The ''Çarşamba Plain'', the ancient Themiscyra Plain (; grc-gre, Θεμίσκυρα ''Themiskyra''), is a plain on the Black Sea coast of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, formed largely of the

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

of the Yeşilırmak river (ancient Iris), but also traversed by the much smaller

Terme Terme (formerly spelled ''Termeh''; Ancient Greek: Thèrmae, Θέρμαι) is the seat of Terme District, Samsun Province, Turkey. Terme is located on Terme River, about 5 km from its mouth, on the eastern end of the Çarşamba Plain. Term ...

(ancient Thermodon) river. It is the largest delta plain on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. It lies within the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Tekkeköy Tekkeköy is a district of Samsun Province in Turkey located on the western side of the Çarşamba Plain. The Mayor of Tekkeköy Municipality is Hasan Togar. Agriculture and animal breeding are the main sources of income. Black Sea Copper Works ...

Çarşamba Çarşamba is a town and district (ilçe) of Samsun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, in the center of the Çarşamba Plain. It is the second largest district of the Samsun province after Bafra. The mayor is Halit Doğan ( AKP). Ferhan ...

, and Salıpazarı on the eastern part of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Samsun Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos (Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun reco ...

.Harun Reşit Bağci, "Yeşi̇lirmak Deltasi’nda (Çarşamba/Samsun) Doğal Ortam İnsan İli̇şki̇leri̇ Ve Doğal Çevre Planlamasi", doctoral thesis,

Ondokuz Mayıs University Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) is a major state university founded in 1975 in Samsun, Turkey. The university bears the name “19 May”, which marks the date when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, came to Samsun in or ...

(Samsun), October 2017 The town of Tekkeköy lies on the west end of the plain. Çarşamba lies in the middle, and is traversed by the Yeşilırmak. Terme (the ancient Themiscyra), on the east, is traversed by the Terme, as is Salıpazarı in the south. The ancient plain has been described as:

a rich and beautiful district, ever verdant...
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
suppl edfood for numberless herds of oxen and horses... produced great abundance of grain, especially pannick and millet... nd thatthe southern parts near the mountains furnished a variety of fruits, such as grapes, apples, pears, and nuts in such quantities that they were suffered to waste on the trees.... thology describes tas the native country of the Amazons.

During the Middle Ages, the Yeşilırmak delta was known as Limnia. The area was originally controlled by the

Empire of Trebizond The Empire of Trebizond, or Trapezuntine Empire, was a monarchy and one of three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Despotate of the Morea and the Principality of Theodoro, that flourished during the 13th through to t ...

, which appointed an official called a '' kephale'' ("head") here to collect taxes. Itt was ceded to the Turkish emirate of the Taceddinoğulları in 1379 when the emir Tadj ed-Din married Eudokia, daughter of the Trapezuntine emperor Alexios III. The emirate also controlled the coast east of

Çam Burnu Çam (pronounced ''cham'') may refer to: * Çam Albanians, an Albanian subgroup formerly residing in Greece * Cham Albanian dialect The Cham Albanian dialect ( sq, Çamërisht, Dialekti çam), also called ''Cham Tosk'' or ''Arvanitika'' , is t ...

, passing

Perşembe Perşembe ( tr, Perşembe,originated from Persian word "پنج شنبه(/pændʒʃænbɛ/)" meaning Thursday) (formerly ''Vona'', Βόνη in ancient Greek, also ''Heneti'', ჰენეთი in Georgian and Laz languages) is a town and district ...

and Bozuk Kale, which was separated from Limnia by the separate emirate of

Chalybia The Chalybes ( grc, Χάλυβες/Χάλυβοι, ka, ხალიბები, Khalibebi) and Chaldoi ( grc, Χάλδοι, ) were peoples mentioned by classical authors as living in Pontus and Cappadocia in northern Anatolia during Classical ...

(based at

Ünye Ünye (''Oinòe'', Οἰνόη in ancient Greek) is a large town and district of Ordu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 76 km west of the city of Ordu. In 2009 it had 74,806 inhabitants. İrfan Akar is the President of the Chamber of ...

References

Plains of Turkey Geography of Samsun Province {{AncientPontus-geo-stub

Further reading

References