Detail of a pier of the Cyzicus amphitheatre

Department Archive
Collection BSA SPHS Image Collection
Reference No. BSA SPHS 01/4658.9604
Level Item
Description Film negative, quarter plate size, an original negative.
Dimensions 11 x 8 cm
Place Cyzicus Amphitheatre
Cyzicus
Dates 1902-1906
Donor/Creator Hasluck, Dr Frederick William
Project Cyzicus, Mysia and Bithynia
Scope and Content Part of a series of images from the survey 1902-1906 carried out by F.W. Hasluck at Cyzicus and surrounding territory in Anatolia, under the auspices of the British School at Athens. The original description in the SPHS register reads: "Cyzicus: amphitheatre, detail of pier".
Notes Probably taken between 1902 and 1906 by Hasluck when he states he was involved with the site and territory of Cyzicus in his 1910 monograph (Cyzicus: Being Some Account of the History and Antiquities of that City, Cambridge: CUP).
Further information The ancient town of Cyzicus was probably a Pelasgian foundation, but soon acquired considerable commercial significance and cut a particularly valuable staple coinage, the gold stater. It is located on the Propontis in the area of ancient Mysia, a region on the south coast of the Marmara sea northwest of Asia Minor. Pergamon and Cyzicus were the most important trade-centres in Mysia.

The naval battle of Cyzicus was of key importance for the outcome of the Peloponnesian war while under Roman emperor Tiberius the city witnessed prosperity and wealth. The city was captured temporarily by the Arabs in 675 and, after a series of disastrous earthquakes, it began, as early as the 11th century, to be gradually deserted. Principal ruins in the nearby marsh land of Balkiz Serai are those of the fourth-century walls, an Andrian temple, a Roman aqueduct and a theatre.