TRABZON

The first indications for the history of Trabzon, used to be called Trapezius, date back to the sixth century BC, when traders from Milete, operating from Sinope, founded an extra support point. A large proportion of the population at that time came from Trapezos in Arcadia. The Romans conquered in the first century BC. Emperor Hadrian had the city enlarged, including the building of a new harbour. Except for an invasion from the Goths it remained Roman until 1462. The last Comneni emperor David handed the city to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II (Mehmet the Conqueror, who had taken Istanbul in 1453). After the sack of Constantinople (Istanbul) by the crusaders in 1204, two grandsons of the emperor Andronicus I Comnenus had escaped and founded an independent offshoot of the Byzantine Empire at Trapezus, with Prince Alexius Comnenus as emperor. Actually, one might state this is the city where the Roman empire finally came to an end.

Modern Trabzon retains much of its medieval aspect. Monuments include most of the city walls, a part of the palace of the Grand Comneni, and several Byzantine churches preserved as mosques. Among the churches the best preserved and most remarkable is the church Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia), now used as a museum, which overlooks the sea just west of the city centre. One of the finest Ottoman monuments is the mosque and mausoleum of Gülbahar, wife of Sultan Beyezid II (reigned 1481-1512). Trabzon is one of the most interesting cities along Black Sea coast.