Enez

Coordinates: 40°43′20″N 26°05′00″E / 40.72222°N 26.08333°E / 40.72222; 26.08333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Enez
Enez is located in Turkey
Enez
Enez
Location in Turkey
Enez is located in Marmara
Enez
Enez
Enez (Marmara)
Coordinates: 40°43′20″N 26°05′00″E / 40.72222°N 26.08333°E / 40.72222; 26.08333
CountryTurkey
ProvinceEdirne
DistrictEnez
Government
 • MayorÖzkan Günenç (CHP)
Population
 (2022)[1]
4,301
Time zoneUTC+3 (TRT)
Area code0284
Websitewww.enez.bel.tr

Enez is a town in Edirne Province, in East Thrace, Turkey. The ancient name of the town was Ainos (Greek: Αίνος), Latinised as Aenus. It is the seat of Enez District.[2] Its population is 4,301 (2022).[1] The mayor is Özkan Günenç (CHP).

Enez consists of an old town centre, backing on to the Meriç/Evros river forming the border with neighbouring Greece; the harbour and Pırlanta Beach, 3 km southwest across the lagoon; and Altınkum Sahili (Golden Sands Beach), another 2 km south, which has been developed as a resort strip mainly catering for domestic tourists.

Despite Enez's proximity to the Greek border there is no crossing point by land here. To cross the border into Greece it is necessary to travel north to İpsala.

Location

The town is located on the left (eastern) bank of the river

Meriç (Greek: Evros, historically the Hebrus) where its estuary broadens to flow into the Gulf of Saros (the ancient Melas Gulf) and so into the Aegean Sea. Enez occupies a ridge of rock surrounded by broad marshes. In ancient Greek times it lay on a land route for trade from the Black Sea to the Aegean and was a port for transporting the wood and fruit produced in eastern and central Thrace.[3]

History

Antiquity

The mythical and eponymous founder of the ancient Greek city of Ainos/Aenus was said to be

Cyzicus. Another mythical ruler, named Poltys, son of Poseidon, entertained Heracles when he came to Aenus. On that occasion, Heracles slew Poltys' insolent brother Sarpedon
on the beach of Aenus. According to Strabo, Sarpedon is the name of the coastline near Aenus, so both Poltys and Sarpedon would appear to be eponyms.

The Suda suggests that the first settlers were Greeks from the Alopeconnesus and later more settlers came from Mytilene and Kyme[4] which agrees with what Harpocration had written.[5]

Presumably because of the similarity of the names, Virgil had Aeneas founding the city after the destruction of Troy.[6] A surer sign of its antiquity comes from the Iliad, where Homer mentions that Peirous, who led Troy's Thracian allies, came from Aenus.[7]

Stephanus Byzantius says they came (also?) from Cumae.[9] According to Strabo (p. 319), a more ancient name for the place was Poltyobria while Stephanus says it was also called Apsinthus.[9]

As a subject ally of Athens, Aenus provided peltasts at the Battle of Sphacteria in 425 BC and sent forces to the Sicilian Expedition in 415.[3]

During the Hellenistic period Ainos changed hands multiple times. After a spell of Macedonian rule, the city passed to

free city. It was still a free city in the time of Pliny the Elder.[3][9]

Byzantine period

The city is mentioned first among the cities of the province of

Kaykawus II.[10] In June 1265 Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos granted the Venetians the right to settle and trade in the city.[10]

In 1347, John Palaiologos, Marquess of Montferrat, planned to take over the city.

Stephen Dushan and his governor of Thessaly, Preljub, in 1355, however, Nikephoros abandoned the city and sailed to Thessaly to claim his ancestral inheritance. His admiral Limpidarios took over control of the city in his absence, despite the opposition of Nikephoros' wife Maria Kantakouzene (daughter of John VI). Maria locked herself in the city's citadel and continued to resist for a while, before agreeing to depart.[12]

Ottoman period

With the gradual Ottoman conquest of

Niccolo Gattilusio. The Gattilusi maintained their possession by exploiting the city's wealth, chiefly derived from salt pans and fisheries, and sending an annual tribute to the Ottomans. In 1408/9 Niccolo Gattilusio was deposed by his son Palamede, who ruled until his death in 1454. His younger son, Dorino II, squabbled with Helena Notaras, the widow of Niccolo's elder son Giorgio Gattilusio, and ruled for only two years. Helena Notaras appealed to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II who attacked the city from land and sea and forced it to surrender in January 1456.[12][13]

In 1463 Ainos was given by Mehmed II to the deposed

Despot of the Morea, Demetrios Palaiologos, as an appanage (along with parts of Thasos and Samothrace). He remained in possession of the town until 1467, when he fell into disgrace.[12][14] The Venetians briefly captured the city in 1469.[12]

Modern period

The town gave its name to the Enos-Midia line, which briefly marked the border of the Ottoman Empire in Europe in the disastrous aftermath of the First Balkan War. The border was shifted further northwest after the Turks made some limited gains in the Second Balkan War, recapturing the city of Edirne.

Enez had a large Greek population, and was affected from the 19th century onwards by ethnic conflicts and nationalistic aspirations. After the Turkish War of Independence (1919-23), the Treaty of Lausanne drew the current borders of Turkey and required Greek communities to leave Turkey while Turkish communities left Greece and Bulgaria.

Overnight Enez became a provincial backwater, a dead-end, up against an unfriendly border. It was a garrison town and military zone, off-limits to foreigners, right into the 21st century. Although foreigners are now allowed to visit, modern Enez makes a living largely from local tourism. Improved highways bring many weekenders from Istanbul. - the original town has a steady population while that of the beach strip soars in summer and drops to near zero in winter.

Enez remains the westernmost Turkish town on the European continent (excluding

Alexandroupoli
(Dedeağaç) lies just across the border with Greece but the two towns are separated by a swampland reserve and the Evros/Meriç River delta so that what should be a short journey actually takes about 1.5 hours. In the late 2010s and early 2020s the area became especially sensitive since it separates Turkey from the European Union. The tense situation around the border has tended to limit development in the area which has been a boon for the delta wildlife.

Attractions

Enez was the site of a Byzantine Church of Hagia Sophia built in the 12th century (although some sources suggest the sixth century) but converted into a mosque during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II. The mosque was repaired several times in the 18th century but was left in ruins after an earthquake in 1965. Work began on a new restoration in 2016 and the mosque reopened for worship in 2021.[15]

The mosque stands inside the remains of Enez Castle (Turkish: Enez Kalesi) which probably dates back to the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and was probably built as a defence against raids from the Balkans. [16]

The Has Yunus Bey Türbesi is a historic mosque and graveyard 300 m south of the castle which started life as a Byzantine chapel. Has Yunus Bey was the commander who captured Enez for the Ottomans and who was buried here.[17]

The only historic monument in the resort area of Enez is the Sahil KervansarayI, the shell of an Ottoman caravanserai, which might have functioned as a customs office. It's believed to date back to the 16th century, when it probably stood on the coastline, now 500 m away. Local accounts suggest that it served a military function during the First World War, and it's therefore known as the İngiliz Kışlası ("English barracks").[18]

Ecclesiastical history

The city was already an episcopal see in the 4th century under bishop Olympius who was driven from the see by the

Council of Constantinople (879). Another John took part in the Council of 1030/38, and Michael in the councils of 1092 and 1094.[10][19][20]

Between 1285 and 1315, the see was awarded to the Metropolitan of

Sougdaia and in 1369 to the Bishop of Athyra.[12] It remained a residential see of the Greek Orthodox Church until the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. No longer a residential bishopric, Aenus is now listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[21]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^
    TÜİK
    . Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  2. ^ İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  3. ^ , "Aenus"
  4. ^ Suda Encyclopedia, § al.1389
  5. ^ Harpokration, Lexicon of the Ten Orators, § a54
  6. ^ Virgil, Aeneid, 3,18
  7. ^ Iliad, 4,520
  8. ^ Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 7.57
  9. ^ a b c William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), "Aenus"
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Soustal 1991, p. 170.
  11. ^ Soustal 1991, pp. 170–171.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Soustal 1991, p. 171.
  13. ^ William Miller, "The Gattilusj of Lesbos (1355–1462)", Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 22 (1913), pp. 431f
  14. .
  15. ^ Agency, Anadolu (2021-06-14). "Turkey's Hagia Sophia of Enez to reopen for worship". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  16. ^ "Enez Castle | Turkish Archaeological News". turkisharchaeonews.net. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  17. ^ "HAS YÛNUS BEY TÜRBESİ". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  18. ^ "Enez Sahil Kervansarayı". Haberler (in Turkish). 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  19. OCLC 955922585
    .
  20. ^ Sophrone Pétridès, v. 2. Aenus, in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. I, Paris 1909, coll. 660-661
  21. ), p. 888

Sources

External links

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