BATHONEA. A SITE THAT NEVER EXISTED

Year 2017, Issue: 20, 105 - 114, 12.11.2017

Oğuz Tekin

Abstract

The excavations conducted on the shores of Lake Küçükçekmece aroused a significant degree of interest both in academic circles and among the public. It was strongly emphasized that the excavated ruins were part of a lost city known as Bathonea and that the unearthing of this city was a momentous discovery for the world of archaeology. Quite unfortunately, this intense campaigning encouraged a number of scholars and academics to believe in the existence of a city called Bathonea. However, this brief article will seek to demonstrate that the ruins excavated on the shores of Lake Küçükçekmece are not associated with a city or settlement named Bathonea and will further pose that a city named Bathonea never existed in history. Therefore, the name Bathonea is the name of an hekatostys affiliated with Byzantion, and therefore directly points to a community within the demographic structure of Byzantion.

Keywords

Bathonea, Byzantion, Byzantium, Küçükçekmece Lake, Hekatostys

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