Durusu or Terkos ( el, Δέρκος, ''Derkos''; also Δέλκη ''Delke'', Δέλκος ''Delkos'', and Δέρκοι ''Derkoi'') is a village in the

Arnavutköy Arnavutköy ( Albanian village; el, Μέγα Ρεύμα, Mega Revma) is a neighbourhood in Istanbul, Turkey renowned for its wooden Ottoman mansions and seafood restaurants, as well as for the campus of the prestigious Robert College with its h ...

district (formerly part of

Çatalca Çatalca (Metrae; ) is a city and a rural district in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the largest district in Istanbul by area. It is in East Thrace, on the ridge between the Marmara and the Black Sea. Most people living in Çatalca are either farmers or ...

district) of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

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 ...

. It lies close to the namesake

Lake Durusu Lake Durusu (also called Lake Terkos or Targus) is a lake in Thrace region of Turkey. It would be eliminated by the planned Istanbul Canal. Description The lake lies in İstanbul Province. The midpoint of the lake is at about . It is situated to ...

and the Terkos Dam.

History

The village is attested since

Classical Antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

as Derkos/Delkos/Derkoi, but Emperor Anastasius I (r. 491–518) raised it to the status of a city and rebuilt it as a forward stronghold for the defence of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. It was also probably at the same time created an

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

In the first half of the 6th century, Derkos was known as a stronghold of the

Monophysites Monophysitism ( or ) or monophysism () is a Christological term derived from the Greek (, "alone, solitary") and (, a word that has many meanings but in this context means "nature"). It is defined as "a doctrine that in the person of the incarn ...

. After the

capture Capture may refer to: *Asteroid capture, a phenomenon in which an asteroid enters a stable orbit around another body *Capture, a software for lighting design, documentation and visualisation *"Capture" a song by Simon Townshend *Capture (band), an ...

of Constantinople by the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

and the partition of the Byzantine Empire among the Crusader leaders, Derkos became part of the new

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzanti ...

until 1247, when the

Nicaean emperor The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley ...

John III Doukas Vatatzes John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes ( el, Ιωάννης Δούκας Βατάτζης, ''Iōannēs Doukas Vatatzēs'', c. 1192 – 3 November 1254), was Emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254. He was succeeded by his son, known ...

captured it. Derkos served as the base of

Andronikos IV Palaiologos Andronikos IV Palaiologos or Andronicus IV Palaeologus ( gr, Ἀνδρόνικος Παλαιολόγος; 11 April 1348 – 25/28 June 1385) was the eldest son of Emperor John V Palaiologos. Appointed co-emperor since 1352, he had a troubled rel ...

in his failed usurpation attempt in 1373 against his father

John V Palaiologos John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, ''Iōánnēs Palaiológos''; 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391) was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. Biography John V was the son of E ...

(r. 1341–1376, 1379–1391). By the 1420s, Derkos was one of the few cities still held by the Byzantines along the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast. As such, it formed the

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

of the future

Constantine XI Palaiologos Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Δραγάσης Παλαιολόγος, ''Kōnstantînos Dragásēs Palaiológos''; 8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453) was the last List of Byzantine em ...

(r. 1449–1453) in 1421, when his father

Manuel II Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the na ...

(r. 1391–1425) assigned various portions of the empire to his sons. The town was taken by the Ottomans during their preparations for their final siege of Constantinople, in early 1453 or perhaps even in 1452. The moats and earthworks erected by the Ottomans during this operation were allegedly still visible in the 1660s, when the traveller

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

visited the city. In the late 19th century, the town had a Christian population of 400, many of whom were Bulgarians. A church dedicated to St. George still existed until the early 20th century, but today few Byzantine and ancient remains are visible; some Roman-era inscriptions are located in the

Archaeological Museum of Istanbul The Istanbul Archaeology Museums ( tr, ) are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace. The Istanbul Archaeology Museums consists of three museums: #Arch ...

. The medieval fortress still exists in a partially well-preserved state, some 1 km west of the settlement, close to the lake, although large sections were torn down in the late 20th century to furnish building material.

References

External links

A list of the Greek villages in the Metropolis of Dercos prior to the Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey (In Greek)
{{coord missing, Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Arnavutköy, Istanbul Villages in Istanbul Province