Sinope

Sinope (Turk. Sinub), a town of Asiatic Turkey, stands on a rocky tongue projecting into the Black Sea, 220 miles W. by N. of Trebizond. It has two harbours, one presenting the finest anchorage along the northern coast of Asiatic Turkey. The town is surrounded by ancient Byzantine walls, and has a ruined castle built under Byzantine influence. The bay was the scene of a naval engagement on 30th November 1853, when a Turkish squadron was destroyed by the Russian fleet. The ancient city of Sinope was founded by a colony of Milesian Greeks, and for several years shared with Byzantium the supremacy of the Euxine. It was made by Pharnaces the capital of the kingdom of Pontus in 183 B.C. The great Mithridates, who was born within its walls, raised it to a lofty pitch of splendour. But in 72 B.C. it capitulated to Lucullus, and in 45 B.C. was made a Roman colony. After belonging successively to the empire of Trebizond (from 1204) and the Seljuks, it was conquered by the Turks in 1461. Sinope was the birthplace of Diogenes the cynic. Pop. 8000.