By examining these inscriptions upon the statues, coins and alters around Sinop, seven gods of the 12 greater gods of the greeks have been found. These are Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Demeter, Athenia, and Ares. Minor gods and goddesses noted include Dionysus, Asclepius, Isus, and Serapis. Four mythical heros are noted: Perseus, Hercules, Jason, and Aytolycus and four astral divinities as previously mentioned: Helius, Sin or Selene, Hydrachos and Sirius.

The statue and shrine of Aytolycus imply a temple dedicated to the city’s founder. There an oracle of the city’s founder was probably consulted particularly in political matters.

The significance of Sinop’s worship of Apollo may be found in the fact that the Milesians who immigrated to Sinop continued to worship their former city’s god. Apollo was regarded as the founder of Miletus and the Milesians naturally promoted the worship of their former town’s chief god at the new colony. The story of the abduction of Sine speaks of her, in one version, as being brought from Boetia by Apollo. Several varieties of coins have been found with Apollo’s figure on the divine side.

This sea colony would naturally, in it’s trade and culture relations with Greece, be introduced to Poseidon, god of the sea and water. On ancient Sinopean coins we see him appear both seated and standing. In both cases his symbols, the dolpin and trident appear. The prominence of this cult appears from a degree giving valuable honors to the priest of Poseidon. He was exempted from military duty; given certain portions of public sacrifices; and at public contests an honored seat, wine and wreaths.

The most prominent Sinopean diety was Serapis. Upon hearing of Serapis in Egypt, a combination of Osiris, the sun god, and Apis, the Sinopeans identified him with the greek god, Zeus Helios; and the Egyptians did the same. From the time of Hadrian, Serapis is the most frequent god appearing on Sinopean coins. Diogenes, upon hearing Alexander identified with Dionysus, is said to have replied: "Then call me Serapis". This implies that Serapis was the most important local god of his native city, Sinop. Plutaroh and Clement state that Ptolemy Soter secured the image of the god Serapis from Sinop.

Along with the worship of Serapis naturally went the worship of Isis. Isis and Serapis are but another in the series of names for the Babylonian Tammus-Ishter and Eqyptian Osiris-Isis legend. The Priestess of Isis are known to have been at Sinop due to inscriptions unearthed at Sinop.

With the Romans, came the practice of emporer worship. This served as a strong political and social means of unification in the provinces. The strongest evidence of emperor worship is the fact that the head of Augustus Caesar, among other emperors, was placed on the side of the coins where the figures of deities were generally placed.

Finally came Christianity which caused the pagan temples to be deserted and in many cases converted into churches. Pliny the Younger wrote of the early Christians in Sinop: "The Christians were want to meet together on a stated day, before it was light, and to sing among themselves alternately a hymn to Christ as to God and bind themselves by an oath, not to commit any wickedness, nor to be guilty of theft or robbery or adultry; never to falsify their word; and not to deny a pledge commited to them when called upon to return it".

However, as was true elsewhere in the Roman Empire, Christians were persecuted; and the greater number of the roman governors of Sinop were no exception. They slaughtered hundreds of Christians offering them as sacrifices to their own pagan gods.

Sinop suffered from the selfish ambitions of it’s early Roman Governors. Their provinces were regarded by the Governors as places to be exploited. A better day came under the Roman Empire. Under Augustus, Sinop became an imperial province under the senate. The Proconsuls were appointed for one year periods. Then under Trajan, Sinop became an Imperial Province with the Governors directly responsible to the Emperor.

In Pliny the Younger, Sinop found an excellent Governor. He did a great deal to raise the standard of living for Sinop. He constructed an acqueduct 16 miles long which brought pure water from the interior. His report in regard to Christianity shows consideration for the mental and spiritual welfare of the people of his province.

When the Roman Emperor Constantine professed Christianity in 315 A.D. the Christian religion began to grow at a rapid pace throughout the empire including Sinop. In 333 A.D. Constantine made Byzantine his new capital splitting the Roman Empire into two sections: The western part of the Roman Empire and the eastern or Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was gradually to develop it;s own branch of Christianity called Greek Orthodoz. This was the type of Christianity destined to predominate in Sinop.

The first monastery in Sinop was a Byzantine Monastery built during the fifth century A.D. This monastery was destroyed during the 8^th century and rebuilt again the following century. The remains of it still stand west of Sinop. A Byzantine Chapel was built on the hill overlooking the city.

In Sinop itself, most of the remaining walls existing today were constructed during Byzantine times as a defense against nomadic marauders. The clock tower in Sinop is Byzantine in structure and still in good condition. The remains of an old Byzantine Fort may still be seen along the coastline of Sinop. Byzantine rule was to be maintained in Sinop until the middle of the 12^th century.

With the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204 Alexius of the Andonikes Commeni Dynasty fled to eastern Turkey. There he established the Trabzon Roman Empire stretching from Eregli to Kafkasya with the capital at Trabzon. Sinop was included in this empire.

Sinop battled with the Commeni against the nomadic Arab Tribes, who, under the common cause of the Moslem religion, were conquering the Middle East and most of Asia Minor in the name of Allah. These tribes attacked Samsun, Traszon, and Sinop; However, the Commeni and Sinop managed to withstand their early assaults. But in 1215 Sinop was torn from the Commeni by the Seljuk Turks under the leadership of Sultan Keykavus I who added Sinop to his provinces.

Converted to Islam by the Persians, particularly the Sassanids, the Seljuk Turks had grown gradually in power, and succeeded in conquering all the middle Anatolian Area that had once been the Byzantine Empire.

Sinop passed through a prosperous period during the time of Alaeddin Keyubet I, who succeeded Izzedin Keykavus I upon his death in 1219. Because of the struggles between the Seljuk, Emirs Izzedin Keykavus II and Rukeddin Kilic Aslan IV, which lasted fifty years, the Traszib Emperor, Uani Commeni, managed to recapture Sinop. From 1254 to 1281 Sinop was once more part of the Trabzon Empire.

Huinuddin Suleyman Pervance, Vizier of the Seljuk Ruler, Rudnedding, recaptured Sinop in 1281. Ruknedding Kilic Aslan IV gave the city to him as a freehold. The town remained under Aslan until he was killed by the Mongol Kahn Illhan Abaka at Tobris.

After Ruknedding’s death Sinop came under the rule of the principality of the Pervance Dynasty. The Prevance Rulers were good sovereigns and Sinop prospered. Upon the death of the last of the Mle Pervances, Gazi Celebi, Sinop was ruled by his daughter; and during this period Sinop was referred to as Hatun Eli. "The Women’s Hand." Upon her death in 1326 , Sinop was annexed by Suleyman Pasa of the Candar Dynasty. His son, Ibrahin, was appointed governor of Sinop. The rule of the Candar Dynasty ended in 1461 A.D. With the capture of Sinop by Mehre The Conqueror, an Ottoman Turk, who joined the city to that newly formed Ottoman Empire.

Sinop’s history under the Ottoman Empire is largely that of an important naval base and dockyard for all ships in the Black Sea area. One of the 19^th Century’s greatest naval dramas took place at Sinop at 1855 A.D. on Nov. 30^th. A turkish squadron and transports, consisting of virtually the entire Turkish Navy, under the command of Osman Pasa, were destroyed by the Russians while anchored in the harbor of Sinop. The Turkish Fleet was taking provisions and military supplies to the Turkish Units at Batum.

While anchored in the Sinop harbor, the Russian Navy, under the command of Admiral Nahimof, caught them at close quarters; annihilated the fleet; and bombarded the city. The Russians were quickly driven back by the big guns of the Turkish Shore Batteries, and except for serving as a strategic harbor for the Ottoman Empire for Turkish ships to refuel and rest, Sinop played little part in the Crimean War which followed. The citizens turned to rebuild the city and erected a monument, in the park next to the remains of the Temple of Serapis, to the sailors who lost their lives in the naval encounter.

Sinop remained under the Ottoman Empire from 1461 until 1923 A. D. when Mustafa Kemal, the national hero and George Washington of modern Turkey, formed the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal, Turkish Hero of the war in Tripolitania and the Battle of the Dardanelles during the First World War, realizing the Ottoman Empire was near collapse, staged a revolution and founded a young, prosperous and dynamic country over the ruins of the Ottoman Empire which had disintegrated.

Leaving Istanbul, which was occupied by the allied fleet, on the 16^th of May, 1919, Mustafa Kemal stopped off in Sinop on May 18^th, 1921, enroute to Samsun on the ship Bandirma. After a brief stay he continued on to Samsun, landing on the 19^th, and began proclaiming the resistance of the Turkish people. With the population of Anatolia behind him, he liberated the territory and proclaimed the inland city Constantinople was relegated to a National Seaport and it’s name officially changed to Istanbul. Kemal was so loved by the Turks that they conferred the title of Ataturk, meaning "Father of the Turks", upon him on September 15, 1928, Ataturk visited Sinop once more. It was here that the "Father of the Turks" first announced his reform of the Turkish alphabet from the difficult Arabic script to Latin script.

Though Sinop occupied a nich in the history of Turkey’s independence, Trabzon and Samsun were to receive greater portions of the glory. Sinop remained a small Black Sea fishing port with a population of roughly 5,000. Until the last few years, due to Sinop’s small size and isolation because of poor road conditions, it was noted mainly as a Penal Colony. In addition, one of the largest men’s prisons in Turkey is located there.

It has been the policy of the Turkish Government that political prisoners released were exiled to a small isolated town with a population under 5,000 and remain there for the rest of their lives. Sinop has recently exceeded the population limit with a population of 5,780. But some of the older citizens of the town are past exiles.

The town of Sinop is slowly growing in size and a renewed interest is being taken in the city’s antique past. The inhabitants are hardworking, energetic and eager to restore to Sinop some of it’s former renown. Excavation of the various periods of the city is planned by the Turkish Government sometime in the future; and Sinop is gaining notice among historians as a "Key to the Centuries".

Antique and curio shops do a thriving business. Modern factory souveniers, as well as the Greek, Pontian, Roman and Arabic coins constantly uncovered, are sold in the shops. Turkish farmers, while turning the sod in the centuries old manner, unearth coins as well as Byzantine Crosses. These they sell to the curio shops for a few Turkish Lira; and the shops subsequently clean and restore them, reselling them to the tourists.

A new hotel has just been built with modern facilities; and it is the hope of the people that live in Sinop, that with improvements in transportation, Sinop will become a favorite tourist attraction along the Black Sea. In fact, the narrow, rustic streets and massive ruins have a certain charm and whisper of the ages.

- - - - -End of the GIGI Sinop History file - - - - -