The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-09-22

IoSt w DoNeI, TIE SlOrleS Ol 1!HltuS
passed away. Today practically moth
ing is left OF the once great city, for
Byzantines and Turks alike used the
old buildings in the place Of natural
quarries as sources of stone with
which to build the latest metropolis Of
the Marmora and the BosphOrus.
Nicomedia, now Ismid, at the eX.
IRENE eastern end of the Marmora,
was another city of world Importance.
Under the Emperor DiOcletian it was
for brief time the capital of Rome
and the world. Nicaea, just to the
south of Nicomedia and u short dis
tance inland. has three times been the
seat Of empire. Twice the Turks, be-
fore they reached Constantinople,
made it capital rivaling to a degree
old Bagdad; and for more than half
the Thirteenth century, between its
peaks Of Turkish brilliance, while the
Franks held COnstantinople, it was the
capital of the Byzantine empire.
There too, the Nicene creed, land
mark in the disqualification of Chris
tian theology was framed.
Chalcedon, ROdoSto, Heracleia Per
inthos, Selymoria were other centers,
no mean cities in their day, which have
disappeared or dwindled to insignif-
canoe. Thriving communities in al
most each case until the Turk APP
peared on the scene, they have been
since touched with the blight TO pros
perity and progress that is said ever
to follow his steps.
Bosphorus Most Important.
Shorter and narrower than the OAR
danelles, the Bosphorus, third link i'm
the chain of historic waters that sep
arates Asia Minor and Europe, is per-
haps most important; it is the imme-
date gate to and from the great Black
sea which reaches toward the heart of
southwest Europe. To dominate ii Is
to dominate one of the worlds great
trade routes, q fact which has been
put to good account from the days of
pre- ByZantine Greeks to those Of Sell
juk Turks. The strait is about TWEEN
ty miles long and varies in width from
1900 feet or third of a mile to two
miles. Darius chose not the narrows
but a point at which the shores are
more than a half-mile apart as the
site for his famous bridge of boats.
The water in the Bosphorus is over
100 feet deep. A mighty current flows
along the surface from the Black sea
but beneath the surface return cur.
rent of water flows in the reverse di-
rection. A similar inbound current
flows from the Mediterranean to the
Sea of Marmora, furnishing for the
Black sea at least an answer to the
old query: Why Is the sea salt?
The Seljuk Turks recognized the
strategic Importance Of the Bosphous;
and crossing it above Constantinople
in 1852, built on the European shore
the old "Cut-throat Castle" only seven
miles above the city. With the Bos-
phorus in their control, they captured
the ancient capital the following year.
Until the conclusion of the World
war and the adoption of the treaty of
Sevres with defeated Turkey, the
Turks had sat for over 800 years as
the masters of the Bosphorus.
Many Nations Around Black Sea.
At the northern end of the Bosphor-
us lies the Black sea-a dark, forbid
ding ocean TO the landsman and well
worthy of its name. One wonders that
the early Greeks named 1t Euxinos,
signifying friendly TO strangers I'M
less they did so by way of offering
prOpitlatory complaint to the angry
sea god. Here we are dealing with
no small sea comparable i'm size to
our lakes, but with a great eXpanse OF
water $50 miles long and from POO TO
400 miles wide, which would cover
Mississippi. Georgia, Alabama and
South Carolina and considerable
part of Tennessee into the bargain.
Around the Black sea are now
grouped more nations than its waters
have touched perhaps, at any other
time i'm history. Just beyond the mar
row zone Of the straits and the tiny
patch To which Europe has
shrunk. Greece, forging northward,
now has strip of the coast. Next
comes Bulgaria with shOreline of
about 100 miles; and beyond 1t lies
Roumania, occupying the greater part
of the western end Of the sea. Across
the north stretches Russia, and In the
east lie Georgia and Armenia. Stretch
ing along the rocky south shore is
Turkey-in-Asla. Hardly less interest
ed In the Black sea are inland Austria,
Czecho-Slovakia Hungary and Jugo-
Slavia, whose commerce reaches its
waters over the Danube.