Evening star., 1921-07-23
|SM|D |DALANDMARK
IN H|STORY'S PATH
Situation Today as Central
Point in Near East Fight
Recalls Ancient Glory.

THE name Of the town Of Ismid.
where the recent retreat Of Greek
forces made possible an attack on
Constantinople by the Turkish ma
tionalists and raised the first grave
threat Of drawing other European
powers into the fray, would have ap-
peared many times in heavy black
headlines II the modern newspaper
had existed throughout historic
times" says a bulletin issued by the
National Geographic Society from its
Washington headquarters.
"1smid's once important harbor is
now sllted and it's population is bare
ly 10000. But before ConstantinOple
was enlarged by Constantine the
Great. Ismid-then Nicomedia-was
for q time the capital of the Roman
empire and the metropolis Of the near
east.
Once Great Caravan Port.
Situated at the head Of the Gulf of
Ismid, which forms the sharp AsiatiC
end Of the Sea Of Marmora. and with
high ground behind it. the town lay
from Syria, Persia. Mesopotamia and
the entire near east to the Bosporus
and Europe.
"In the old days camel caravans
innumerable. carrying the riches of
the east. plodded around the end of
the gulf. paused to pay commercial
tribute to the strategically situated
coast Of the gulf for the fifty miles
that separated Nicomedia from By
zantium and now separate Ismid
from Constantinople. And when the
steel highway and iron horse that
were to connect Berlin and Bagdad
Ca ms m n ho nj
but less efficient camel and his dusty
road. the same natural path was util-
lied and Ismfd became a railway sta
tion.
Darius and his hosts swarmed
through the site of the present Ismid
Hosporus and conquer Thrace and
Macedonia. Xenophon and his 10000
Greeks passed through the place in
their memorable retreat from Persia
to their homes. Near, there the de-
feated Hannibal. q refugee from the
Romans. committed suicide; and in q
villa close by Constantine the Great
held the town during the middle ages.
Seat Of Constantine.
From Nicomedia Diocletian direct
cution against the Christians, and
later the first Christian emperor. Con-
stantine. governed from it's palaces
Barely twenty miles to the south of
Nicea the church council sat which
framed the Nicene creed, and only a
short distance to the west on the
Ismid peninsula in 451 A. D. was held
which the Armenians bolted to form
the separate Armenian Church. which,
with the Roman Catholic. the Greek
Catholic and the Protestant churches,
helps make up the four major divi-
sions Of Christianity.
History is closely repeating itself
at 1smid. Just as the Turkish nation
the town In recent weeks, so in ISL
the Moslems. pushing far into the
Asiatic territory Of the Byzantine
Greeks. defeated their armies at Nico-
media and camped on the east bank Of
the Bosporus.. The Empress Irene
raneomed the city and the other oc-
cupfed territory. But the Mohamme-
Nicomedia fell permanently into the
hands Of the Turks. 1t remained a
threat to Constantinople until 1853
when the threat was made good, and
Constantinople became Stamboul and
the church Of Sancta Sophia Moham-
medan mosque.
1.-THE 1smid of today has little to
remind the observer Of its glorious
history. An old Greek acropoiis
danked by Roman and Byzantine tow
ers is about the only remaining link
with its opulent past. The iron and
wood caravans Of the Bagdad railway
DO not need to pause in 1smid as did
the camel trains. and its toll from
commerce has dwindled away. To II
the world no longer looks either for
creeds or the treasures Of Araby-only
for q modest supply Of silk cocoons
tobacco and forest products"