Nicaea

Nicaea (Iznik)

Nicaea, once one of the glories of the Byzantine Empire, was, at the time of the First Crusade, the capital of the Seljuk Turk sultanate of Rhüm ruled by Kilij Arslan. It first fell to the Turks in 1078, but was recaptured shortly afterwards. It was taken again in 1081, then recaptured once more before falling for the third time in 1086 - a sequence of events which underlines its strategic and psychological importance. In 1097, its population was still mostly Christian, although it had a large Turkish garrison.

The city lies in a fertile basin at the eastern end of the Ascanian lake (now called Iznik Gölü), with its west wall rising straight of the water. Its wall was about 5 km long, about 10 m high with over a hundred towers. Outside the wall a double ditch gave further protection. Access through the wall was afforded by three gates: the Istanbul Gate (in the north), the Lefke Gate (in the east), and Yenisehir Gate (in the South). The west wall was also pierced with gates which gave access to wharfs and jetties, from which small boats plied across the lake. These boats gave the city a lifeline which made it impossible to blockade unless the attackers, too, had boats.

It is bounded to the to the north and south by ranges of hills - especially apparent to the south where the ground rises sharply into the 800 m high Avdan Daglari range which overlooks the city. To the east, a wide and gently sloping valley leads away towards Ankara and the Anatolian Plateau.