia and Pactya later joined to form Lysimachia.
Thynias was a town of ancient Thrace on the coast of the Pontus Euxinus on a promontory of the same name, mentioned by numerous ancient authors. It was located north of Salmydessus, which was probably at one time in the territories of the Thyni, although Strabo speaks of the district as belonging to the people of Apollonia. According to Pliny the Elder, the town was placed a little to the south of the promontory.
Sigeion was an ancient Greek city in the north-west of the Troad region of Anatolia located at the mouth of the Scamander. Sigeion commanded a ridge between the Aegean Sea and the Scamander which is now known as Yenişehir and is a part of the Çanakkale district in Çanakkale province, Turkey. The surrounding region was referred to as the Sigean Promonotory, which was frequently used as a point of reference by ancient geographers since it marked the mouth of the Hellespont. The outline of this promontory is no longer visible due to the alluvial activity of the Karamenderes which has filled in the embayment east of Yenişehir. The name 'Sigeion' means 'silent place' and is derived from Ancient Greek σιγή (sigē), 'silence'; in Classical Antiquity, the name was assumed to be antiphrastic, i.e. indicating a characteristic of the place contrary to reality, since the seas in this region are known for their fierce storms.
Caryanda or Karyanda was a city on the coast of ancient Caria in southwestern Anatolia. Stephanus of Byzantium describes it as a city and harbour (λίμην) near Myndus and Cos. But λιμήν, in the text of Stephanus, is an emendation or alteration: the manuscripts use the word λίμνη ('lake'). Strabo places Caryanda between Myndus and Bargylia, and he describes it, according to the common text, as "a lake, and island of the same name with it;" and thus the texts of Stephanus, who derived his information from Strabo, agree with the texts of Strabo. Pliny simply mentions the island Caryanda with a town; but he is in that passage only enumerating islands. In another passage he mentions Caryanda as a place on the mainland, and Pomponius Mela does so too. Scylax of Caryanda, one of the most famous mariners and explorers of ancient times, was a native of Caryanda. He lived in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC and served the Persian king Darius I.
Hyrcanis or Hyrkaneis, also known as Hyrcania, was a Roman and Byzantine-era city and bishopric in ancient Lydia, now in western Turkey. It was situated in the Hyrcanian plain, which is said to have derived its name from a colony of Hyrcanians being settled here by the Persians. They were afterwards mingled with some Macedonians, who also settled in this district, whence they are called by Pliny the Elder and Tacitus "Macedones Hyrcani." The city minted its own coins.
Lycastus or Lykastos, also known as Lycastum or Lykaston, was an ancient Greek city in ancient Pontus, on a river bearing the same name. It was situated 20 stadia southeast of Amisus. Pomponius Mela calls the town Lycasto. Pherecydes spoke of a town of Lycastia, inhabited by Amazons, and situated between Themiscyra and Chalybia. The river Lycastus was but a small stream, which after a short course emptied itself into the Euxine close by the town of Lycastus.
Coryphas or Koryphas, also known as Coryphantis or Koryphantis (Κορυφαντίς), was one of the settlements of the Mytilenaeans, on the coast of ancient Aeolis, opposite to Lesbos, and north of Atarneus. It is evidently the same place which appears in the Tabula Peutingeriana under the name Corifanio, between Adramyttium and Elateia — which may be another name of Heraclea. Strabo mentions Coryphantis and Heraclea, and "after them, Attea." The oysters of Coryphas are mentioned by Pliny the Elder.
Attea was a coastal town of ancient Mysia or of Aeolis. If we follow the order of Strabo's enumeration, it lay between Heracleia and Atarneus. It has been conjectured that it is the same place which is named Attalia in the Peutinger Table. Pliny the Elder mentions an Attalia in Mysia, but he places it in the interior; and he also mentions the Attalenses as belonging to the conventus of Pergamum. It seems, then, there is some confusion in the authorities about this Attalia; and the Lydian Attalia of Stephanus of Byzantium and this Attalia of Pliny may be the same place. Also, attempts to equate the town with Attaea, a later bishopric near Ephesus, have likewise proved unsatisfactory.
Cremaste or Kremaste was a town in ancient Troad. Xenophon speaks of the town and the plain nearby "where there are the gold mines of the Abydeni." Strabo mentions the gold mines of Astyra which town is nearby. Gold mines belonging to Lampsacus are mentioned by Pliny the Elder and by Polyaenus; and they may be the same as those of Cremaste, as the town was generally between Abydus and Lampsacus.
Gadilon, also known as Gazelon (Γαζηλών), and possibly Helega, was a town in the north-west of ancient Pontus, in a fertile plain between the Halys River and Amisus. From this town the whole district received the name of Gadilonitis, which is probably the right form, which must, perhaps, be restored in two passages of Strabo, in one of which the common reading is Galaouitis (Γαλαουῖτις), and in the other Gazelotos (Γαζηλωτός). It was the site of a battle between the Umayyads, led by Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Walid, and Byzantines in 713.
Chadisia, also Chadisius or Chadisios (Χαδίσιος), was a town of ancient Pontus, not far from the coast on a river of the same name. Hecataeus, quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium, speaks of Chadisia as a city of the Leucosyri, that is, of the group the Persians called the Cappadocians; and he says, "the plain Themiscyra extends from Chadisia to the Thermodon." Menippus, in his Periplus of the two Ponti, also quoted by Stephanus, says: "from the Lycastus to the village and river Chadisius is 150 stadia, and from the Chadisius to the river Iris 100 stadia."
Homana, also known as Homona and Homonanda, was a town of ancient Pisidia and later of Isauria and Lycaonia, inhabited in Hellenistic and Roman times. Pliny the Elder puts the town in Pisidia. It appears in the Synecdemus as part of Lycaonia under the name Umanada or Oumanada. It was the capital of the Homanadeis (Ὁμαναδεῖς), who, besides Homana, are said by Tacitus to have possessed 44 forts, a statement opposed to the remarks of Strabo, according to which the Homanades, the most barbarous of all Pisidian tribes, dwelt on the northern slope of the highest mountains without any towns or villages, living only in caves. In the reign of Augustus, the consul Quirinius compelled this little tribe, by famine, to surrender, and distributed 4000 of them as colonists among the neighbouring towns. It became a bishopric; no longer the seat of a residential bishop, it remains, under the name of Homona, a titular see of the Catholic Church.