SINOP in Ancient Times
CHAPTER ONE
Pre-history
Searching for the northern most tip of Asian Turkey, (1) we find the great peninsula of Lepte, as it was called in ancient times. Today the Turks style it by its two capes, calling them, the Ince Burun (2) and the Sinop Burun. The Sinop Burun is of our immediate interest here, although much later in our history the Ince Burun also plays some part.
The Sinop Burun is, practically speaking, an island of the average elevation of six hundred feet, stretching to a length of two miles and to a width of one mile. It is joined to the mainland by a near sea-level isthmus, which has an average width of a quarter of a mile. The Sinop Burun extends from the peninsula almost due east, which gives it a northern and southern buy. The southern bay is well protected, having the Sinop Burun on one side and the mainland on the other.
Inland, the peninsula is isolated from the rest of Asian Turkey by the northern chain of mountains called the Kuzey Anadolu Daglari. The highest peak near the peninsula is Mt. Yaraligoz which is an elevation of 6512 feet. The peninsula is divided by the Karasu River, which separates the lace Burun from the Sinop Burun. About sixty miles to the east, lies the Kizil River, better known as the Halys River in ancient times.
The origin of the peninsula is a pleasure to illustrate, because the strata in the bill of the Sinop Burun are so well defined, Long before man came on the surface of the earth or even before Asian Turkey in its present geography was located, the Black (3) was disturbed by under water volcanoes. The lowest stratum of the Sinop Burun reveals these ancient eruptions. Later in ancient times, as the sea gathered its dead life, fossilization occurred. This caused the rich limestone deposits above the volcanic rock. And then almost certainly before the dawn of man, when the seas began to form from the great ice ages and land was formed from earthquakes, the Sinop Burun was projected from the sea. The isthmus does not seem to have limestone, but rather volcanic rock and then earth accumulated there long after the Sinop Burun was formed. Even in historical times, the isthmus was flooded and the water has deposited more sand there, even though some parts of the isthmus seemed to have slipped into the sea.
The weather is rather mild with the rain season in the early spring, and hot summers with cool breezes from the Black Sea. The autumn months are afflicted with occasional cold waves with snow and ice for not more than a few weeks at a time.
FIRST FOUNDATION
It is often theorized that the Assyrians, and especially the Hittites, inhabited the Sinop precincts. Some historians claim that it was Sinop that the Hittites referred to as Sinuwa However, if the Assyrians or the Hittites ever came to Sinop, they didn’t leave any trace which the archaeologists, Drs. Akurgal and Budde,, could discover in 1951 and 1953. As early as 1200 B.C. we read on Assyrian tablets of people known as the Gasgas. These people were believed to have lived in the Sinop area, but their remains have yet to be found.
After 1184 B.C., Greeks known as the Argonauts began to explore the Black Sea. It was known to some as the Pontos, which means the open sea. Others called it the Euxine Sea, or the Hospitable, as if to pacify its treacherous waters. The Black Sea was a challenge to the young Greek seeking adventure and wealth. The tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece of the land of Colchis (4) promised all these. The Odyssey of Homer, which has today been misconceived, referred to the Black Sea. The straits of the Dardanalles and the Bosphorus were the hazards of Scylla and Charybdis. Our own subject, Sinop, could well have been the home of the Cyclops. During the early spring, low hanging clouds and blankets of mist vanish the hill of the Sinop Burun; until an unsuspecting sail is too close to the rising cape to escape the treacherous rocks under which the waters suck violently, boats even today fear to tread near it. One of the followers of Heracles the Argonaut, Autolycus, fell victim to the Cyclops; but managed to save himself and was marooned for a time on the Sinop Burun. It was during this time that he probably made friends with the natives and made it possible for future Greek colonists to establish a settlement there. He was later rescued by Heracles. Since he is accredited with having founded Sinop, it is believed that he later returned with a group of colonists. Autolycus found interested Greeks in Miletus, (5) and between 780 and 756 B.C., the Milesians founded a settlement in the isthmus of the Sinop Burun calling it Sinop. In naming it, they had in mind the Cyclops which Homer so poetically named the hazard of the Sinop Burun. The name Sinop comes from the Greek, 'sinomai' which means to injure or to destroy. Thus, Sinop was appropriately named the Destroyer. Some historians try to trace the name of Sinop to the moon-god, Sin, of the Assyrians, but this is highly unlikely since the Assyrians never established themselves in Sinop. Sinop was also spelled by the by the ancient Greeks as Sinope; but the last 'e' was short, and not pronounced. In English, it is more appropriate to spell it as it is today for the sake of less mis-pronounciation. The early settlers experienced great hardships in this land still inhabited by the uncivilized natives. Many of the Milesians backed out of this great task of colonization; for Sinop was still in the middle of the unknown world as far as they were concerned, and the likelihood of their survival was thin.
TEMPORARY DESTRUCTION
In 700 B.C., Phrygia (6) under King Midas, the king fabled for his golden touch, established control of the new settlement of Sinop in hopes of stopping the barbaric Cimmerians, infiltrating from the north through the Caucasus Mountains. German and Turkish archaeologists, in 1951 and 1953, found several examples of Phrygian pottery in Sinop; so it seems that Sinop reached a peak of prosperity under Phrygia. But the horse-equipped Cimmerians streamed through the Black Sea coastal area, and Sinop fell to their plunder and destruction in 677 B.C. They had been momentarily defeated already by the great Assyrian power under King Assarhaddon. who boasted his victory over Teuspa the Cimmerian. Halted then, by the Assyrians, they succeeded in crushing there the rest of Midas’ Phrygian kingdom and advanced to the borders of Lydia. Gyges, who claimed descent from Heracles the Argonaut, and was born in Sinop in 716 B.C., had become king of Lydia in 687 B.C. He appealed to King Assurbanipal of Assyria for aid and succeeded in halting the Cimmerian advance. Gyges, confident that his wealth would substantiate his power, broke his relations with Assyria, and was faced with a renewed attack from the Cimmerians. In 657 B.C., he was killed in battle, and his capitol, Sardis, was taken. Finally, with a joint effort, Ardys, the new king of Lydia, with the help of Assyria, scattered the Cimmerians to the extent that they ceased to be a threat A wave of Scythians came down from the north in 635 B.C., and destroyed the remainder of the Cimmerians in the Sinop area. The Scythians retired, however, when they met the superior forces of Assyria.